Presenters
Keynote: Robert Searns
Robert Searns has a four-decade history of visualizing, planning, and getting trails and greenway projects built. He was Project Director of Denver’s Platte River and Mary Carter Greenways—both national-award-wining projects. He helped plan the Grand Canyon NP Greenway, and played a key role in planning the Memphis Wolf River Greenway.
He authored Beyond Greenways: The Next Step For City Trails and Walking Routes (One of 10 "Best Books of 2023"--American Society of Landscape Architects) and co-authored Greenways: A Guide to Planning Design and Development. He has written for Public Square, Landscape Architecture, American Trails and Planning Magazines.
He has hosted numerous Webinars, interviewed on multiple podcasts, and has been a keynote speaker as well as a trainer for the U.S. National Park Service and the Urban Land Institute. He chaired American Trails and was a founder of The World Trails Network. He was also a delegate to the America’s Great Outdoors White House conclave. He resides, writes, hikes and bikes near Denver, Colorado.
Lora Friest
Lora Friest is the Tourism Liaison for the Iowa Tourism Office. She was the Executive Director for Northeast Iowa RC&D for over 20 years where she helped develop, market and maximize dozens of community and regional land and water trails. In her current position with IEDA Tourism Office, Friest to help maximize tourism partnership, projects and marketing for Iowa.
Austin Dunn
Austin Dunn is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University and a licensed landscape architect. In professional practice, Austin has focused on active transportation projects, such as trail corridors and complete streets. His current scholarship focuses on the multifunctionality of midwestern rail-trail landscapes.
Chris McQueen
Chris McQueen grew up in Utah and has lived and ridden his bike in Idaho, Michigan, California, and now calls Glenwood, Iowa home. He lives in the Loess Hills with his wife and four sons.
Chris started the Iowa Gravel Series in 2021 after putting on the 2020 Glenwood Gravel Grinder. Apparently starting a gravel race and then a series of races in the middle of a pandemic seemed like a good idea. Since 2020 IGS events have welcomed thousands of racers and riders from all over the midwest to explore some of the best parts of Iowa.
Derek Seward
Derek is an Iowa native, growning up in a small western Iowa town in the heart of the Loess Hills. His passion for the outdoors was sparked early by a love for hunting and fishing, hobbies Derek continues to enjoy today. Derek has degrees in Forestry and Animal Ecology from Iowa State University. Following graduation, he worked in northern Indiana for federal and state entities in the natural resource field. In 2020, Derek joined Story County Conservation as a Trails/Natural Resource Technician. In this position, Derek manages over 90 miles of trails, catering to a wide range of users. His responsibilities include building and installing over 300 new trail steps, replacing bridges, installing erosion control structures, and developing wayfinding systems for Story County parks with. When not working, Derek cherishes his time with family—his wife, our 5-month-old daughter, two dogs, and three cats.
Eric Williams
Eric Williams has been the Natural Resources Planner with the Papio NRD for the past 10 years. His work focuses on building trails for recreation, active transportation, and access to natural resources for people in the metro area, and the northern communities across the NRD territory. He has led miles of award-winning trail planning, design, and construction with major structural components including the Valley Pedestrian Bridge and the Platte River Bridge Trail. Eric is originally from Omaha, studied Civil Engineering at Rice University, and has lived in the Dundee neighborhood for the past 18 years. In his spare time, he helps develop policy to advance clean energy and electrification.
Erin Reed
Erin Reed is the Executive Director for the Dickinson County Trails Board. She joined the board as a volunteer in 2006 after its restructuring from an association to a board under the county government. Her background is in civil engineering and she spent 12 years at the Jackson County Minnesota Highway Department writing grants, designing and overseeing project development for several new trails in the county. In 2016, she was hired as executive director of the Trails Board where she continues her passion for the development and maintenance of recreational trails throughout the Iowa Great Lakes.
Dr. Jan Thompson
Jan Thompson is on the faculty in the Natural Resource Ecology and Management Department at Iowa State University and directs the Urban Natural Resources, Ecosystems, and Landscapes research lab there. She regularly teaches courses on forest biology, urban forestry, and biodiversity conservation in urban regions. She conducts research on the dynamics of land use and ecosystem integrity in urban landscapes, opportunities for production of table food in and near urban areas, urban stormwater management and its influence on urban stream ecology, and how urban trees/forests can increase climate resiliency in urban environments.
Julia Badenhope
Julia Badenhope is an associate professor and director of Iowa's Living Roadways Community Visioning program at Iowa State. She directs the statewide community design assistance program, integrating teaching, research and outreach. The American Planning Association and the Federal Highways Administration have recognized her efforts with their highest national awards. She has garnered funding and design talent for the state's smaller, often-underserved communities, integrating multidisciplinary collaboration and inspiring grassroots design, even as she publishes, mentors and advises.
Kat Shiffler
Kat Shiffler is a landscape architect with the National Park Service – Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program. Based in Southeast Nebraska, Kat works with communities to plan and design parks and trails; employing the resources, expertise and conservation and outdoor recreation mission of the NPS to uplift local initiatives in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and North Dakota. Learn more about NPS RTCA’s technical assistance to communities at nps.gov/rtca.
