I first came to Zion Adventure Company in 2007 as a client for a half-day canyoneering adventure with Scott - an amazing experience amidst red maples on red sandstone. Later, I rented a gear package to hike The Narrows - the first of many such adventures - and signed up for the Wilderness First Responder course in 2009. Over the last few years, I got hooked on this wonderful place and community.

I actually live in Zion National Park, in the Ranger Residence Area in Oak Creek Canyon. My wife, Amy Gaiennie, is a seasonal interpretive ranger. I serve as a volunteer in the interpretive division, working at the Visitor Center and roving the front country trails. Since 2005, I have served as a volunteer for several National and State Parks and Recreation Areas. My volunteer work has ranged from writing a book on the insects of Zion National Park, to conducting surveys of rare snails, butterflies, and birds in several different places to leading pontoon boat tours.

My life has been a chain of interlinked adventures in the natural world. I am a graduate of Prescott College (“Education is a journey, not a destination.”) (B.A. in Biology, 1972, Thesis: Natural History of the Prescott College Campus); University of Nevada, Las Vegas (M.S. in Biology, 1981, Thesis: Mammals of the Grapevine Mountains, Death Valley National Monument); and the University of Arizona (Ph.D. in Entomology and Ecology, 1985, Dissertation: Bionomics and Management of Pest Mosquitoes at the Agro-Urban Interface).  Most of my work life has been as a consultant in ecological research and management. My work included invertebrate, mammal, bird, amphibian, reptile, and plant surveys of many areas in the Southwest and Hawaii, in a variety of natural and human-influenced habitats including wilderness, wildland, subterranean, wetland, riparian, agricultural, and urban habitats. I earned a reputation as an expert on the study and conservation of rare invertebrates that live in areas that are difficult to study, such as montane meadows, desert sand dunes, transitory and isolated bodies of water, caves and inactive mines. I have also worked as a wrangler, naturalist, and guide on a dude ranch in Arizona, a National Park Service biologist, and as a college instructor in biology and natural history subjects.

I totally love sharing the natural world with people of all levels of understanding and helping them learn to see things that they have never seen before.