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Mission
The Wrangell Mountains Center is a private nonprofit institute which fosters understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of wildlands and mountain culture in Alaska through scientific and artistic inquiry in the Wrangell Mountains.

Our Vision
The Wrangell Mountains Center strives to facilitate understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the lands and communities of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. We create opportunities for personal transformation through direct experience with this extraordinary place. Our programs provide students, local citizens, scholars, and travelers with an increased understanding of complex natural processes, a changed view of the human place in the natural environment, and new skills for taking effective action on their own local issues. In the process of helping people come to know the Wrangell Mountains, we are building a strong local, national, and international constituency for the protection of wildlands and the enhancement of mountain cultures in Alaska and beyond.

Guiding Principles
The board and staff of the Wrangell Mountains Center evaluate past, present, and future institute activities in light of the following principles:

History & Need
The founding members of the Wrangell Mountains Center began living and teaching in the Wrangells over thirty years ago. Since that time, a once little-known landscape of towering mountains and quiet communities has been discovered by an expanding public.

Today, the WMC is the only private education and research-oriented institution in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve. Our facility and history predates the designation of the Park, enabling the Wrangell Mountains Center a unique ability to forge links among local communities, park lands, and the general public within the context of scientific and artistic inquiry.

With gateway communities like McCarthy, Kennecott, and Nabesna comprising the primary "Park Experience" for many visitors, our role is critical. The Wrangell Mountains Center provides interpretation of the Wrangells for visitors and locals, supplementing the efforts of the NPS, while additionally providing a forum for research and discussion of the region's natural history, aesthetic values, conservation oppurtunities, community development, and cultural uniqueness and vibrancy.

As public recognition and visitation to the region grows, we continue to build our institutional capacity while offering time-tested and newly-hewn programs that honor our place within one of the planet's most magnificent landscapes.

Location
Cultural Locale
Located within walking distance of the Kennicott Glacier, the Wrangell Mountains Center's activities are based in the small community of McCarthy, on private land, within the boundaries of the nation's largest National Park. Known as North America's Mountain Kingdom, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve encompasses 13.2 million acres including nine of the sixteen tallest peaks, an active volcano, and many of the continents largest glaciers and rivers. Together with adjacent parks in Canada and Alaska, Wrangell-St. Elias represents one of the world's largest contiguous tracts of protected wildlands -- more than 25 million acres -- and is currently recognized as a United Nations World Heritage Area. As tourism to the region increases, McCarthy and the adjacent Kennecott National Historic Landmark are emerging as visitor destinations of international significance, while continuing to serve as a precious home to local people and a favorite destinations for Alaska residents.

Natural Locale
The environs surrounding McCarthy provide an outstanding natural laboratory for student and seasoned researchers alike. In particular, the local landscape invites inquiry into primary successional processes, alpine and forest ecology, spruce bark beetle dynamics, glacial outburst floods, bedrock geology, glaciology, and any number of geologic or geomorphologic processes. Including ecosystems that stretch from cirque to sea, the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve is also home to healthy herds of Dall sheep, mountain goat, moose, grizzly bear, black bear, wolverine, caribou, wolf -- a complete array of resident sub-arctic mammals as well as migrating birds and salmon.


Facilities Hardware Store door
The Wrangell Mountains Center is headquartered in the "Old Hardware Store," a historic building which originally served as a general store for the boomtown of McCarthy during the copper mining period of the early-20th century. Built in 1911 and abandoned in 1938, the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places after board member Sally Gibert initiated ongoing stabilization and restoration efforts in 1976. What was once a store, family living quarters, and rooming house is now an active solar-powered educational center, with a library, seminar room, program office, equipment storage for rafting and mountaineering expeditions, workshop, office/studio space for visiting scholars and artists, a cooperatively-run kitchen, flower, vegetable gardens, and a small green house. By joining a learning community at the Hardware Store, participants from all backgrounds have the opportunity to experience a largely sustainable living system. We are currently fundraising in hopes of purchasing adjacent properties to expand onto, establishing a full fledged McCarthy Campus. Learn more about the new site and our campaign efforts, and how you can help realize this next chapter of WMC service.

Working cooperatively with the National Park Service, Prince William Sound Community College, and locally owned businesses, the Wrangell Mountains Center enjoys access to various other facilities, including a rooming house, recreation hall, theater, and full-service lodge equipped for conventions. We also have the capacity to establish temporary backcountry camps with a complete kitchen, enclosed meeting space, and a wood heat source. River-based learning and research can be contracted in partnership with reputable local guiding services.

Governance
The WMC board is composed of a dedicated group of individuals who actively work to fulfill the WMC’s mission. The board supports and oversees WMC staff and engages in strategic planning that contributes to the organization’s success.

