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Meet your SFI Instructors.........
PAUL BISCHOFF has lived and worked in Sequoia
National Park for 16 years. He has been a cross-country and backcountry
ski instructor for 10 seasons, and has lived and worked in the
backcountry of Sequoia for six summers. This gives him a great
understanding of what this park has to offer. Paul also teaches kayaking
and has worked as a whitewater raft guide on the Kaweah River. He is
the owner/operator of Sequoia
Sightseeing Tours.
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SAVANNAH BOIANO is the Education Director
for SFI. She
has been a naturalist in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks and has had
several years of experience running an environmental and outdoor
education program for a school district in California.
In addition to
her background as a naturalist and educator, she has worked as a
backcountry
naturalist-guide. She has a passion for teaching and
a great
deal of enthusiasm.
National Association for
Interpretation Member, 2010.
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 RANDY COFFMAN
is an experienced mountaineering guide. He has
over 30 years of experience as an instructor for educational
institutions, search and rescue organizations, and the National Park
Service. In 1994, Randy was the summit team leader for the
American-Norwegian International Expedition to Gasherbrum II
(26,360’) in the Himalaya, Pakistan. He has climbed and guided
mountains in the Sierra , the Rockies, the Alps, East Africa, the
Andes, New Zealand, and the Alaska Range. After serving 31 years as
an NPS Ranger (18 as a paramedic in backcountry rescue operations),
he recently retired as the National Branch Chief of Search and
Rescue and Emergency Medical Services for the National Park
Service. He is currently the Ski Patrol Supervisor at Sierra Summit
Mountain Resort.
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Professor
RICHARD FLORES
 was born
in Los Angeles and has studied fine art throughout most of his life. He
has won numerous major art competitions and received a full tuition
scholarship to Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara. He also received
multiple scholarships from Los Angeles Pierce College, Cal-State
University at Northridge and CAL Earth (the Institute of Earth Art and
Ceramic Architecture) in Hesperia, California.
Skilled in both
two-dimensional and three-dimensional fine art, Richard has worked with
the late famed ceramist Beatrice Wood, Otto Heino and continues to be a
major factor in the education and development of Earth Art and Ceramic
Architecture at CALEARTH in Hesperia, California and is also an
exhibiting member of the Ojai Studio Artists in Ojai, California.
Richard now lives in
Visalia, California where he shares his wide range of artistic talents
performing inspirational workshops, education training seminars and
instructing seven college courses as the Three-Dimensional Fine Arts
Professor for College of the Sequoias. |
COURTNEY LAURELL (a.k.a. Turtle) fell in love with the Sierra Nevada
3
years ago, and hasn’t left since. As a child she could be found examining ladybugs in an open field, or exploring new territory in the
Michigan forests surrounding her house. Her love of nature emersion led
her on adventures with Voyageur and North Carolina Outward Bound
Schools, as well as multiple adventures canoeing, climbing, kayaking, canyoneering, and backpacking across the country thereafter. Courtney
earned her BA at Prescott College, with a minor in adventure education
and a major in Ecopsychology. She became a naturalist while working at
two different Outdoor Education Schools in California. Courtney is
currently working on earning her Cal. Teaching Credential with a Masters
in the Art of Teaching through Chapman University College. A perfect
day for Courtney involves having the opportunity to share the magic of
nature with others. |
JOHN (Jack) MUIR LAWS ,
MS
Naturalist, educator and artist,
delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with
others. For
six years, he has backpacked the Sierra Nevada to research and
illustrate The Laws Guide to the Sierra
Nevada, a pocket size field guide to over
1,700 species found in the Sierra Nevada. Laws has worked as an
environmental educator for over 25 years in California, Wyoming, and
Alaska. He teaches classes on natural history, conservation
biology, scientific illustration, and field sketching. He
is trained as a
wildlife biologist and is an associate of the California Academy of
Sciences. His illustrations capture the feeling of the living plant
or animal, while also including details critical for identification.
In the summer of 2004, Laws published
Sierra Birds: a Hiker's Guide.
He is a regular contributor to
Bay Nature
magazine with his "Naturalists Notebook" column. In 2009, he
received the Terwilliger Environmental Award for outstanding
service in Environmental Education.
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MATTHEW RANGEL, MFA, is a
fine artist from the San Joaquin Valley. His work is focused on
land-based artistic practice in which his creative research aims to
link the natural to the human and embody the physical aspects of
landscape through personal narrative. His work is engaged with
extensive hiking, field research and topographical knowledge of the
places he explores. Matthew was a featured artist on the Sequoia
Parks Foundation’s Artists in the Backcountry outing in 2007. He
holds a BFA in Drawing/Painting & Printmaking and an MFA in
printmaking and his art is exhibited regionally, nationally and
internationally. He currently teaches drawing at College of the
Sequoias in Visalia, California. |
 STEPHANIE STRICKLAND
has spent the
majority of her ten years in Three Rivers
exploring the
foothills and Sierras on bike, foot,
or snowshoe. She is the co-director
of Creative Outdoor Recreational Edventures (CORE), a
non-profit outdoor adventure education program;
a certificated California educator with 15 years
of classroom experience; and a burgeoning naturalist. Currently, along with co-director
Petit Pinson, CORE is
working with the Hanford Elementary School District to plan, implement,
and run their experiential science and environmental learning facility
at Burris Park
in Hanford. |
DR.
WILLIAM TWEED, PhD,
has been exploring Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks for more than
forty years. A writer, historian, and naturalist, he spent 28 years as
a ranger at both parks, rising ultimately to serve as the Chief Parks
Naturalist. He has written extensively about the parks, and his titles
include Challenge of the Big Trees, Sequoia and Kings
Canyon-the Story Behind the Scenery, Kaweah Remembered,
and A Place for Wonder. Dr. Tweed holds a PhD in history. |
JIM WARNER
has been hiking these park's trails for over 40 years,
including much of his career with the National Park Service and leading
natural history ‘seminars’ for SNHA since his retirement. His education
and experience in field natural history is extensive. His knowledge and
enthusiasm
for the flora and fauna of the Sierran National Parks is
contagious. His list of “groupies” continues to grow! |
» Categories of Classes
Backpacking Adventures
Creative Arts
History and Geology Courses
Halloween at Crystal
Cave - New!
Mother's Day Lake
Kaweah Barge Tour - New!
Natural History Treks
Skiing and Snowshoeing
Wild Cave Tours
Wildlife and Water
» 2010 Course Calendar
»
Instructions
and Requirements
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