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Dr Cabrera was trained as a biologist at the National University of Mexico (UNAM) with a Master degree from the same institution in Ecology and Environmental Sciences. For more than 20 years Leonardo has explored the causes of landscape conservation and degradation by using transdisciplinary approaches to integrate ecological and social dynamics of cultural landscapes of Mexico, Central America, Australia and Canada. In his PhD research (McGill University, Montreal, Canada), he worked with ancient pastoral communities of Central Mexico’s high mountains to understand local traditional grassland management practices, land ownership and defense, and power relationships shaping a vibrant cultural landscape of high conservation value. Since 2007, Leonardo has been with Parks Canada as Ecosystem Scientist to lead ecosystem monitoring and habitat restoration projects, conserve species at risk, coordinate scientific research, collaborate with partners, and present natural and cultural treasures to Canadians.

Barry Adams recently retired to private practice after a 38 year career with Alberta Environment and Parks ­ Rangelands. For 32 years Barry served as the Provincial Rangeland Specialist ­in Grasslands. A key focus of his work has been to assist ranchers to apply the principles and practices of range management to promote healthy range and a sustainable livestock operation. He has been active in developing new rangeland health tools including range plant community guides for the Grassland Natural Region, the Grassland Vegetation Inventory (GVI), restoration practices for prairie and parkland rangelands, and grazing management strategies for species at risk. For the past 6 years Barry served as the provincial program head of the Alberta Rangeland Resource Stewardship Section based in Edmonton. Barry Chairs the Advisory Council of the Rangeland Research Institute at the University of Alberta. Barry is active in the Society for Range Management and makes his home in southern Alberta with his wife Allison and two sons.

Peter was formerly Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography at the (French language) University of Montreal (UdeM) and continues his relationship with UdeM as ‘professeur honoraire’. He is a medical geographer focused on the health status and risk factors of disadvantaged cultural groups (the Inuit and Cree of northern Québec, herders of Mongolia, the Miao peoples of southwest China, and a group of nomadic herders in southern Qinghai, China). The results have been mainly reported in the scientific journal Social Science and Medicine. A short list is available. Born in China, his greatest academic pleasure has always been the teaching of the human geography of China. He has travelled widely in that country for the last 30 years. He continues to travel extensively, in non-pandemic times accompanying his wife Beth as she gives lectures on cultural history for two cruise lines. However, his geographic focus continues to be on China as he devotes as much time as possible to both writing and photography.

Dr Walter Willms is an Emeritus Scientist working on the ecology and management of natural grasslands (rangeland) with Agriculture and AgrFood Canada, Lethbridge. The general area of work has been to understand the prairie ecosystems in western Canada in order to encourage their retention and conservation. To do that, he conducted studies to understand the role of grazing disturbance in affecting ecological processes and outcomes of the grasslands as defined by their productivity, biodiversity and the genetic diversity of a key grass species. He has served as adjunct professor with the Universities of Alberta and Saskatchewan and continues to work with the Inner Mongolia Agricultural University. He has been blessed with the collaboration of many scientists and the support of his wife, Maureen, and children.

Wilbur Kent first trained in printing, publishing and management. Then, while resident for three decades in the Dominican Republic, he worked in a variety of development services in cooperation with national and international agencies. These services included child care and education, orientation and liaison support for developing community leaders, and as a resource person and interpreter for joint national and international projects in areas of literature, publishing, radio, television and medicine. He maintains ongoing contact with internet communication.

Ken Marr has been botany curator with the Royal BC Museum since 2001. His PhD is from the University of British Columbia, where he also did post-doctoral studies before heading to China for two and a half years to study ethnobotany, specifically crop domestication of several cucurbits, at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (Chinese Academy of Sciences). He taught plant taxonomy courses at the University of Wyoming and the University of Montana for one year prior to beginning at the Royal BC Museum. Ken is interested especially in the classification, biogeography and conservation of terrestrial vascular plants, in particular the alpine flora of British Columbia, Canada. He did not ‘fall very far from the tree’, his father founded the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). Ken is actively working to document the distribution of non-native plant species in British Columbia through plant identification workshops and encouraging the collection of voucher specimens.

Judi Cameron has a degree in Kinesiology from Simon Fraser University and degree in Physiotherapy from the University of Manchester.  For the past 11 years she has worked as a Physiotherapist at the Centre for Child Development in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.  Currently she works with kids with developmental disabilities, their families, school and medical teams to maintain the kids health, mobility and to promote inclusion in physical activity.  Judi volunteers as an international classifier in para-taekwondo and is presently a member of the classification committee for World Taekwondo.  She also serves as the president of the board of directors for Sportability, a local non-profit which facilitates participation in physical activity and sport by people who have a physical disability.