Meet the faces behind the work at MN Nature! Happy to introduce to you . . .
Michele Lanci, Branding Director
Imagik Design Studio founder and president Michele Lanci is an award-winning photographer, designer and author. She has worked with a diverse and impressive clientele including Harper’s magazine, Simon & Schuster, Price Stern Sloan, Simon Wiesenthal Center/Beit Hashoah Museum of Tolerance, BowTie Press, Hay House, Warner Bros., Joico, Bachman’s and many others.
Q&A with Michele!
- What outdoor activities do you enjoy in Minnesota? Working at Bachman’s!
- What’s your favorite outdoor rec memory as a child? Going to Thatcher Park in upstate New York, on big family picnics each summer. The environment is similar to MN.
- What special place in Minnesota do you think Minnesotan’s should know about? Nicolette Island. My husband lived there in the pink house—when I met him. The Island has an interesting history.
- What’s your favorite season? Sometimes it’s Fall. During the first snowfalls before the holidays, it’s Winter. Right now, it’s Spring! As soon as there’s a pool or Ocean nearby it will be Summer. (Lake swimming is something I’m not very accustomed to.)
- If you were a tree, which one might you be? I used to feel Weeping Willow, but I’m not that punk anymore! Gotta get back to ya on this one!
Brett Stadsvold, Forestry Consultant
Born and raised in beautiful Minnesota, Brett is an outdoor enthusiast and now a recent transplant to Colorado. He has a Bachelor’s of Science in Natural Resources and worked as a biological research assistant in college, canoeing the entire Namekagon River and the St. Croix River, from the headwaters to Stillwater. Brett has worked as an urban forester for five years, first in the ‘saintly city’ of Saint Paul and now for Boulder County Parks and Open Space, in Colorado. Most of Brett’s work has focused on emerald ash borer management, tree trialing projects with the University of Minnesota, and neighborhood-level community forestry projects with the Frogtown Tree Frogs and the Saint Paul Citizen Pruners. Brett hopes to use his passions and help Minnesotans connect with the outdoors through recreational opportunities, volunteer work and citizen scientist work.
Q&A with Brett!
- What outdoor activities do you enjoy? A better question is how many outdoor hobbies can one person have? Simply put, I enjoy being outdoors. Whether hanging high above the St. Croix River on a climbing route in Interstate Park, touring around on my skis through Crosby Farm Park in Saint Paul or collecting acorns in the fall for tree planting I enjoy most outdoor activities.
- What is your favorite park/lake/campground/city to visit in MN and CO? As a new transplant to Colorado I have to give my best of both states. MN—the woods and lakes off the Caribou Trail from Lutsen; CO—It’s fitting that my favorite place in Colorado so far is the Brainard Lakes Recreation Area, near the Indian Peaks Wilderness.
- What’s your favorite outdoor rec. memory as a child? Camping at McCarthy Beach State Park What special place in MN do you think Minnesotan’s should know about? Visit the burn area near Magnetic Rock, just west of the Gunflint Lodge. It’s a great place to experience the resiliency of a forest post-fire and see the sweeping bedrock of the Canadian Shield. The best season is blueberry season.
- What’s your favorite season? Fall.
- If you were a tree, which one might you be? In Minnesota it’s probably cliché to say, but no tree can really compare to a bur oak.
Jennifer Gehlhar, Founder / Program Director
Tree Care Advocate, Citizen Pruner and Minnesota Master Naturalist Jennifer Gehlhar is a life-long nature enthusiast and conservation volunteer. She is a professional editorial director, having managed production teams and edited hundreds of books, advertisements, newsletters, and marketing materials for professional publishers, ed tech companies, and agencies in her fruitful publishing career. She was active in Girl Scouts and 4-H. Her literary experience and hands-on outdoors and conservation passion combine to form MN Nature to connect people to Minnesota’s great outdoors and inspire conservation for long-term enjoyment of these natural wonders. She was awarded the Minnesota Community Forestry Award, 2014; “Park Volunteer of the Year” award by Friends of the Parks 2015; Minnesota Community Forestry Award, by MNSTAC 2015; “Little Bohemia Trail” project, by W7th Business Association 2016; and Outstanding Project for Little Bohemia Trail in St Paul, MN, by MNSTAC 2017.
Q&A with Jenny!
- What outdoor activities do you enjoy in Minnesota? Hiking, canoeing, camping, fishing, swimming, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, evenings by a campfire.
- What’s your favorite park/lake/campground/city to visit in Minnesota? Hmm, probably Lake Superior, Grand Marais, and Minnehaha Falls near Mankato.
- What’s your favorite outdoor rec memory as a child? So many family camping/fishing trips . . . top of memory is a trip to Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center with Girl Scouts and a camping trip to Mantrap Lake.
- What special place in Minnesota do you think Minnesotan’s should know about? Grand Portage, Pigeon Falls
- What’s your favorite season? Depends on the year. Like this year the spring has been amazing. If I must, I suppose late summer/early fall.
- If you were a tree, which one might you be? Green ash.