Meet our Board of Directors:
Trevor Pellerite
Trevor is the founder and President of the Colorado Prairie Initiative. After earning a writing degree at Northern Michigan University, he moved to Montana where he worked as a hunting guide in the plains of northeastern Montana. While chasing mule deer and antelope through the sage, Trevor fell in love with the expansive grasslands of the American heartland, and eventually decided to pursue a career in public land law. While at the University of Colorado, Trevor has participated in environmental student groups and serves as the Executive Editor of the Environmental Law Review, for which he wrote an article about the role of private conservation efforts in prairie restoration. He has worked for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as well as a private law firm. After graduating, Trevor hopes to continue to pursue a career in public lands and natural resources law.
Harmon Zuckerman
Harmon
is an attorney whose practice is focused on land use law and who also counsels clients in water law, real estate, and civil litigation matters. Before becoming a lawyer, he had two careers: one as a land use, environmental, and community planner in the public and non-profit sectors and another in building and design. As a planner, he directed the update of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s regional plan and served as the head planner for Douglas County, Nevada, updating the county’s master and open space plan documents and drafting numerous ordinances that preserve ranchland while increasing the economic vitality and enhancing the built environment of the Carson Valley’s small towns. In the construction field, he was both the owner of a design/build firm and a construction manager, in both cases focusing on adaptive reuse and historic preservation projects. Harmon attended law school at the University of Colorado, and while there he interned for a Federal judge, performed pro bono work to protect and preserve the acequia community irrigation systems in southern Colorado, and became a founding CPI Board Member. Harmon serves on the Planning Board for the City of Boulder and, in his spare time, enjoys family life and a seemingly ever-expanding range of outdoor activities.
Meryl Schimek
Meryl has a varied background in natural resource management, outdoor alternative education and veterinary medicine. Growing up in Detroit, she fell in love with the untouched acres of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She attended Northern Michigan University, earning a bachelor’s degree in outdoor recreation leadership and management, with the skills to connect people to the environment that surrounds them. After graduation, she moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota to work as a veterinary technician. Impressed with the green spaces afforded by the Twin Cities metro area, Meryl interned with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota, combining her love of animals, wildlife management and public health. Traveling to the Dakotas and Montana has reinforced Meryl’s desire to educate others about the conservation of these wild lands. Meryl will be starting veterinary school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in the fall of 2014. Upon graduation, she hopes to pursue a career with a mixed animal practice or in public health.
Gaddy Bergman
Gaddy Bergmann grew up in Denver with a love for nature and animals, and earned his BA in Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He received his MS in Zoology from the University of South Florida, Tampa, where he studied the ecology of an invasive fish in the Florida Everglades. After returning to Colorado, Gaddy received his PhD in Biology, also from CU Boulder, researching the diet, gut microbiota, and management of American bison in Colorado and other Great Plains states. Gaddy has worked as a researcher, educator, and writer for many years. When he’s not doing any of those, he can be found hanging out with his wife, son, and two dogs.
Other Staff
Courtney Cox – Graphic Designer
Courtney was born and raised in the mountains of Colorado, and thinks baby bison are pretty adorable. After graduating with a Studio Art degree from the Colorado College, Courtney further developed her design skills and began doing freelance logo and layout projects. In addition to freelancing, Courtney also works in the art department of a sportswear company and displays artwork locally on a regular basis.