2010 Speakers:

Gary Ferguson
Award-Winning Author

Formerly an interpretive naturalist for the U.S. Forest Service, Gary Ferguson of Red Lodge, 
Montana, has been a freelance writer for the past 20 years. Having authored 15 books on nature 
and science, his goal as a writer is to chronicle the impact of the natural world on human lives. 
Gary’s award winning May 2003 National Geographic title, Hawks Rest: A Season in the Remote 
Heart of Yellowstone, profiles critical environmental issues in the most remote place in the lower 
48. In 2004 W.W. Norton released his critically acclaimed title, The Great Divide:The Rocky 
Mountains in the American Mind. In April 2005 he co-authored Decade of the Wolf: Returning
the Wild to Yellowstone with Doug Smith.

Dean Reeder

National Tourism Chief

Dean Reeder heads the Office of Sustainable Tourism within the National Park Service and 
brings to the conference a background blend of private sector hotel and resort management 
and public sector tourism, recreation, and economic development. Before joining the NPS, 
Reeder served as Executive Director of the Utah Division of Travel Development. While 
in that capacity he was also active in several regional efforts having chaired the Colorado 
Plateau Forum, the Western States Tourism Policy Council, and a Western Governors 
Association Advisory Board. He holds a Masters in Business Administration degree from 
the University of Utah and is a Visiting Research Fellow at Renmin University of China.

Michael Yochim

Author and Outdoor Recreation Planner

Mike Yochim currently works as a Project Manager in Yosemite National Park, working 
on both the Merced and Tuolumne river plans. Prior to coming to Yosemite, he worked 
on the snowmobile issue in Yellowstone and wrote in 2009 Yellowstone and the Snowmobile.
Yochim has a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s 
degree in environmental studies from the University of Montana.