Tom Hicks co-founded the Headwaters Institute in 1996. As treasurer, he manages the details of ensuring that the board adheres to its legal duties and formal obligations as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

More generally, he has led the educational design and development of annual local seminars for professional guides. In addition, he has helped forge the "local cost share" financial model for seminars through win-win-win partnerships with local outfitters, resource managers (BLM, NPS, USFS), and other organizational entities sharing the same enthusiasm for guide education. Thousands of guides have been trained at over seventy seminars betweeen 1996-2005 and these guides have had contact with approaching two million people.
 

Tom served as the Executive Director from 1996-2009 (acting). Tom's executive responsibilities were to ensure the fiscal and programmatic integrity of Headwaters Institute as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. He managed private donor, foundation, and organizational relations and other fundraising.

As Education Director he coordinated the vibrant and dynamic network of local educators that collectively provide leadership in watershed education. He was responsible for "coordinating the coordinators" through an annual Watershed Educators Workshop, Planning Guidelines, and seminar curriculum.

Tom is a National Outdoor Leadership School "Spring Semester in the Rockies" graduate and he worked as a commercial rafting and sea kayaking guide for ten years on New Mexico's Rio Grande, Utah's canyon rivers, West Virginia's Gauley, and California's Half Moon, San Francisco, and Tomales Bays. He course directed and instructed for the Colorado Outward Bound School for five of those years and briefly ski patrolled at the Santa Fe Ski Area. He has also worked as a location manager for the collegiate spring break company, Student Travel Service, and as an adventure travel expert for the travel reservation systems company Unexplored.

Tom is a 2005 graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law and is licensed to practice law in California. At different times he has interned with American Rivers in Washington, DC, the California State Water Resources Control Board, and the San Francisco Office of the City Attorney. Before law school he was a policy associate on energy and water resources at the Natural Heritage Institute based in San Francisco, California. He enjoys kayaking and lives with his wife in San Francisco.
 

Howard is an entrepreneur, an adventure professional, and an environmental activist. He has worked as a river and mountain guide for organizations such as Mountain Travel*Sobek, Outward Bound, and the British Mountaineering Club. As a guide and consultant he has had the opportunity of working on four continents and over 50 countries. His passion is sharing the experiential lessons of the natural world with people of all ages and backgrounds.

The professional adventures that keep Howard busy are Ecoplanet, an international ecotourism consulting agency and educational institute specializing in the promotion of ecological planning for tourism and the environment. The Sierra Nevada Outdoor Center (SNOC) located at the Sierra Nevada House on the banks of the South Fork of the American River, which specializes in multi-sport, multi-day destination packages. Lunch Box Communications, a management consulting firm in San Francisco specializing in communication and strategic development, and Teeksha Resources, an on-line management training service. When he has downtime, he can be found river kayaking and mountain climbing with his trusted companion, Shasta.
 

Thomas has lived in the Arkansas River Valley in Central Colorado for seven years and now calls Salida home. He originally came to Colorado for a summer job as a river guide and got hooked on what the valley has to offer. Here on the Arkansas River Thomas attended one of the Headwaters Institute’s first seminars as a rookie guide. After that seminar Thomas was inspired to become a coordinator of the Gathering of the Guides and the Ark River Rendezvous for four summers. He now helps to facilitate the continuation of HWI’s seminars on one of the most commercially rafted stretches of river in the country. Thomas feels education and learning are the most valuable tools for the preservation and protection of our rivers.

Thomas now owns and operates a company named Colorado Mountain Vacations that provides vacation rental homes/property management and group vacation planning in and to Central Colorado. His love of learning has taken him to Africa, Europe, Ecuador, Nepal, Mexico and Malaysia. Thomas is an experienced river runner and kayaker with over 10,000 river miles. His favorite past trips include rafting the Grand Canyon, paddling the Zambezi and sailing from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas as part of a two man crew.
 

