Dr. George Archibald co-founded the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1973, along with Dr. Ronald Sauey, a colleague and friend from Cornell University, as a global center to study and conserve cranes and protect the habitats and flyways they need to survive.  

For 27 years, Dr. Archibald served as the President of the Foundation. In 2000, he passed on this leadership, and ever since, he has continued his full-time work to help raise the funds needed to fulfill the Foundation’s mission, while also supporting the many global programs he started. His current focus involves work in Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cuba, China, Pakistan, South Korea, and Russia. Dr. Archibald has always used the charisma of cranes to help unite people from diverse cultures and countries to work together to preserve habitats necessary for the survival of both cranes and people. 

For more than 50 years, his visionary leadership and determined optimism have supported integrated programs to conserve all 15 species of cranes worldwide. He envisioned programs developed and implemented using a creative combination of field research, public education, habitat protection, captive propagation, reintroduction, and partnership with local communities living near the cranes.  One of Dr. Archibald’s first projects in North America was to save the Endangered Whooping Crane, which was on the brink of extinction.

Dr. Archibald received his undergraduate degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1968, and completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1977. In recognition for his accomplishments, he has received four honorary doctorates and many awards including the Gold Medal from the World Wildlife Fund, a Fellows Award from the MacArthur Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Medal from the Zoological Society of San Diego, the Lilly Medal presented by the Indianapolis Zoo, and the Douglas H. Pimlott Award from Nature Canada. In 2013, Archibald was awarded the Order of Canada on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II and received the inaugural Dan W. Lufkin Prize for Environmental Leadership from the National Audubon Society.

Dr. Archibald lives in the countryside near the International Crane Foundation’s headquarters, where he enjoys gardening and aviculture. 

A Beak is a Bridge Between Field and Flyway is a multi-year, artist-led initiative exploring bird migration, land use, and ecological interreliance, led by artist Austen Camille and the Wormfarm Institute. This project will bring together artists, scientists, farmers, conservationists, rural and urban communities, and organizations at staging grounds throughout major bird migration routes known as ‘flyways’ for conversation and cultural action. Through public artworks, community engagement, shared meals and collective experiences, A Beak is a Bridge explores the interreliance between the health and well-being of migratory bird populations with that of rural communities, and the landscapes they share. 

During the Great Midwest Crane Fest, you will encounter artworks and performances by Amanda Leigh Evans and Tia Kramer of DeepTime Collective, Mark Menjívar, and Julia Blair, located at both the International Crane Foundation and the Aldo Leopold Foundation.

This project is supported by Wormfarm Institute, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts, International Crane Foundation, Aldo Leopold Foundation, Savanna Institute, and the Driftless Area Land Conservancy. 

Dr. Rich Beilfuss has served as the International Crane Foundation’s President & CEO and ex officio member of the Board of Directors since 2010. He helped launch many of the Foundation’s signature projects and provides oversight, vision and prioritization to the International Crane Foundation’s conservation programs across Asia, Africa and North America. He is responsible for the Foundation’s $9 million annual budget and led their $40 million comprehensive capital campaign.

From 2006 to 2009, Rich lived in Mozambique with his family and served as Director of Conservation Services for Gorongosa National Park. From 1992 to 2006, he was responsible for developing and managing the International Crane Foundation’s African regional program. He built a team of staff and partners in more than 20 countries across Africa, seeking deep connections with the communities who share their lands with cranes, and spearheaded public and private efforts to implement innovative water management practices in the water-stressed Zambezi River Basin for the benefit of cranes, many other species and human livelihoods.

Over his 30-year career, Rich has engaged in water management and wetland restoration efforts in more than 20 countries across Africa and Asia, focusing on Nepal, Vietnam, Mozambique and Zambia. He has contributed to restoring and managing thousands of acres of prairie and savanna landscape in the Midwestern United States. Rich has authored over 100 scientific papers, technical reports, proceedings and lay-audience publications and presented his research findings and conservation vision to governments, communities and peer scientists worldwide.

Rich is a Licensed Professional Hydrologist with a Ph.D. in Land Resources (Wetland Ecology), an M.Sc. in Civil and Environmental Engineering-Hydrology, an M.Sc. in Water Resources Management and a B.Sc. in International Economics. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, where he is an Honorary Fellow, and enjoys teaching courses and mentoring students. The Governor of Wisconsin appointed him to serve on the Examining Board of Professional Geologists, Hydrologists and Soil Scientists.

Rich lives in Madison with his wife, Katie, and their two sons. He is an avid unicycle rider, dart-thrower, and birder – but not all at the same time.

Lisa is a bird researcher and educator. She worked as an aviculturist to restore endangered populations of cranes and Guam rails, and as a field researcher for Wisconsin’s Trumpeter Swan Recovery Program. Wing-tagging and monitoring Turkey Vultures was a favorite long-term project, and for 30+ years, she and her ambassador Turkey Vulture have helped people consider beauty and attunement. She participates in bird monitoring with emphasis on how bird populations can guide land management in Sauk County, Wisconsin.

As executive director of the Leopold Foundation, my work may involve anything from giving a talk to fundraising to reviewing financial statements – sometimes all in the same day. Having joined the organization as an intern 20 years ago, I can honestly say I’ve done just about everything around here. At one point, I was a pretty decent field botanist, could run a chainsaw, and even acted as a line boss on prescribed burns.

