Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Assn.

Name: Ed Culhane

Address: 415 S. Oneida St., Appleton, WI 54911

Phone (Work): 715-781-1683

Phone (Mobile): 715-892-1921

E-mail (Work): EdwardJ.Culhane@wisconsin.gov

E-mail (Home): edculhane@gmail.com

Note: DNR Public Affairs Manager NE Wisconsin

Background: Ed Culhane of Appleton, Wisconsin is a communications specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  In addition to assisting communication strategies, he helps news reporters on deadline, does on-camera or taped interviews and produces news releases.  He takes photographs and shoots video for DNR Facebook posts and other online venues.  He also contributes  photographs and feature length stories for  Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine. 

Culhane is a FEMA-certified public information officer and serves on both DNR and Wisconsin incident management teams. 

Prior to joining the DNR in 2008, Culhane spent 26 years as a newpaper reeporter, including 22 years with the Post-Crescent in Appleton.  From 1992 through May of 2006, Culhane was the newspaper's environmental reporter and outdoor writer. His Sunday outdoor column won five first-place finishes in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association's annual competition (1993, 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2005) and six second or third place honor in (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004, and 2006).

In February 2006, Culhane was named Communicator of the Year by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.  He was named Outstanding Conservation Journalist for 2005 by the Wisconsin State Council of Trout Unlimited.  Among other honors, he received a Scripps Howard Foundation Environmental Reporting Award in 2004 and a WNA first place for enterprise reporting in 1995.  He is frequently asked to speak to student groups and twice led seminars at UW-Madison's annual Writers Institute.

Name: Tim Eisele
Address: 129 S. Segoe Road, Madison, WI  53705-4936
Phone: 608-233-2904
E-Mail: teisele@chorus.net

Freelance writer/photographer
Background: Tim Eisele is a full time freelance outdoor writer and photographer.  He covers natural resources, the Department of Natural Resources and the Natural Resources Board for Wisconsin Outdoor News.  His articles have appeared in many other publications, including The Capital Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Wisconsin State Journal.  His work has been recognized by awards from the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Conservation Congress, State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Madison Audubon Society, and others.

He and his wife own and manage 100 acres in Crawford County and they were named Wild Turkey Woodland Owners of the year by the State Chapter of National Wild Turkey Federation in 2005.  The Crawford County Land Conservation Department recognized their work on their woodland with the Forestry Award in 2011 when they also received the District Tree Farmer of the Year Award.

Tim was invited by the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to judge the 1995 Federal Duck Stamp competition, he served a six-year term on the board of The Friends of the Arboretum and a two-year term on board of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association.  He is a founding member and honorary lifetime member and two-time past president of the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association.  He serves on the Board of Governors of the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame, and the Board of Visitors of Trees For Tomorrow in Eagle River.  He is an instructor in the Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow program to help preserve the future of hunting.

Tim has two Power Point presentations that are available to organizations:  “Ding’s Darling,” about Ding Darling and the Federal Duck Stamp, and “From Weeds to Wild Flowers on Gobbler Ridge,” about his attempt to increase biodiversity and incorporate a prairie on land in Crawford County.

Name: Lisa Gaumnitz

Address: 1147 Rutledge St., Madison, WI 537203

Phone (Mobile): 608-235-2201

E-mail: lisa.gaumnitz03@gmail.com

Writer, Information Officer WDNR

Lisa Gaumnitz has been writing about Wisconsin's Natural Resources for nearly 20 years, mostly as a public information officer for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. She recently resumed freelance writing and editing and often writes for the "Wisconsin Natural Resources" magazine.  Gaumnitz lives in Madison with her family and enjoys traveling the state to fish, camp, bike,and ski.  

