NPCA Center for State of the Parks Staff
Gail Dethloff, Fort Collins, CO
Gail Dethloff became the Director of the Center for State of the Parks in July of 2008. Prior to that, Dr. Dethloff was the Natural Resource Program Manager for nearly three years. Dr. Dethloff earned a Sc.B. in Biology from Brown University and a PhD in Ecology from the University of California, Davis. Her emphasis at Davis was on issues of environmental quality, particularly in aquatic systems. She worked on biomonitoring programs with USGS-BRD and conducted aquatic toxicology research as an environmental consultant before joining NPCA. Dr. Dethloff has over 12 years of focused experience in the study and evaluation of natural systems in a variety of settings.
Megan Lowery, Fort Collins, CO
Megan joined the Center for State of the Parks staff in July 2008 as the Natural Resources Coordinator. However, she has worked as an intern for the program since December 2006. Megan has a B.S. in Rangeland Ecology with a concentration in Restoration Ecology from Colorado State University. When not at NPCA, Megan enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her dog, Moose.
Erin McPherson, Fort Collins, CO
Erin joined the Center for State of the Parks team in June 2008 as the cultural resources program manager, after working with the program as a contract researcher and intern since August 2006. She has a B.A. in History from Whitworth University (Spokane,WA) and received an M.A. in Public History from Colorado State University in 2007. Erin has an avid interest in the concept of the cultural landscape as an intersection between cultural and natural resources. Born and raised in Wyoming, she enjoys reading, traveling, and being outside as much as possible, and Grand Teton National Park is one of her favorite places to be on earth.
Elizabeth Meyers, Fort Collins, CO
Elizabeth joined the Center for State of the Parks team in February 2003 as the Program Manager for Publications. Her work revolves around crafting informative, research-based, and visually appealing communication pieces. These reports, fact sheets, and other publications teach readers about cultural and natural resource conditions in national parks, tell the stories of the parks in an easy-to-read fashion, and illustrate both beautiful park resources and threats to those resources.
Her education background is in biology and ecology, and has an interest in history and ancient cultures. She desires to protect the parks and environment in general, and her love of writing makes her job with NPCA hardly seem like “work”. Travel to the national parks is certainly a great perk.
Before NPCA, she dabbled in ecological field studies, landscape installation, and retail. Her hobbies and interests include hiking (which is frequently fulfilled through CSOTP park visits), gardening and baking.
James Nations, Washington, D. C.
Trained as an ecological anthropologist, Dr. James D. Nations has spent the past 25 years working for the protection of natural ecosystems and cultural heritage in the tropics and the United States. He lived three years with the Lacandón Maya, a rainforest tribe in Chiapas, Mexico, studied alternatives to deforestation in Central America for two years as a post-doctoral fellow, and lived three years in Guatemala as a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar and technical advisor to Guatemala’s National Council for Protected Areas. He also worked with Ecuador’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife to incorporate indigenous groups into the planning and management of national parks in the Ecuadorian Amazon. He is the author of Tropical Rainforests (Franklin Watts/Grolier 1988), Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Tropical Rainforest (Conservation International 2000), and The Maya Tropical Forest: People, Parks, and Ancient Cities (University of Texas Press 2006), as well as a dozen book chapters on protected areas, biodiversity, and indigenous people. Before becoming the National Parks Conservation Association’s Vice President for the Center for State of the Parks in 2003, Nations worked 13 years with Conservation International, serving as Vice President for Latin America and Vice President for Development Agency Relations. He earned BS and MS degrees from the University of North Texas, and MA and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology from Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Texas. He also serves as Clerk of Trustees for the Alexandria Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Vice President of the Leadership Council for Human Rights, and President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems.
Cathy Norris, Fort Collins, CO
Cathy began as Program Assistant in August of 2007. She has a BS in Zoology and a certificate in Geographic Information Systems. She has spent the last few years being a volunteer on the local school board, parks and recreation advisory board, and library board. She has way too many pets and reads a lot.
Daniel Saxton, Fort Collins, CO
Dan joined the Center for State of the Parks team in July 2008 as the Publications Coordinator, after working with the program as an intern since March 2007. His work includes preparing text for, and obtaining photos to be placed within, resource assessment reports. He has a B.A. in environmental studies with a minor in economics from the University of Vermont. Prior to working with the NPCA, Dan was a seasonal park ranger in Denali National Park and Preserve, and spent extensive time exploring Glacier National Park. Born and raised in New York he enjoys hiking and snowboarding, playing softball, woodworking, and following the NY Yankees as closely as possible.
Ron Tipton, Washington, D. C.
Ron Tipton has spent most of the past 30 years as an advocate for public land preservation and national park protection. A graduate of George Washington U. with an undergraduate degree in American Studies and a law degree from GW’s National Law Center, Ron has worked as a program officer at the National Academy of Sciences and on the oversight/investigative staff of the House Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee. Since 1978 he has been a part of the advocacy and/or management team of four non-profit national conservation organizations: The Wilderness Society, National Audubon Society, World Wildlife Fund, and National Parks Conservation Association. (NPCA) Ron has been the Senior Vice President for Programs for NPCA since 2000.
He is married to Rita E. Molyneaux and has one child, Will, who is scheduled to graduate from St. Mary’s College in May. He is an avid hiker and slow but steady runner. In 1978 Ron walked the entire length of the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail.