John Weisheit has enjoyed the Colorado River since infancy and is currently a professional river guide on the canyon rivers of the Colorado Plateau. In 1993 he co-founded Colorado Plateau River Guides, is a current officer, and is also the editor of their journal, The Confluence. He has served as a trustee of the Dan O'Laurie Canyon Country Museum, Canyonlands Field Institute, Moab Art Center, Utah Guides and Outfitters, Glen Canyon Institute, and the Glen Canyon Action Network.

John lives in Moab, Utah with his wife, Susette.
 

Allison is an outdoor educator at heart. She has worked for NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) since 1994 as a field instructor, and more recently as part of the Human Resources Department. Her love of rivers started at age 8, when her parents took her down the Rogue River in OR. She started her own river life at 21, after a family river trip down the Grand Canyon opened her eyes to the possibility of women working as raft guides. Allison started guiding rafts in UT, OR and ID for ARTA, and learned to kayak from friends during that time. She realized that she wanted to be in a teaching role on the river, so began her NOLS career on the rivers of Utah. Although she is willing to carry a pack in the few months a year that few rivers are running, the majority of her work at NOLS has been on rivers in TX, UT, ID, AK, and Canada. Her current job allows her lots of time on the river each year, training new instructors as well as helping oversee the NOLS river program as a whole. Favorite river trips- tandem canoeing the Owyhee River, kayaking the Grand Canyon, and paddling the Firth and Snake Rivers of the northern Yukon. Allison shares her home in Wilson, WY, with her dog Shep.
 

Bruce Fitch is a committed outdoor educator. He received his BA in mathematics and MA in philosophy from the University of Colorado before working as a field instructor and course director for the Colorado Outward Bound School for 12 years. He has worked the last 10 years in administration as the Program Director, Human Resources Director, Associate School Director, and Executive Director. Recently, four of the Outward Bound Wilderness Schools merged into a single entity, combining the Colorado, Pacific Crest, Voyageur and Hurricane Island Schools. Bruce serves as President of the new entity. Bruce is an active outdoorsman, married, and father of two.
 

As Field Coordinator for Waterkeeper Alliance, Sean supports communities around the globe in the development of local Waterkeeper programs. These programs support the enforcement of environmental laws and teach the general public the importance of water protection. Sean's experience working with hundreds of water protection organizations from dozens of countries around the world has taught him that without the support and involvement of local citizens, the protection of this planet's water resources will not be possible.
 

As the Campus Ombuds at UC Santa Cruz Laurie McCann provides mediation, facilitation and organizational development services to staff, students and faculty at UCSC. She also maintains an independent practice as a mediator, facilitating the resolution of environmental policy and planning disputes. As a river guide and environmental activist she was involved in the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and American River protection campaigns (1975-1995). She now lives in Santa Cruz, is a committed Aikido practitioner and the proud mother of a 22-year old river rat daughter with a degree in engineering. She enjoys riding her bike up the hill to campus and is still paddling!
 

Mark is a river manager for the Bureau of Land Management in theTaos, New Mexico Field Office, where he is charged with overseeing recreational boating on the Rio Grande and Rio Chama rivers. Some 30,000 to 40,000 visitors annually boat these two "Wild and Scenic" rivers, a special designation for pristine wild rivers under federal law.

Mark is a charter member of the River Management Society, a professional organization dedicated to the protection and appropriate management of rivers and their unique natural features. He has been involved with educating raft guides since the late 1980's and is a Master of Leave No Trace land stewardship principles and practices. In preparation for the river manager position, Mark worked as a BLM river ranger for 12 years, and as a professional raft guide for 4 years. He is an avid whitewater enthusiast who has boated many rivers in the western United States; he also enjoys mountain biking and landscape painting.
 

Joel is a committed river guide who has enjoyed working as the seminar coordinator for the last two years. He often thinks of himself as a lucky guy whenever he gets to spend any any time on moving water and enjoying the beautiul watersheds of California, Oregon, and Washington.
 

Rachel Kirby has been involved with the Headwaters Institute since it's inception in 1996. She went on to coordinate the first American River seminar in 1997, which she will be doing again for 2001. For the past ten years, she has taught and guided for the Pacific Crest Outward Bound School, Proctor Academy, Whitewater Voyages and Destination Wilderness. Rachel currently resides in Truckee, CA; she is expecting her first baby this summer.
 

