Author

Barbara A. Hayes is an environmental scientist and regulatory specialist with Hayes Environmental LLC. She is also on the board of trustees for The Nature Conservancy, vice president of The Green Omaha Coalition Board and past chairman of the Douglas County Planning Commission.

Amanda Mobley, originally from Grass Valley, Calif., is a recent graduate (spring 2008) of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the curatorial assistant at the Great Plains Art Museum. She served as guest curator for “The Canopy Overhead: The Later Years of Dwight Kirsch” exhibition.

Suzanne Smith Arney is a writer and arts educator in Omaha, Neb. A native Nebraskan, she is proud of and energized by the high caliber of artists living in the state. The arts here, like the land itself, often surprise visitors by their variety and strengths.

David Pope of Topeka, Kan., is executive director of the Missouri River Association of States and Tribes and a consultant on water and natural-resources issues. He previously served as Kansas chief engineer for 24 years, where he administered laws related to the regulation and management of water. He also represented the State of Kansas on river compacts and Missouri River issues. Pope holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in agricultural engineering from Oklahoma State University, where he specialized in irrigation and water-resources engineering.

Thomas B. Bragg is a professor of biology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and director of the university’s Allwine Prairie Preserve. His research focuses on fire in Midwestern prairies and oak-savanna ecosystems including long-term studies initiated in 1976. Additional studies were initiated in Western Australia beginning in 2000.

Robert K.

Mark L. Moseman grew up on a farm near Oakland, Neb., and has lived in New York, Arizona and Missouri. He was an architect and city planner before becoming an agrarian artist. His studio is an old Nebraska farmhouse. He is one of the founding board members of Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art in David City, Neb., and serves as the museum’s first curator.

Linda M. Kalbach taught high school social studies for 16 years in Colorado and at the Arts and Humanities Focus Program in Lincoln (Neb.) Public Schools before joining the Doane College faculty in Crete, Neb., as an assistant professor of education. Her instructional approach includes active questioning and prompts to analyze political and economic realities and their hidden agendas.

Jim Locklear has been director of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum since 1994. He and his wife Lynn live in Lincoln. They have two daughters who have graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a son attending the University of Nebraska-Kearney. As a botanist and horticulturist, one of his favorite quotes comes from “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” by Annie Dillard: “I suspect that the real moral thinkers end up, wherever they may start, in botany.”

Jack Pollock is former longtime publisher of the Keith County News at Ogallala. He is a past president of the Nebraska Press Association and is a member of the Nebraska Newspaper Hall of Fame. As editor and publisher, he sought funding for development of Fort Robinson State Historical Park and Lake McConaughy.