Name: Glenn Helgeland

Address: 10459 N. Wauwatosa Rd, Mequon, WI 53097

Phone (Work): 262-402-7668

Phone (Home): 262-242-3530

E-mail: glenn.helgeland@gmail.com

Background: UW-Madison graduate, double major in Journalism and the biological aspects of conservation.  Has been associate editor of National Wildlife magazine, editor/associate publisher of Archery World (now Bowhunting World) magazine, founding editor-publisher of Archery Business magazine, Owned Target Communications Corp 1980-2011. Owned and produced deer & turkey hunting expos (Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee) 1985-2011. Sold the expos to Bonnier Corp (publisher of Field & Stream and Outdoor Life in 2011. Edited and published 22 books, as co-author of several. Flunked retirement.  Back to publishing books again as Target Communications Outdoor Books LLC (TCOB) and working to learn social media marketing. Details at www.targetcommbooks.com

Name: Jerry Kiesow

Address: 1690 Dellwood Ct.,Grafton, WI 53024

Phone: 262-375-1476 (home)

Phone: 262-339-2432 (cell)

E-mail: mrmrsprg8@wi.rr.com

Background: I bill myself as an Outdoor Communicator. I guess that’s right. I am a freelance photographer/writer, with over 10,000 outdoor images in my stock file; write for a variety of publications - local and national; teach fly fishing and fly tying; and can be convinced to do workshops on all of the above, plus how I wrote my two books - Tales of The Peshtigo Putzer and Photos, Poems, and a Little Bit of Prose and how each presented different situations when publishing. I also do workshops on other outdoor subjects: point and shoot cameras come to mind. I guess that qualifies me as an outdoor communicator. I belong to three organizations connected with my crafts: Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA), Wisconsin Writers’ Association (WWA), and Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association (WOCA), of which I am, currently, on the board of directors. I am also vice-president of Friends of Gov. Thompson State Park, Crivitz, Wisconsin. Look for me wading streams, paddling lakes, walking, skiing or snowshoeing woods and fields, anytime of the year. Just look for a funny looking, grey bearded guy carrying a rod or gun, or gathering berries or morels or nuts, carrying a camera. Always carrying a camera.

Keep a good thought!

Name: Mark Labarbera

Address: 2955 Kennedy Rd., Hazel Green, WI 53811

Phone (Mobile): 520-730-9252

E-mail (Work): mark@marklabarbera.com

E-mail (Home): malabarb@peoplepc.com

Background: Award-winning Multimedia Content Producer. Editor, Learn the Outdoors.com online magazine. Founder, Outdoor Heritage Education Center. Outdoor Columnist, Morris Newspapers of Wisconsin. Editor/Publisher "SCI Hunters" bimonthly magazine. Producer/Videographer outdoor TV specials and online videos with Dan Small. Founder/Organizer, Midwest Outdoor Heritage Education Expo.

Vice-chair 2019-21/Treasurer 2014-18, Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin. Member, Wisconsin Sporting Heritage Council. Director, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and Wisconsin Conservation Congress. Advisory Comm., "Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan 2019-2024.

Former Minnesota DNR Director of Communications and head of Information and Education. Past President and Chair, Outdoor Writers Association of America and Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers. Former President, Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance, successfully advocating for Minnesota sales tax alternative funding for natural resources. Former member, National Steering Committee, Becoming and Outdoors-Woman. Former Board Member, Congressional Sportsamn Foundation, NSSF, Tread Lightly, American Sportfishing Association and others. Founding Board Member, Wildlife Forever and Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation. He authored Youth Conservation Congress Strategic Plan currently being implemented. Mark served at request of US Fish & Wildlife Director as Federal Duck Stamp Judge in 1995.

Name: Tom Luba

Address: 

Phone:

E-mail: tomluba7@gmail.com

Background: Tom writes freelance articles about open-water fishing. He worked 25 years at Krause Publications in Iola as a production manager. 

Name:  Gary N-ski

Phone: 608-445-9452

E-mail: garynski@frontier.com

Websites: www.garynski.com

www.greatwildradioshow.com

www.hardwaterwarriors.com

www.lodivalleynews.com

Gary N-ski

Good Ideas Company LLC

Studio/Gallery 141 Lodi Street Studio B, W10255 State Rd. 60, Lodi, WI 53555

Co-Host, Co-Producer, & Owner - The Great Wild Radio Show

Member - AGLOW, Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers

Member - WOCA, Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association

Award Winning Gary N-ski Photography Studios

National Board Member - Fishing Has No Boundaries

Hobie Kayak Fishing Pro Team Member

Exclusive Distributor & Owner of Project Lures LLC

Wisconsin Licensed Hunting and Fishing Guide

Background: Gary N-ski is an award winning outdoors photojournalist/communicator for over 40 years.  His work has been published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, The Missoulian, Montana Trails Magazine, Anchorage Times, Pheasants Forever, Country Magazine and Hometown Newsgroup, Wisconsin Academy of Arts & Science, and Lodi Valley New.com ... to name a few. 