California State Parks
 

Scott is motivated and inspired to share the natural details of the American River Watershed with guides and guests alike.
 

Damara Stone-Goddard was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and grew up in the Reno-Tahoe area. Her love for rivers began on a trip to Chile in 1992 where she was studying Spanish. As a guest on the magical Bio-Bio River she found her calling. That summer Damara went to Whitewater Voyages guide school and has worked for them on the rivers of California ever since. She also rafts some of the world's greatest rivers with her husband's company Bio Bio Expeditions. When not spending time on the rivers Damara is a registered nurse and lives in Truckee, California. She loves many outdoor sports, playing piano, reading, and reveling in nature!
 

TBA very soon
 

Thomas Morgan, age 26: Originally from Flushing, Michigan where he grew up playing on the Flint River and it's creeks. Graduated from Michigan State University School of Business in 1999. He gained significant appreciation and understanding of rivers working for Wilderness Aware Rafting out of Buena Vista, Colorado. Gaining over 1,000 river miles a summer either guiding or kayaking has brought Thomas a deep love for rivers and in turn their protection and preservation. He attended the Arkansas River Rendezvous, a Headwaters Institute event, five years ago and has worked his way to coordinating the same event in 2000 and 2001. His favorite river trips thus far are the Grand Canyon and Gore Canyon of the Colorado, the Kaligandaki in Nepal and any trip on moving water where the people you are with can or at least try to understand what the river is saying.
 

Jared is returning to coordinate his 2nd seminar in 2004. He strongly believes in the educational role and responsibility of Ark guides to know their scat. Introducing newcomers to the river is an honor and a privilege. He believes that knowledge of the rivers and watersheds are what will keep the rivers flowing. This seminar gives the power of knowledge to the guides who can relay this important information to the numerous customers from around the nation. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.
 

Tom is in his third year at the University of San Francisco School of Law. He has a B.A. in history and political science from the University of Vermont. His pre-law school involvement with water and energy resources can be traced through a hydropower internship with American Rivers in Washington, DC and work as a policy associate on energy and water resources at the Natural Heritage Institute in Berkeley, California. In addition, Tom co-founded the Headwaters Institute in 1996, which is a 501(c)(3) educational organization that organizes interpretive seminars for rafting, fly-fishing, and sea kayaking guides across North America. Tom is a National Outdoor Lea dership School semester course graduate and has worked as a commercial rafting and sea kayaking guide for ten years on New Mexico's Rio Grande, Utah's canyon rivers, West Virginia's Gauley, and California's Half Moon, San Francisco, and Tomales Bays. He course directed and instructed for the Colorado Outward Bound School for five years.
 

Erin Stagg is currently a third year law student at Boalt Hall. She has held an internship position at the California Attorney Generals office and worked as a summer associate at Steefel, Levitt & Weiss, where she had the opportunity to participate in a number of different water law projects. She received her B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in Political Science. Erin is originally from Silver Spring, Maryland.
 

Megan is currently in her second year at the University of San Francisco School of Law. She has held extern positions at the California department of justice environmental and land law sections and at the First District of the California Court of Appeals. Before her studies at USF Megan was involved as an environmental scientist consulting on varying water quality projects in California such as baseline management plans, habitat conservation plans, total maximum daily loads, and the development of water quality criteria. She received her Bachelors of Science degree in Biology from the University of Michigan. Megan is originally from Piedmont, California.
 

Brin has Vermont in him wherever he goes, even after he has swapped the green mountains for Utah's red and brown canyons. He guides for Holiday Expeditions and winters in Flagstaff. He feels a deep connection with the waters of the Plateau and is inspired to do everything he can to develop a keener public awareness of their geology and history. Time is of the essence.
 

John Weisheit has enjoyed the Colorado River since infancy and is currently a professional river guide on the canyon rivers of the Colorado Plateau. In 1993 he co-founded Colorado Plateau River Guides, is a current officer, and is also the editor of their journal, The Confluence. He has served as a trustee of the Dan O'Laurie Canyon Country Museum, Canyonlands Field Institute, Moab Art Center, Utah Guides and Outfitters, Glen Canyon Institute, and the Glen Canyon Action Network. John lives in Moab, Utah with his wife, Susette.
 

