Audubon New Mexico Staff Biographies

Karyn Stockdale, Vice President & Executive Director
Karyn has extensive experience in conservation, non-profit management and development, gained through her work across the west. Prior to heading up Audubon’s efforts in the state, Karyn served as the Interim State Director with the Trust for Public Land in New Mexico. She has a great knowledge of the state’s landscape, conservation issues and critical stakeholders. Karyn supervised a portfolio of New Mexico conservation projects as a Project Manager for TPL for over six years, coordinating all aspects of acquisition and conveyance of critical open space and environmentally sensitive lands. She has led and trained staff, coordinated regional and national programs, developed area-specific initiatives, prepared budgets, performed outreach, written grants and cultivated donors, and assisted in developing and implementing legislative strategies and the state strategic plan. As a result of her accomplishments, in 2006, Karyn received the Trust for Public Land’s highest award, the Collins Award for Excellence in Project Management. Karyn also has years of experience in the non-profit world while operating public facilities and programs for recycling, working as an outdoor educator, both managing and instructing youth programs, and guiding wilderness trips. She brings a deep love for New Mexico, its people, wildlife and habitat to all of her work.

Linda Newberry, Center Manager
Linda’s experience includes positions as director, coordinator, natural resources planner, water quality specialist, naturalist, and environmental educator for non-profit organizations, governmental agencies and tribes. As the former Southwest Regional Director for Audubon in Colorado, Linda performed outreach related to new programs and Audubon chapter activities, developed, designed and taught environmental programs for 2nd through 4th grade students and led field trips for adults in partnership with environmental organizations. Her experience managing environmental education centers started in 1976 at Deer Hollow Farm in California as director of a 750-acre environmental education farm and open space preserve where she recruited and trained docents and led daily school programs and public education programs. Linda’s main strengths lie in environmental education, biology, restoration and conservation of ecosystems and using art to interpret nature.

Elizabeth (Beth) Bardwell
Director of Freshwater Conservation
Beth grew up on the Hudson River in upstate New York. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Las Cruces. Beth received a Masters of Science in Biology from New Mexico State University (NMSU) in 2000, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Oregon in 1987, and her undergraduate degree is from the University of Michigan. Her legal practice included labor law, Indian law, and criminal law, including work for the Navajo Nation and the City of Flagstaff, Arizona. After seven years practicing law, she fell in love with birding and returned to school to study biology. While at NMSU, Beth completed her Masters’ research on the adaptive significance of bill shape in Western Scrub Jays. Since receiving her Masters, Beth has been working to conserve freshwater biodiversity in the Rio Grande Basin including on-the-ground river ecosystem restoration in southern New Mexico and water policy reforms in state and federal government as Program Officer with WWF. She is a member of Governor Richardson’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Water, a Board Member of New Mexico’s Water Dialogue, and served on Lt. Governor Denish’s Transition Team on Energy and the Environment.

DANA VACKAR STRANG, Education Manager
Dana was an Assistant Field Division Director (and previously the Education Coordinator) for the New Mexico State Land Office and has experience as a manager and educator, with leadership skills and the knowledge necessary to lead, develop and implement statewide education programs emphasizing natural resource conservation and sustainability through hands-on, experiential activities. She is the former President and a current board member of the Environmental Education Association of New Mexico, the former Chair of the Youth Conservation Corps Commission, and is the statewide coordinator, facilitator and teacher trainer for the national curriculum, Leopold Education Project (LEP). Dana’s bachelor degree in Political Science with a minor in Environmental Issues is from Colorado College and her master’s degree in Parks and Recreation, with an emphasis in Environmental Education, is from the University of New Mexico. She has experience with and enjoys horses, hiking, rock climbing, snowboarding, and mountain biking.

Jeremy Phillip, Environmental Education Specialist
Jeremy has many years of experience in both the public and private school sector most recently as a 5th grade science and general teacher at Topeka Collegiate School in Kansas. Jeremy has a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Kansas, a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado at Denver, and had been completing courses towards a MBA at Washburn University before recently moving to New Mexico. Jeremy’s professional experience includes working at a nature center outside of Topeka, working for the Keystone Science School in Colorado as an Assistant Camp Director and as the lead Environmental Educator at YMCA’s Camp Shady Brook in Colorado. Jeremy is an experienced outdoor leader, currently has Wilderness First Responder certification and speaks Spanish.

