I grew up in the rural Wisconsin village of Elkhart Lake, in Sheboygan County, surrounded by dairy farms and the Kettle Moraine State Forest. I've lived in Missoula since 1996. My love for forests and wildlands came from my family's vacations spent hiking, biking, fishing, canoeing, cross-country skiing and camping in the state and federal forestlands of Wisconsin and upper Michigan. In addition to being a certified high school English and history teacher, I paid my way through college by working at a lumber company and spent a summer as a wildland firefighter in Oregon. In my free-time I enjoy spending time with my wife, Jeanette, gardening, putting up food, hunting morels, elk and deer and, if you can believe it, playing golf.