Kelly Madigan
Kelly Madigan is a poet and conservation advocate. In 2020, she walked the entire length of the Loess Hills in Iowa, which inspired a movement known as The LoHi Trail, a vision of safe passage for humans and other creatures through the biologically unique landform of the Loess Hills. She teaches creative writing workshops through Larksong Writers Place. Her books include The Edge of Known Things (SFASU Press) and Getting Sober (McGraw-Hill.)
Ken Bryan, Senior Strategist for External Relations
Ken Bryan is a native Floridian who enjoys the warm outdoor lifestyle the state’s trails, beaches, lakes and springs offer. He built his first trails in the woods near his home, but times have changed.
Where he once was sworn to secrecy regarding the location of the trails that he and his neighborhood friends built, he is now committed to advancing public trails for all to use including the Miami LOOP.
Luke Hoffman
Luke Hoffman is the Executive Director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. The Iowa Bicycle Coalition is a statewide nonprofit organization working to make Iowa more safe, accessible and enjoyable for everyone on or off a bike by advocating, educating, and building community.
Matt Moles
Matt Moles currently serves as the park manager at Waubonsie State Park in the Loess Hills of extreme Southwestern Iowa. He came to work in conservation through a lifetime of outdoor pursuits, great mentors, and a solid education at Iowa State University. Matt is an avid woodworker, gardener, hunter, cyclist, and fisherman. He also enjoys backcountry canoeing and kayaking, backpacking, and trekking mountain passes on foot and snowshoe. Matt is a native son of the Loess Hills and Missouri River Valley, and is passionate about conservation in that region, volunteering time with organizations that promote and perform prescribed fire and sound management practices. Before working at Waubonsie, he served a year-long Americorps term with the State Parks Trails Crew; an experience that fostered a special interest in building and maintaining sustainable trails in the Loess Hills and beyond.
Michelle Franks
Teva Dawson began her career path of invention by designing her own major in Environmental Education from Drake University which led to the creation of Des Moines’ first Community Garden Program. She spearheaded Greater Des Moines’ first Water Trails and Greenways Plan which evolved to become ICON Water Trails. Teva invested 15 years in central Iowa implementing civic engagement and integrated planning with cities and through regional government collaboration around the themes of parks and recreation, transportation systems, resiliency planning and health in all policies. In 2017 Teva founded Group Creative Services, an art and culture consultancy expanding the role of artists in communities to make them more dynamic, welcoming and beautiful.
Mimi Wagner
Mimi is a licensed landscape architect with a regional practice in resilience-based design. She focuses on helping communities and regions leverage their natural resources as assets for recreation and tourism, conservation, economic development, flood damage reduction, and enhanced quality of life. Mimi is a hands-on, interdisciplinary planner who thrives on engaging with stakeholders and clients on a range of scales from watersheds to neighborhoods. She was hired by Iowa DNR to develop their state water trail plan, IOWA WATER TRAILS: Connecting People with Water and Resources, as well as their guidelines for planning and site design, Developing Water Trails in Iowa. Mimi has managed planning efforts for state water trails in twelve Iowa counties from the earliest local conversations with locals to final signage plans and approved project sponsorship forms at the end.
Pete Phillips
Pete Phillips is retired from the Omaha Fire Department and lives in Council Bluffs with his wife Kay, where they raised their three children. He and his sister Tammy Pavich own and operate Pork Belly Ventures, headquartered in Minden, Iowa. Pork Belly began as a RAGBRAI charter service but has grown to provide services to other rides and events, including some of their own creation. Loosely, Pete is the equipment designer and builder, accounting guy, and Chief Operations Officer. He loves riding his bike and the Wabash Trace, for which he was one of the founding members and is also a current board member.
Ryan ZimmerMas
Ryan ZimmerMas is Project Manager at Spark, a holistic community development nonprofit in Omaha, Nebraska. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Ryan also lived in Indiana, Portland, Ore., and Germany before moving to Omaha to start a family while earning his master’s degree in public administration from UNO. Prior to joining Spark, Ryan was the Lead Program Manager at the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED), project managing the rollout of millions of dollars in state and federal Economic Recovery grants in North and South Omaha and greater Nebraska. He also has experience in affordable housing development, having served as the first-ever DED Housing Representative in the Omaha metro area. At Spark, Ryan oversees the development of phases 2, 3, and 4 of the North Omaha Trail, a multimodal urban trail that will form an 8-mile loop once complete. Ryan is also helping Spark to launch Co-Development, a new apprenticeship program for emerging housing developers.
Vincent Martorello
Vincent Martorello is the Parks and Recreation Director for Council Bluffs, Iowa. He has been with the City for six years. He has been a parks professional for over ten years, a facilities director for Oregon State University for eight years, and has served as a municipal planner, environmental services manager, and landscape construction worker. He has a Masters of Landscape Architecture a Masters in Urban Planning, and a Bachelors Degree in Plant Science. He uses all of his education and broad experience on capital projects from the design concept to operational control. During the design process, Vincent focuses in on long range operations and maintenance costs and guides a final design towards reducing long term costs to the City. Vincent is married to Ronni and together they have four kids and three grandchildren.