Amy Roberts, Educator Naturalist
Amy Roberts has joined Audubon as the Educator Naturalist.  Amy has worked for Audubon in the past as an intern and contributed to the education staff by implementing and instructing various creative school programs at the Randall Davey Audubon Center. Amy’s experience and knowledge make her a valuable addition to the education staff as she recently started back by leading school programs and is currently expanding on curriculum she developed as an intern for the Girl Scouts of New Mexico.  Most recently, Amy was the Program Director for the Santa Fe Tree House Camp where she developed, marketed, designed and directed nature-based summer camp programs for youth 6 to 11 years of age.  Amy continues to inspire the younger generation to become enthusiastic environmental stewards. She has always been active in the outdoors and serviced as an outdoor educator after she received her B.A. from Tufts University and before she enjoyed a career in journalism and marketing. A passionate concern for the planet and for children’s need for experiences in nature has lead Amy back to the outdoors with the service-minded philosophy of “be the change you want to see in the world.” Amy is also in the midst of completing a Master’s program in Environmental Education through Prescott College.

Carl Beal, Office Manager
Carl has years of experience in non-profit office management/ administration serving as Office Manager and Registrar for the Four Corners School of Outdoor Education in Monticello, Utah and, most recently, in payroll/ benefits administration and office management duties with the North Carolina Outward Bound School. He also worked for the Monticello Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management as a backcountry ranger and monitor for a Wilderness Study Area and archeological sites. In the early 1990’s, Carl was the head coach of the women’s soccer team at Colorado College combining his love for the sport with his experience in budget development, management, and communications. He has a B.S. from Nasson College, Maine and a M.S. from University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Carl participates in many sports including soccer, hiking, skiing, biking, and tennis. He has a deep passion and respect for the conservation of the natural world, especially the West and particularly the Colorado Plateau and New Mexico—and is excited to be supporting the mission of Audubon New Mexico.

Rob Hampson, Facilities Maintenance Coordinator
Rob was born in Seattle, Washington in 1963. Throughout his childhood his family moved a dozen times, ranging across the United States from Hawaii, Upstate New York, Florida and numerous points in between. In 1982, upon discharge from the US Navy, Rob enrolled at Humboldt State University on the extreme Northern California coast. Rob resided behind “The Redwood Curtain,” in Humboldt County for 24 years, and among many adventures, his greatest was (and still is) the witnessing of his daughter, Eryn, blossoming into a powerful and creative being in her own right. Additionally, Rob has always been an outdoor enthusiast from keeping extensive gardens, and maintaining numerous bird feeders—traits he picked up from his grandparents, to outdoor activities like backpacking, whitewater river guiding, mountain biking, as well as his long time interests in painting and cooking. In the spring of 2006 he and his partner, Catarina, moved to the enchanting medieval village of Canterbury, Kent, in Southeastern England to further their educations, both studying for their Master’s degrees. During the Summer of 2006 they adventured up to the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. There on the highest point of the sacred isle of Iona, on one of the longest days of the year, next to a small spring, they became engaged. In the Summer of 2007 they set off on a quest via ferry and train from Canterbury to San Lucido, the small, Southern Italian, ancestral village of Catarina’s grandmother to be married. The village was so warm and endearing to have “one of their own” return that they convinced the newlyweds to move there. So, upon the completion of Rob’s MA Degree Show in the autumn of 2007 they moved back to San Lucido. While perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, with distant views of Sicily and the active volcanic island of Strombolli, they finished writing their dissertations. In the Spring of 2008 they returned to the United States, and after several months of seeking a place to call home, the beauty and mystery of Northern New Mexico lured them to Santa Fe, where they have been living and practicing their arts. Rob has been visiting the RDAC ever since settling in Santa Fe, has been organizing weekly hikes in the surrounding area, and more recently has been a volunteer on the grounds, and now both he and Catarina are thrilled with the prospect of becoming active stewards in the daily activities of the RDAC & Sanctuary.

Staci Stevens, Climate Change Outreach Coordinator
Staci grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico and from a young age was instilled with a deep respect for New Mexico’s natural environment as she and her family spent summers hiking and camping throughout Northern New Mexico. Staci’s interest in environmental work began at the College of Santa Fe where she participated in international conservation projects in both Italy and Belize. In 2001 after receiving her BA in Conservation Management, Staci relocated to Washington, D.C. where she worked as an Associate and Campaign Coordinator on forest and marine conservation campaigns for the National Environmental Trust and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Staci recently moved back to Santa Fe and is excited to be home and to join Audubon’s team as the Climate Change Outreach Coordinator.

Jim Garvin, Nature Store Manager