SPEAKER INFORMATION

Native Lumber

John owns ans operates a small family owned sawmill located on his family’s 5th generation ranch. Every generation has operated a mill of some sort over the years. Along with the mill, we also provide land improvement, timber thinning and fire mitigation.

Palmer Land Conservancy

Jolene’s love of water, nature, and playing outside began as a kid in Southern California at Camp Pendleton. Growing up on a military base was a safe haven where she spent countless hours exploring canyons, climbing trees, and playing in the ocean.

A throughline in Jolene’s work is the love of people. Now, working at the intersection of water, agriculture, and outdoor recreation, Jolene’s role centers around expanding Palmer’s community engagement in Pueblo and southeastern Colorado, including communities traditionally lacking representation in conservation and outdoor recreation spaces.

Pueblo Food Project

Megan Cover was born and raised in Pueblo, Colorado, a fifth generation Puebloan! She’s a proud graduate of Colorado State University Pueblo. Megan is happily married to her partner, Kevin, and owner of a darling corgi, Jerry Jeff! Megan is an head tennis coach at Central High School, serves as a board member with the CSU Pueblo Alumni Association, and is a certified Colorado Master Gardener. Megan currently serves as the Director of Growth, Sustainability, and Operations at the Pueblo Food Project (PFP). She has found great passion and connection in food systems work and the impact of food skills education, thriving local food economies, and healthy food access in our communities. She is deeply committed to the Pueblo community!

Wild Oasis Permaculture

Jayme Domejka is a Colorado native who currently resides just East of Colorado Springs on her five acre homestead with a farm full of animals and an ever evolving garden. As a permaculture educator she has worked hard to create cross pollination with those who haven’t adopted permaculture, helping them to find solutions to some of our complex problems. In 2024 the El Paso County Conservation District recognized Jayme as their educator of the year, and she was
subesquently awarded the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts 2024 Educator of the year for her outstanding work teaching the principles of regeneration and resilience. She is the owner of Wild Oasis Permaculture, and Program Director for Pikes Peak Permaculture

Pueblo Food Project

Audra Fair is the Community Engagement Coordinator at Pueblo Food Project in Pueblo, Colorado. She graduated from Colorado State University Pueblo in 2025 with a degree in Political Science, where she was also a student-athlete, and is currently pursing her master's in Public Policy and Administration. Deeply rooted in Pueblo, Audra comes from a family that has called the area home for four generations, shaping her strong commitment to the community. Having worked her first jobs in locally owned businesses and growing up benefiting from Pueblo's fresh, locally grown food, she is proud to be a product of the community's strong food culture.

Economic Restoration Institute

John H. Giordanengo asked two simple questions in business school in the early nineties: “Are Earth’s ecosystems and economies built around the same model? If so, how can we apply such knowledge to forge a sustainable future?” He continues this pursuit today, including investigative research, publications, and talks around the globe. In the process, John has founded three companies and co-founded four NGOs dedicated to sustainable economies, restoration, and conservation. His newest venture, the Economic Restoration Institute, works across public, private, and philanthropic realms to restore our economies to a flourishing and sustainable state. John’s work is inspired by the awe of nature, music, and our shared human struggle

The Doula Circle

Ryley is a mama and birthworker. Rooted in Colorado’s diverse landscape, her work centers on holistic nourishment and living in deeper relationship with the earth. Ryley believes caring for ourselves and tending the land are one of the same. Through herbalism, I invite harmony and connection.

Colorado State University Extension Pueblo County

Beth Hayes is the Pueblo CSU Extension Agriculture, Natural Resources & Small Acreage Specialist and works to solve community problems in Pueblo for both big and small agriculture producers. She has worked for large and small scale cow-calf operations and has many other years of experience in a wide range of diversified animal agriculture.

Xerces Society and Expert Home Gardener

Tamara grew up in the Garden State of New Jersey on a dairy farm. All of her grandparents immigrated from Ukraine and had agricultural backgrounds. She started observing invertebrates while working in the vegetable and flower garden adjacent to the family farmhouse in Lambertville, where her father managed a small apiary for honey production and garden pollination. Here she learned firsthand the value of hard work and the interconnectedness of the natural world. Tamara holds a B.S. in geology from Rider University and an M.S. in hydrology from West Virginia University. She worked as a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey for 34 years, continuing to garden after work as a tonic from professional life. Since retiring in 2022, she has remained active in gardening activities, restoring native plants for the benefit of pollinators and other wildlife to her Pueblo city residential yard, which has been recognized as a Gold-level Audubon Habitat Hero space. She and her husband have been members of the Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation for 20 years and enjoy helping others explore opportunities to pursue healthy diets and spirits through gardening: creating spaces that are productive, beautiful, beneficial to pollinators, and appreciated by all who love nature.