  • Barry Hecht, PhD, first traveled to the McCarthy area in 1972 to do research for a document that introduced the Wrangells to Congress, and led to the establishment of the Park and Preserve. With Ben Shaine, Barry started the Wrangell Mountains Center's student program in 1982, and taught portions of the program for much of the next 10 years. Barry is a principal with the consulting company Balance Hydrologics.
  • Guy Adema, MS, is a resource manager with the National Park Service. His background is in field geophysics applied to aquifers, glaciers, geohazards - but more recently is involved with resource monitoring, restoration, and planning. In addition to working with the Wrangell Mountains Center, he is on the board of the Juneau Icefield Research Program, an expeditionary field science training program. Guy lives adjacent to Denali Park.
  • Howard Mozen, President, is a special education teacher, outdoor educator, mountain guide, and former owner of the commercial rafting company Copper Oar. Educated at the University of California Santa Cruz, Howard taught programs for the Wrangell Mountains Center for nine years. He owns a homebuilt yurt and beautiful log cabin just meters from the Kennicott Glacier.
  • Joey Williams has been visiting the Wrangell Mountains for 13 years. She first experienced the WMC as a student in the Wildlands Studies program. She immediately fell in  love with McCarthy because of the people, its wild beauty, and the strong sense of community. It was because of this experience in the Wrangells that she decided to make her home in Alaska. She moved to Sitka, Alaska after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2000. Two years later, she took a teaching position with the  Anchorage School District. She teaches 3/4 grade in an Open Optional program. Recently,  she and her husband purchased property in Kennicott and are beginning to build a cabin there. Joey believes the WMC is an integral part of what makes the Wrangells special.
  • Lila Vogt, is a writer, historian and Anchorage-based accountant with a long history in the Copper River Basin. Born in Alaska and a lifelong bibliophile, Lila also serves on the boards of the Alaska Center for the Book and the Alaska Poetry League. Lila has stepped down from the board after over a dozen years of dedicated service.
  • Lilly Goodman-Allwright, who has called McCarthy her home base since 1991, has a BA in Environmental Science and an MS in Ecology. Lilly’s 21 years of experience in environmental and outdoor education include providing educator trainings in natural resource issues across the state of Alaska. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She has recently been nominated for “Facilitator of the Year” for the Council on Environmental Education.  
  • Maria Shell, MFA, Vice President, has been a commited participant in the Wrangell Mountains Writers workshop for eleven years. She is a former adjunct faculty member at Prince William Sound Community College and an award-winning art quilter whose work has been exhibited in juried national and international shows.
  • Megan Richotte, former Kennecott District Interpreter for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, has stepped down from the board. She is now the Exhibit Specialist at Lake Clark National Park. She was a key player in the partnership between the WMC and the National Park Service and a generous and wise member of our organization, and she is missed.
  • Michael Loso, PhD, Secretary, is an Assistant Professor of Geology and Earth Sciences at Alaska Pacific University. He holds a PhD from the University of California Santa Cruz, MS from the University of Vermont's Field Naturalist program, and plays banjo in the local McCarthy bluegrass ensemble. Nearly through with the construction of his home in Kennicott, this is Mike's 19th year in the Wrangells.
  • Sally Gibert owned the Old Hardware Store from 1976 to 1986, launching the first of many stabilization and restoration efforts. She was a founding member of the WMC in 1985. From 1984 to 2011 she worked as the State of Alaska’s ANILCA Implementation Coordinator, working on numerous national park and wildlife refuge management issues on behalf of the State. Now retired, she has returned her focus to the Wrangells and rejoined the board. She currently lives in Anchorage and visits her cabin next door to the Hardware Store whenever she can.
  • Thea Agnew Bemben, Treasurer, is a born and raised Alaskan. Thea has been a part of the McCarthy community since the early 1990s, where she constructed her own home and served three terms as president of the local area council. Thea holds a Masters Degree in History and is the founding partner of Anchorage-based Agnew::Beck, a consulting firm which provides community planning and development services across Alaska.
Staff
  • Jeremy Pataky, MFA, Executive Director, has worked as a wilderness guide in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve and as a university instructor, adjunct professor, and freelance writer. He studied creative writing at the University of Montana and is a founding board member of the 49 Alaska Writing Center. He earned a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from The Foraker Group and University of Alaska Fairbanks.
  • Eleanor Jensen, Program Associate, has midwest roots and currently lives in Anchorage, AK.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in studio art from Carleton College, Northfield, MN, and an M.F.A. degree in printmaking from Illinois State University. She is interested in how we perceive and experience the natural environment—the ambiguity and complexity that exist in the relationship between nature and culture. She currently works to explore how interdisciplinary components and remote areas can create a dynamic educational environment. 
  • Lara Applebaum, Mountain Arts for Youth Coordinator, teaches first and second grade at an open optional program in Anchorage. She earned her graduate teaching certificate at Alaska Pacific University, studied art at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology from Goshen College in Indiana. Lara has also worked as an environmental educator and children’s social worker.  Originally from the Philadelphia area, Lara resides in Girdwood in the winter and is a summer resident of McCarthy’s West Side.