He was the Photography Coordinator for UW-LaCrosse, Mass Communications Dept.

Photography Instructor for the University of Alaska, Madison Area Technical College, and the Glacier Conservatory of Music and Fine Arts-Whitefish, Montana.

Gary and his wife Deb of 32 years, own the Good Ideas Company LLC.

Gary was co-founder of Ultimate Outdoors Radio Show

Gary was co-founder and director of marketing for The Big Wild Radio Show

Gary is found, co-host & owner of the Great Wild Radio Show 

Since 1975 Gary has won dozens of State and National photojournalism awards.

Gary is also a founding member of the Arts Tribe.  A visual arts collective based in Madison, Wisconsin.  He recently exhibited at the Commonwealth Gallery, Pyle Center and the Overture Center in Madison.

He has been a member of the National Press Photographers Association, the American Society of Media Photographers, and currently the Association of Great Lakes Outdoors Writers-AGLOW, and the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association - WOCA.

AGLOW 2014 President's Award Winner, AGLOW 2015 Chevy Trucks Best of Show - The Pet Czura Award

Name: Bruce Neeb

Address: 2027 Eighth St.

Phone: 715-579-5287

E-mail: goldenpineco@charter.net

Website: www.goldenpineco.com

Background: Bruce Neeb of Eau Claire was the Government Outreach/Grants and Loans Team Leader for Wisconsin's DNR West Central and Northwestern regions prior to his retirement in 2017.  During his 20 years with the DNR in Eau Claire, Bruce also administered environmental and recreational grant programs and served as the region's Waterway Access Coordinator.  He served as a Senior Public Affairs Manager with the Department's Bureau of Communications and Education in Madison for seven years before moving back to Eau Claire. Bruce graduated from U.W. Eau Claire in 1981 with a double major in Journalism and Speech (Broadcast and Film emphasis). In college he worked as a reporter and morning drive newscaster with WAXX-FM/WAYY-AM. Upon graduation, he moved to Madison and worked with WKOW-TV as a reporter, anchor, and assignment editor before joining the DNR.  Now, semi-retired, Bruce serves as a consultant in waterways access discontinuance, grant applications and administration, and communications planning and production through his firm, Golden Pine Co. (www.goldenpineco.com). He also serves on the Communications Committee for Wisconsin's Green Fire (https://wigreenfire.org/).

Name: Judy Nugent

Address: 3168 N. Hamposhire Ln, Waukegan, IL 60087

Phone: 

E-mail: mnugent847@comcast.net

Background:  Judy Nugent has been writing for several years.  Her work can be found in Wisconsin Outdoor News, Wisconsin Outdoor Journal, Wisconsin Sportsman, Midwest Outdoors, Fly Fisherman Magazine, and Snowshoe Magazine among others.  She is also on the TV show Outdoor Wisconsin.  She has a Mater's Degree in Education. 

Name: Dan Small

Address:

Phone (Home): 608-634-4082

Phone (Mobile): 414-588-4082

E-mail (Work): dan@dansmalloutdoors.com

Background: Dan Small has been host/producer of Milwaukee Public Television's "Outdoor Wisconsin"  since its premiere in November 1984. He also produces and hosts a weekly radio show, Outdoors RADIO with Dan Small, which airs on broadcast stations throughout Wisconsin and on numerous websites.

He is also contributing editor of Wisconsin Outdoor News, a bi-weekly newspaper that covers outdoor activities, environmental concerns and other items of interest to Wisconsin's sportsmen and women. Dan is the author of Fish Wisconsin and co-author of The Official Outdoor Wisconsin Cookbook and Wild Harvest Cookbook. He also hosted the Field To Feast series of instructional hunting, fishing, and cooking series.

He is past president of the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association and past board member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the Association Great Lakes Outdoor Writers.  He has served on the boards of the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation, Friends of Milwaukee River's and the Milwaukee Revitalization Council.

He is an avid outdoorsman and a widely published writer/photographer with credits in national and regional magazines. His writing and broadcast efforts have won more than 100 awards in his regional and national competition.  He was named Conservation Communicator of the year in 1986 by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, and in 1990 received the Gordon MacQuarrie Award for excellence in environmental communications from the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters.  He holds a PhD from Rice University.