My academic background is landscape architecture and plant ecology, but I’ve also completed a lot of professional development coursework on fundraising, management, and finance. I’ve been recognized as an Executive Scholar in Not‐for‐Profit Management by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. I also participated in the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation, and was elected to represent the Northeast Region at the U.S. Forest Service’s Centennial Congress. My contributions to books include a foreword with Nina Leopold Bradley in Aldo Leopold and the Ecological Conscience, and a chapter in The Farm as a Natural Habitat on assisting private landowners interested in implementing Leopold’s land ethic.

While my responsibilities have lately taken me away from the field, it has been very rewarding to see the Leopold Foundation’s programming and reach expand so much, and to know that we’re truly helping now to advance a conservation ethic across the country and beyond.

Sara Kalani is a Certified Veterinary Technician with 10 years of experience in veterinary medicine. Their career has evolved from client service and veterinary assisting to practicing as a CVT with interests spanning surgery, exotic animal medicine, laboratory diagnostics, and hematology. A passion for blood smear interpretation and clinical pathology led Sara to assist with crane health assessments at the International Crane Foundation, eventually opening the door to the current role. Today, Sara supports crane health and conservation through clinical care, diagnostics, and fieldwork. Sara enjoys learning new skills, sharing knowledge with others, and living by the philosophy of “see one, do one, teach one.”

Jennifer Lazewski has spent more than a decade enthusiastically advocating for birds, pollinators, and wildlife gardening as a UW-Madison Division of Extension volunteer in the Master Gardener and Master Naturalist programs. She is the former executive director of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, founder of the Southeast Wisconsin Master Gardener Pollinator Group, a Department of Natural Resources bumble bee ambassador, and co-manager of the native plant sale for the Wehr Nature Center in Milwaukee County.

Rachel Hausmann-Schall is the Artist Residency & Adult Program Manager at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. Rachel holds a B.F.A. from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design and is a practicing artist, writer, and educator. 

Emily Wesenick is the Youth and Family Program Manager at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. Emily holds a B.S. in Elementary Education and a B.A. in Arts Management from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Mike is a Baraboo native and longtime conservationist, ecologist, and historian. Retired from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, he continues his conservation work with organizations and landowners in the Baraboo Hills, Lower Wisconsin Riverway, and former Badger Army Ammunition Plant (especially Maa Wákącąk)—studying the effects of land management on wildlife populations. Mike was a founding member of the Badger History Group in 1998.  As its first chair, he served on the Badger Reuse Committee, organized the photographic exhibition Inside the Fence, and co-produced the video documentary Powder to the People. He is now the group’s president, committed to its mission: To collect, preserve, and share the histories of the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant and the Sauk prairie. We help each other learn from the past, engage with the present, and guide our shared future.

Mike provided the content for the Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance’s interpretive app Explore the Badger Lands, which integrates human and natural history, including the geology of this fascinating landscape. He has led 100s of Wisconsin field trips on various topics for organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Natural Resources Foundation. He loves co-leading at the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant with landowners and other stakeholders.

Evan Larson is a father, husband, teacher, and scientist who celebrates learning with heart and mind. Of European ancestry, Evan’s childhood took place in the woods of central Minnesota, helping his parents tend 80 acres of mixed hardwood forests. Drawn by mountains, oceans, and forests, his formal education includes an Environmental Science bachelor’s degree from Willamette University, and graduate degrees in geography from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (M.S.) and the University of Minnesota (Ph.D.). Less formally, Evan’s philosophy of life has been informed by significant doses of reflection, books, chainsaws, and firewood. As a Professor and Chair in the Department of Environmental Sciences & Society at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, the work currently at the center of Evan’s thoughts and energy is fueled by the enthusiasm of amazing Indigenous and non-Indigenous collaborators who are together working to re-story the interwoven relationships among people, fire, and pine in Great Lakes Forests, and translating this work to more good fire on the ground.

Dr. Stanley A. Temple is the Beers-Bascom Professor Emeritus in Conservation in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For 32 years, he held the academic position once occupied by Aldo Leopold, and during that time, he won every teaching award for which he was eligible. He and his students have helped save many of the world’s endangered species and the habitats on which they depend. He is currently a Senior Fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation. He has received conservation awards from the Society for Conservation Biology, The Wildlife Society, and Wisconsin Society for Ornithology. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. He has been President of the Society for Conservation Biology and Chairman of the Board of The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin. Stan was recently inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame.

Tyler Vouros crafts immersive, hyperrealist works that conjure imagined landscapes, where animal presence and natural symbolism intersect with echoes of old master paintings. Rooted in a childhood spent in a log home surrounded by wilderness, his practice reflects a lifelong entanglement with the natural world.

His drawings and paintings collapse the boundaries between observation and invention, reverence and ruin, anchoring mythic narratives with tactile mark-making. As both medium and metaphor, charcoal and oil serve as vessels for precision, atmosphere and memory.

Vouros has been awarded residencies at the Leipzig International Art Programme in Germany, the Rockport Center for the Arts in Texas, and the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, where he has also served as a juror for the residency and fellowship program. He is a recipient of a MASS MoCA grant and has completed commissioned projects for clients including Grupo Cortefiel and CHANEL. Vouros has been featured in Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Western Art Collector, Glasstire, Manifest INDA, Artscope, and on National Public Radio.

His work has been exhibited in museums including the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and the Bozeman Art Museum. He is represented by the Richard J. Demato Gallery and has shown at notable venues such as Collier West, Flowers Gallery, Haven Gallery, Sotheby’s, international art fairs including Art Miami and Art Southampton, and his pieces are held in both private patron and permanent museum collections.

Currently, Tyler lives with his wife and children in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, where his professional studio practice resides, and he is an Associate Professor of Art at the Community College of Rhode Island.