  • Lilly Goodman-Allwright, MS, Instructor, directs and facilitates the Alaska Natural History Interpretation and Environmental Education Workshop. Lilly has called McCarthy her home base since 1991. She has been a mountaineering instructor, backpacking guide, and NPS interpreter in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. She has a BA in Environmental Science and an MS in Ecology. Lilly’s 21 years of experience in environmental and outdoor education include providing educator trainings in natural resource issues across the state of Alaska. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She has recently been nominated for “Facilitator of the Year” for the Council on Environmental Education.  
  • Tim Bartholomous, MS, PhD student in geophysics, Alaska Wildlands Studies Instructor, is a geologist and glaciologist whose research at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research has focused on the hydrology of the Kennicott Glacier in the Wrangell Mountains. Tim is pursuing a PhD at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
  • Nancy Cook, MFA, Wrangell Mountains Writing Workshop Director, is a resident of McCarthy's south-side. She has directed and facilitated the Wrangell Mountains Writing Workshop since 1997. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and teaches writing in Astoria, Oregon. Her recent essays appear in the River Teeth Journal of Nonfiction Narrative, the Mountain Gazette, and the Seal Press anthology Going Alone.
  • Joe Donohue, Facilities Manager, studied Biology and English at Kenyon College and has experience with ecological restoration, organic farming, and construction. He has a strong interest in sustainability, conservation, science and arts education, and music. Joe worked in the Wrangells in 2009 as a member of the Exotic Plants Management Team for the Park Service and is excited to expand and share his interests at the Center this summer.
  • Megan Gahl, PhD, Alaska Wildlands Studies Program Co-Director, is an ecologist whose field work focuses on northern environments, including aquatic ecosystems and ecosystem response to changing conditions. She has fifteen years experience in field research, community service and backcountry leadership in environments ranging from Central and South America to Africa and the North American boreal and alpine.
  • Kristin Link, Instructor, is a scientific illustrator based in McCarthy. She loves to learn about the natural history of the Wrangells. She taught field sketching for the Alaska Wildland Studies program this season and is working on illustrations and design of a brochure about bear safety for the McCarthy area to be published by the WMC. She has also done illustration work for the National Park Service and the Copper River Watershed Project. She earned a certificate in science illustration from California State University Monterey Bay and has a BA in Conservation Biology and Studio Art from Middlebury College. View her website at www.kristinillustration.com.
  • Leif Mjos, Alaska Wildlands Studies Instructor, has a strong sense of place fostered in Alaska over his entire life. He came to the Center in 2006 as an operations intern at the Old Hardware Store, and then in 2008 as the field assistant for the Wildlands Studies program. After graduating from Prescott College in 2005, he pursued experiential education in natural history, ecology, conservation, and adventure education. He is inspired by the profound learning and growth that takes place during a summer in the Wrangells.
  • David Mitchell, MS, Alaska Wildlands Studies Program Co-Director, teaches ecology and field techniques for the Alaska Wildlands Studies Program. He studied applied ecology at Yale University and works as the Conservation Director for the Great Land Trust in southcentral Alaska.
  • Shawn Olson, Alaska Wildlands Studies Instructor, is an alumna of WMC's summer college program. She holds a bachelor's degree in environmental studies from The Evergreen State College, as well as a certificate in editing from the University of Washington. She is the co-author of Community and Copper in a Wild Land (published by WMC), as well as Defending Wild Washington (Mountaineers Books, 2005). Though her home range is the North Cascades of Washington State, she is perpetually drawn back to Alaska for its opportunities to experience true wildness.
  • Allison Sayer, MS, Kitchen Manager, has conducted biological research throughout the state on various topics including the interrelationships between salmon and spruce trees, the paths and relationships between migratory waterfowl, and the health of commercial fish populations. She has worked as a wilderness guide in Prince William Sound and other parts of the U.S., travelled throughout the Alaska backcountry, and done some farming here and there. She often ends up cooking for people in all sorts of circumstances and looks forward to devoting herself wholeheartedly to providing home, hearth, and support for all the souls traveling through the Center. She also looks forward to preserving the WMC's summer bounties and otherwise providing a kitchen environment that reflects the larger values and mission of the organization.
  • Benjamin Shaine, PhD, Wildlands Studies Program Staff, is the author of numerous policy papers as well as a novel, Alaska Dragon, set in the McCarthy area. Ben has led student groups through the Wrangells for over twenty years. He handled Wrangells issues for the environmental lobby during the congressional debate on the Alaska Lands Act, co-founded the Wrangell Mountains Center, and teaches regularly in the Center's undergraduate programs. Ben holds a PhD in Environmental Studies from the Union Graduate School. He co-authored Community & Copper in a Wild Land, available as a downloadable pdf or in hardcopy at the Center.
  • Please consult individual program descriptions for a complete lists of guest lecturers, visiting writers and other revolving staff members.

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