Jack's Solar Garden / Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center

Byron Kominek is the owner and manager of Jack's Solar Garden in Boulder County and the Executive Director of the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center. He is a respected pioneer, advocate, and educator in the field of agrivoltaics combining solar energy production with land stewardship activities. Previously, Byron served as a diplomat with the US Agency for International Development managing climate mitigation and adaptation portfolios to protect and preserve forests and wildlife in Southern Africa. He currently serves as a Boulder County Planning Commissioner and as a Board Director for Visit Longmont. Byron operates his family's 24 acre farm with two hay pastures and another field hosting the solar array where he grows perennial berries, hazelnuts, and herbs.

Eptimizo LLC and The People's Playground

Monique is an food systems expert. Her focus is systems development and optimization, in and across every scale of the food system. She is the founder of Eptimizo LLC a food systems consulting firm; the cofounder of The Peoples Playground, a nonprofit focused on building community power through play and creative; and the cofounder of LifeForce Laser Wellness, a one of a kind healing modality, brought to Pueblo for the first time.

Farmer and Rancher

Samantha and her husband have been ranching in southeastern Colorado for just over ten years. During that time, they have worked on or managed four large-scale ranches across both the eastern plains and the San Luis Valley. Recently, Samantha have been assisting Annie Overlin with the southeast area Rancher Roundtable Pasture Renovation Trials. It has been eye-opening to see the magnitude of acres that were once farmed and are now barely functioning.

Northcreek Pastures

Annie is part of a 6th generation ranching family in southeast Colorado and continues to work with her family who are heavily involved in land preservation and water issues in the Arkansas River Valley.

Colorado State Forest Service

Steve Rudolph is a Wood Utilization & Marketing Program Specialist with the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS), based in Colorado Springs. He has held prior positions with CSFS as a forester in Woodland Park and as a Forest Inventory & Analysis crew lead in Canon City after moving from Minnesota in 2017. Steve enjoys fishing, hunting, and spending time with his wife Morgan, daughter Nora, and puppy Teddy.

Pueblo Food Project

Serena transplanted from her home state of Florida to Pueblo, Colorado in July 2022. She graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Ag & Natural Resource Management and Soil & Water Science. Though a lifelong lover of delicious and colorful food, Serena realized her passion for food systems work in her previous job as Sustainability Manager at the University of Florida's dining program. She now finds so much joy in serving the Pueblo community as Program Manager at the Pueblo Food Project.

CSU Extension Tri River Area

Melissa Schreiner is an Extension entomologist with Colorado State University whose work bridges agricultural entomology and natural history. As an agricultural entomologist and field naturalist, she studies insects across working landscapes and natural systems while translating those observations into education and outreach. Her primary role is mentoring providing science-based education for arborists, commercial businesses, farmers, school districts, hospitals, and adult and youth learners across Colorado. She also has a background in scientific illustration and data visualization, using art as a tool for education and engagement while supporting insect and invertebrate conservation through collaborations with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program. She mentors college level entomology students and interns in entomology, teaching them photography and field biology.

Pueblo Food Project

Lindy became Pueblo Food Project’s food skills education manager in 2025, and has been a proud PFP coalition member and educator since 2020.

Lindy served as PFP Food Access working group co-chair, vice president of PFP’s founding board and received the PFP Member of the Year award in 2024. In 2022, she was selected by community members to be the PFP Community Meal Prep initiative's lead community instructor and curriculum developer, and is now leading PFP’s intergenerational Nourishing Connections program. She has been happily teaching cooking, gardening and nutrition skills for almost a decade, has certificates in Local Food Leadership from Iowa State University and Systems Approaches to Healthy Communities from University of Minnesota, and has years of experience in community health, teaching, fundraising, writing and Spanish translation.

Lindy finds joy in working with community partners and volunteers to help Pueblo residents access and enjoy delicious and nutritious food, especially fruits, veggies and grains from local farms and gardens. She also enjoys exploring new cuisines, growing food, traveling and spending time outdoors with her partner, Craig and toddler, George.