Tammy VerCauteren – Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Executive Director
A Michigan native, Tammy earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Wildlife Management in 1995 from Michigan State University and a Master’s Degree in 1998 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she studied Sandhill Cranes. She began working for Bird Conservancy (then Colorado Bird Observatory) in 1999 as a specialist in GIS and landowner outreach for the Prairie Partners program. She has been Bird Conservancy’s prairie partners coordinator and outreach director and has served as executive director since 2008. Tammy serves as the NABCI Human Dimensions Subcommittee Chair, as well as Chair of the Playa Lakes Joint Venture Management Board and Co-Chair of the Northern Great Plains Joint Venture Management Board. She enjoys working with partners and encouraging proactive voluntary efforts for species conservation, and she believes it is relationships with people that will make a positive difference for conservation now and in the future.
Peter Burke – Tour Guide, Photographer, Colorado Field Ornithologists Board Member
Peter is a lifelong birder raised in central New Jersey. Currently based in Boulder, Colorado, he is editor of Colorado Birds and a long-serving board member of Colorado Field Ornithologists. Peter has led birding adventures throughout Colorado and to destinations in and around the U.S., Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In 2019 he founded Epic Birding Tours with the goal of helping indigenous Ecuadorian communities participate in, and benefit from, ecotourism on their lands. An accomplished photographer, Peter’s images have been published in numerous magazines and field guides including The Peterson Field Guide of Bird Sounds in Western North America, Cotingas and Manakins and a forthcoming Field Identification app.
Colin Woolley – Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Banding Manager
Colin grew up in Oregon and fell in love with birds on family trips to Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge. He took his first field job in 2004 studying sagebrush shrub-steppe birds and has been working in avian monitoring and research ever since. This work has taken him across the U.S., Canada, and Central America. He received his Bachelor’s in Conservation Biology from Prescott College and his Master’s in Biology from University of Colorado, Denver. He partnered with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies for his Master’s thesis studying breeding ecology and habitat use of Mountain Plovers. He has been banding birds for over 10 years and loves to share this experience with others. He has a borderline-obsessive affinity for Spizella sparrows and Toxostoma thrashers. His other interests include hiking, traveling, auto mechanics, and starting (and occasionally finishing) overly-complicated board-games.
Tess Leach – Ranchlands, Head of Business Development
A fourth generation rancher, Tess grew up in Colorado and manages Ranchlands’ hospitality programs, Leather Shop and business development. She is raising her two sons on Chico Basin Ranch with her husband David. Ranchlands owns and manages large scale, conservation oriented ranching operations in the American west, and provides management and strategic advisory services for large ranch owners. In addition to cattle and bison, Ranchlands operates subsidiary land based businesses that includes leather manufacturing, hospitality, hunting and fishing and education.
Joe Pettit – Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Development Director
Joe is a development professional with experience spanning performing arts, conservation, climate change, foreign policy, political campaigns and urban horticulture. He grew up in eastern Nebraska and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. When not working, he can be found gardening, cycling, cooking, and, of course, birding.
