Montana

As a consulting forester who usually works with landowners, Holly recognizes the importance of environmental education for people of all ages and backgrounds. She has spent more than a decade revitalizing and leading PLT in Montana and now chairs the Montana PLT Steering Committee. She conducts hands-on PLT workshops for educators, especially in the Flathead area, with a special talent in reaching out to participants and mentoring others to conduct workshops of their own. She excels at all levels of training, from Early Childhood to the Secondary modules. Her Municipal Solid Waste workshop included guest speakers and a field trip to the local waste disposal site. Her Early Childhood workshops offer preschool workers needed credits toward retention and certification and she has also recruited the help of a retired music teacher. And she goes out of her way to provide training in underserved areas, where teachers would normally have to travel hundreds of miles for professional development.

Holly promotes PLT through an amazing array of activities. They include her involvement as a member and leader of local chapters of the Society of American Foresters, of Tree Farm, and of Women in Timber. She also does this as a substitute teacher, as a leader at the annual Montana Natural Resources Youth Camp and Family Forest Expo, and through Montana State University Extension Forestry’s Forest Stewardship Workshops. Holly, her husband and two children manage their own 12-acre Tree Farm.

Holly received National PLT’s Leadership in Education Award in 2018.