Katrina first connected with the Headwaters Institute as a participant at "Life on the Rocks" several years ago. Her expertise as a wildlife and fisheries biologist has allowed her to explore the nooks and crannies of the Four Corners and has brought her to Alaska for even more of the outdoors. How water interacts with the landscape is of the utmost importance for all the life dependent upon it.
 

Fledgling Co-Ordinator for the Deschutes River Rendevous. Striving to Inspire & Educate. AAS Natural Resource Conservation BSR Therapeutic Recreation. Raising 2 outdoor enthusiasts ( Cassidy & Wyatt) in Maupin Oregon on the Deschutes River, with husband John Creel.
 

Bob DeForrest has been living on the Maine coast since 1989. Much of that time has been spent either in the cockpit of a kayak leading trips, or in the field studying sea birds.A registered Maine guide since 1992, Bob has guided and instructed along the Maine coast and in the Sea of Cortez. Bob has also worked on various field ornithology projects on Maine coastal islands, North Dakotan soda lakes, and in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. For the past two and a half years he has been managing the paddle and ski departments of Cadillac Mountain Sports in Bar harbor and Ellsworth Maine. Bob will be heading back into the outdoors to teach environmental education and lead trips for the Chewonki Foundation.
 

Michelle is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area but relocated to the Gulf of Maine in 1999. She is constantly involved with the ocean whether it be connecting clients to the ocean through the sea kayaking trips she guides with Maine Island Kayak Company in the summer months to the teaching of high school Marine Biology and Environmental Studies.
 

Natalie Springuel is a registered Maine guide, a wilderness first responder and a writer. She has been a sea kayak guide and instructor since 1991, andteaches training programs for various groups and individuals hoping to pass the Maine guide exams for sea kayaking and recreation. In her role as president of the Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides and Instructors, Natalie works towards promoting safe and responsible sea kayaking on the coast of Maine. In her current position with Maine Sea Grant, she is also writing a book on kayak safety and stewardship. Natalie is an adventurer and spends much of her free time taking backcountry expeditions and exploring offshore islands.
 

Lynne is a NOLS instructor and the Development Coordinator for the McCall Outdoor Science School. She has guided on the Kern, the Middle Fork, and many other rivers that fuel her passion for outdoor education.
 

Peter is lucky enough to call himself a Kern River Guide, one of special band of nomads and wandering birds that season on the flows of the Kern River Valley. He spends most all of his time on the river working for a local company all summer.
 

Bill Houston is Registered Maine Guide, leading canoe and raft trips for 20+ years in Maine and a few other places almost as nice. He is also an Outdoor Resources Instructor at the Skowhegan Regional Vocational Center and is Graduate of University of Maine in Sociology and Political Science.
 

Jeff McEvoy began guiding river trips in Maine in 1983. In the late 80's he switched from rubber to royalex, leading canoe trips throughout Maine and eastern Canada as well as on the lower canyons of the Rio Grande. He has paddled with Project RAFT in Siberia and North Carolina and has floated many other rivers throughout the U.S. He is a Registered Maine Guide and actively leads wilderness canoe and ocean kayak trips in Maine and Canada. His passions include fly-fishing and upland bird hunting with his Springer Spaniels. Currently, Jeff works to organize river and forest protection efforts in for the Natural Resources Council of Maine and is a two-time coordinator for Headwaters Institute in Maine. He is a Graduate of the University of Maine in Forestry and Wildlife Management and has a M.Ed. from Boston University. He lives in New Gloucester with his wife, Beth and daughter, Keaton. "It is simple: All Maine Guides have a moral obligation to protect the resources on which they rely to earn there living."
 