Name: Laurel F. Steffes

Address: 33 Stacy Lane, Madison, WI 53716

Phone (Work): 608-234-8952

Phone (Home): 608-222-9738

E-mail: Laurel.Steffes@gmail.com

Retired WDNR Information and Education Director

Background: Laurel was one of the Daily Cardinal editors at the height of the war-protest years (yes, THAT Daily Cardinal), wrote an educational column syndicated in 26 daily Canadian newspapers and classroom educational materials, and managed five scholarly journals at the University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate school. She joined the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in 1977 as promotion and production manager for the Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine, eventually taking the reins of all DNR's communications and educational programs as director.

Her experience includes managing law-enforcement communications during spearfishing unrest; managing state crisis situations such as the fatal northern Wisconsin fatal plane crash and high profile murder investigation; orchestrating events for recreational land acquisitions, park dedications, and environmental cleanups; and front line communications for spills, fires, the discovery of CWD, and more. 

Name: Nick Vander Puy

Address: 631 Crestview Lane, Apt. 210, Mellen, WI 54546

Phone:

E-mail: nickvanderpuy@gmail.com

Writer, Radio Producer, speaker

Background: Nick "Fishhawk" Vander Puy was an up and coming fishing guide and outdoor writer living in Eagle River, Wisconsin, during the 1980's, when the Walleye War started... After hearing sportsmen scream "Timber Nigger" and "Save a walleye, spear a pregnant squaw" at the landings Vander Puy moved away from sport fishing, under the tutoring of Anishinaabeg elders, to become a public radio journalist and subsistence hunter and gatherer. Vander Puy went onto produce many public radio features, including "The Day the Bear Died" which ran on the NPR's flagship show "All Things Considered" and was heard by millions. While living on Madeline Island

(Moningwanakauning Minis) Vander Puy received a grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council to produce an hour long radio feature, "Manoominike: Wild Rice, Tom Vennum Jr, Fred Ackley Jr, and the Ojibway People" which is available on Sound Cloud. Vander Puy enjoys ricing, hunting deer, netting cisco, snaring rabbits, ice fishing, making maple sugar and gathering plants. He's working on a book "Our Life in the Forest" about infusion in indigenous culture, leading to occupying the Penokees during the 2013-2014 Polar Vortex and stopping the mine.

Name: Ron Weber

Address: Weyerhaeuser, WI

Phone: 715-353-2993

E-mail: ronw2492@yahoo.com

Background: Ron Weber is a former high school science teacher turned forester with the WDNR who has always been a writer at heart. He has degrees in Forestry and Biology with a minor in Resource Management from UW-Stevens Point. Ron has written many guest commentaries for several newspapers including the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, Madison Capital Times, and the Wisconsin Outdoor News.  He frequently writes articles for Wisconsin Natural Resources and Badger Sportsman magazines. 

A self confessed disciple of Aldo Leopold, Weber is a Land Ethic Leader who puts on events in local communities near his home in Weyerhaeuser to spread the message of Leopold. He can also be heard reading selections of his writings on Wisconsin Life segments on Wisconsin Public Radio. 

Name: David Zeug

Address: 911 South Lake Drive, Shell Lake, WI 54871

Phone (Work): 715-468-7432

Phone (Mobile): 715-271-1911

E-mail: djzeug@charter.net

Retired WDNR Conservation Warden Freelance Writer

Background: Although Dave Zeug calls Shell Lake, WI home, he and his wife spend much of their time at the cabin and short term rental property on the Brule River.  Zeug was a Wisconsin Conservation Warden for 26 years, beginning his career as a Field Warden in 1974, before becoming a Warden Supervisor in Horizon and Black River Falls.  He retired as the DNR's 18 county Northern Region's Enforcement and Science Leader fro the Northern Region Office in Spooner.

After retirement, Zeug worked as an Investigator for a law firm, them become Mayor of the City of Shell Lake while continuing with his writing career.  He's done work for Outdoor Life, Fur-Fish-Game, Wildfowl, Predator Nation, Trout Unlimited and Wisconsin Outdoor News, publications and Outdoor Life On-Line also.  He's also been a presenter at various outdoor events dedicated to the protection of Wisconsin's lakes and rivers. 

Zeug enjoys many outdoor activities, but finds waterfowl hunting and trout fishing, especially on the Brule River most captivating.