Matty Mooreland has had a lifelong interest in concepts that promote harmony between humanity and nature. His professional career goal is to be an environmental planner, specializing in urban river restoration and river greenway design, in the response to the growing interest in water-based recreation in his home country  the Smokey Mountains. Rivers are at the core of communities long-term health, ecological, and economic sustainability. He has a degree in environmental studies from Brevard College (one of the best paddling colleges in the nation) where his senior project was an alternative transportation and passive recreational analysis of the Weaver Boulevard Greenway Corridor, one of the active-corridors in the proposed Asheville, North Carolina master greenway system. His research confirmed that greenways complement community revitalization programs, providing a network of trails, public open spaces, enhanced biological diversity, economic productivity, and quality of life. He was responsible for organizing the first-ever Headwaters Institute event in the Southeast, which was held on the Pigeon River, Tennessee in May of 2000.
 

Emily McGinty is a raft guide for ARTA on the Tuolumne and Rogue rivers and an instructor for NOLS on select western rivers. She is an accomplished kayaker and enjoys sharing the joy of rivers with others.
 

Don is the United States Forest Service river ranger for the Salt River.
 

Kelly was born in Portland, Oregon and grew up outside the city in a very rural town. She spent her first summer in Jackson in 1992, twenty five years after her mom did, and worked for the same family owned operation, Dornans. That summer and the next she made sandwiches, hiked all over Grand Teton National Park, and learned to mountain bike.

Six years later she found her way back to Jackson Hole to enjoy its splendour. She worked for the Teton Science School development team where she promoted special events and ran the annual gift campaign. She took up snowboarding and paragliding, continued to mountain bike, and gained an appreciation for rivers with her first multi-day river trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. She got hooked and channels this love for river running to the Snake River Fund where she works in fundraising, development, and special events.

"There is nothing like the freedom and peace you feel while floating with your friends."
 

Brian attended the inaugural Summit on the Snake in 1999 and left inspired by the enthusiasm the event brought to the Snake River guides and recreaional users. As a first time guide in 1999, his experiences at the Summit on the Snake were shared with hundreds of river guests that summer. Currently, Brian is a hydrologist with Teton Conservation District and a Board member with the Snake River Fund. He lives in Jackson, Wyoming and spends his time on the rivers and streams of the Northern Rocky Mountains.
 

Stephanie is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University living in the Matanuska Valley with its incredible wind and rugged landscape along with her husband.
 

The Alaska Natural History Symposium is being organized by a group of students at Alaska Pacific University. The undergraduate students are in a "Program Design and Leadership" class and organizing the symposium is the class project. Paul Twardock, Associate Professor and Director of Outdoor Studies at APU and veteran outdoor educator is overseeing the students as they go through the seminar creation process. He lends insight and guidance to maximize the experiential education aspect of organizing and creating a seminar.
 

Herm Hoops is one hell of a man. This son of Vermont farmers is a study in contrasts: from his deep booming voice, set in a bearded face to his tender heart and insights protected behind his thin dark skin. His arms and legs look like tightly strung wire, and one look at his eyes tells you that there are a lot of volts running through those wires. He came into this world as a bundle of elements, but mostly of covalent molecules, consisting of one-six electron oxygen atom and two-one electron hydrogen molecules ~ forming non-polar, non-linear bonds. Thus for fifty-seven years Herm has been the stuff of rivers. Life, following the course of rivers, has created barriers and opportunities. The importance of those elements has no more or less importance than the endless struggle of River, geology, and gravity. The rivers have been good to him, and perhaps, he has been good to them.
 

"I see this unique and wonderful river, and so many individuals who care for it: whitewater rafters and kayakers, as well as people and interest groups involved with the White Salmon. There is a fascinating history on this river and in its' valley, and now things are happening that will change its future. For the better or worse, everyone has their own opinion and interest concerning these changes. With the White Salmon Riverfest and Guide Symposium, I want to create an opportunity for people to share knowledge and passion and to learn from each other and other professionals in their field of interest to the White Salmon River. In addition, I would like this event to take place in a fun, relaxed atmosphere, where people feel safe and respected, and where they will all have a good time in a way that builds bridges among a diverse community. At Wet Planet, we see a great opportunity to share our gained knowledge with thousands of guests each year, while exploring the river with our guests each day. We feel fortunate to be one of few permitted outfitters on this river and are grateful for this opportunity to give something back to this beautiful river and its community."