- Board of Directors -
 JOHN
H. DAVIDSON, born December 9, 1942 in Washington,
Pennsylvania. Graduated Wake Forest University in 1964,
University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1967, and
awarded the Masters of Law degree in Natural Resources
by George Washington University School of Law in 1972.
Private law practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for
3 years, followed by one year on the law faculty of
George Washington University. Appointed to the University
of South Dakota School of Law faculty in 1972, a position
he has held continuously, with several breaks for assignments
in Chapel Hill, Little Rock and the Loire Valley.
An author of numerous articles,
law casebooks and treatises in the fields of agricultural
law, water and irrigation law, and environmental law.
Appointed by President William J. Clinton to the Western
Water Policy Review Commission in 1995. Long association
with the conservation movement, including several terms
on the Board of the South Dakota Association of Conservation
Districts. Involvement in pro bono environmental litigation
has been continuous since the early 1970s. Each summer
he teaches a course titled Agriculture and the Environment
at the Vermont Law School. He and his family have resided
on a South Dakota farm since 1973, and have enjoyed
a close involvement in the agricultural community. (the
presidents thoughts)
 ROSEMARY
S. DRAEGER graduated from the University of California,
Berkeley with a degree in economics and history, and
also earned the M.B.A. degree from the University of
Sioux Falls. Currently she is the owner of Pangaea Properties,
L.L.C. Prior to that she worked as Community Relations
Manager of the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader (1980-84), and
was President and C.E.O. of the Sioux Falls Area Foundation
from 1984-1995.
From 1997 to 2000 she
worked for Lauer Capital Management in client services
and investment analysis. She was also State Director
of The Nature Conservancy from 1995-1997. Married to
William C. Draeger and the Mother of two grown sons,
her community service now includes the South Dakota
Ornithologist Union, the Sioux Falls Bird Club, the
Carroll Institute and the Rotary Club. Her hobbies include
birding, scuba diving, reading, skiing and canoeing.
STEVEN W. SANFORD, a lawyer since 1974, is a partner in the Sioux Falls law firm of Cadwell Sanford Deibert & Garry LLP. He is admitted to the South Dakota Bar, the United States District Courts of South Dakota and Nebraska, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. He is a graduate of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee (B.A. English 1970) and the University of South Dakota (J.D. 1974). He has served as an adjunct professor at the University of South Dakota School of Law and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the American Bar Foundation, all honorary organizations dedicated to improvement of the legal system. He has authored numerous articles and has been a frequent speaker for the ABA Litigation, ABA Commercial Financial Services Committee, ABA National Institute on Agricultural & Agri-Business Finance, the American Bankers Association, Agricultural Banking Division, the State Bar of South Dakota and the South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association. He has also spent his working life active in various charitable and nonprofit organizations. He is a founding director and the treasurer of Northern Prairies Land Trust, president of the South Dakota High School Foundation, director and chair of Great Bear Recreational Park, Inc. (nonprofit operator of Great Bear Ski Area) and formerly the Chair of the South Dakota Board of Trustees of The Nature Conservancy, and formerly a director of the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse, Sioux Empire United Way and the South Dakota Children’s Home Society. Steve is married and has two grown children. His particular conservation interests grow out of decades of affection for the Missouri National Recreational River corridor and the Niobrara River and its tributaries in Nebraska. (thoughts
from the Treasurer)
 PAUL
SCHOCK, attended Stanford University and graduated
magna cum laude from Augustana College with a degree
in Business. He has a varied 25-year business
career, managing his family business, Nordica Enterprises,
as a commercial banker with First Bank Systems, as CFO
of a South Dakota public manufacturing company, as president
of his own investment advisor organization, as a founding
partner of Bluestem Capital Company, a South Dakota-based
venture capital firm, as director of corporate development
for VeraSun Energy Corporation, a South Dakota-based
publicly-traded ethanol producer, and currently as
founder and president of Destination Golf Ventures,
LLC, a developer of
remote golf venues whose designs and settings promote
appreciation of
the natural world. Through the venture capital business,
Paul has served as a director and contributed to the
success of many South Dakota companies. Paul lives
in Sioux Falls with his wife and four children, but
is just as likely to be found with them on his Cherry
County, Nebraska ranch, or his Brookings County, South
Dakota farmland or his longstanding family property
in the Black Hills. Paul is a former member of
the Board of Trustees of The South Dakota Nature Conservancy
and has been extensively involved in various civic and
church-related activities. His keen interest in
conservation is borne of his love of the outdoors, but
particularly bird hunting and fly fishing. Paul
has also found time to become one of South Dakota's
best-known amateur golf champions.
 A.
J. SWANSON, born February 12, 1947, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Graduated Canton High School (Canton, South Dakota) 1965; University of South Dakota (Vermillion, South Dakota) 1969 (B.A. History); University of South Dakota School of Law, 1972 (J.D.). Admitted to practice Nebraska Supreme Court, 1972; South Dakota Supreme Court, 1980; United States Courts of Appeal, D.C. and Eighth Circuits; United States District Courts, Districts of Nebraska and South Dakota. Married to Sally Ann Myers, 1969. Engaged in the practice of law at Lincoln Nebraska, 1972-1979, with emphasis on transportation regulatory issues and administrative law (Acklie & Peterson; Peterson, Bowman, Coffman & Larsen; and Peterson, Bowman, Swanson & Johanns), and at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1979 to 2004, a general corporate and business law practice (Quaintance & Swanson; Swanson Hughes & Perrenoud; and Arvid J. Swanson P.C.), with particular interest in land use and zoning law. Law office is now located on great-grandparent’s homestead (1870), bordered by the Big Sioux River a few miles southeast of Sioux Falls, amidst a 300-acre tallgrass prairie restoration project. Prescribed burning practices are followed for control of invasive species. Since 1999, Director and Secretary, Northern Prairies Land Trust, a §501(c)(3) non-profit corporation engaged in conservation easement and preservation efforts in South Dakota and Nebraska.
 PATRICK
ANDERSON became Northern Prairies’ Executive Director in May, 2005, and is initiating a number of new projects, as well as managing continuing programs. Prior to joining Northern Prairies, he was an attorney in private practice in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with an emphasis on environmental issues, and experience as a mediator for the SD Farm Mediation Program. He has also worked for a variety of governmental agencies at the state and local levels. He grew up in Minnesota where he attended Braham High School and graduated in 1973. He attended and graduated from the Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, MN) in 1977. After a brief stint in the insurance industry, he entered William Mitchell College of Law (St. Paul, MN) in 1979 and graduated in 1983. He married Kirsten Erickson in 1980 and they have two daughters, Erika and Nicole. They moved to Sioux Falls in 1983 where Pat worked with the Minnehaha County State's Attorney's Office. In 1985, they moved their family to Albuquerque, New Mexico where Pat worked for the Bernalillo County District Attorney (Albuquerque, NM) for one year and the State of New Mexico Environmental Improvement Division (Santa Fe, NM) as an Assistant Attorney General for two years. In 1988, they moved back to Sioux Falls, where Pat worked for the state's attorney's office and the Sioux Falls City Attorney's Office. While at the City Attorney's Office, he was responsible for code enforcement and environmental regulations, as well as city compliance with federal and state mandates. In 1991, Pat entered private practice with a specialty in environmental law, and later expanded to include mediation services.
 "Growing
up in the Midwest makes it easy to love the outdoors"
explains Anderson, who is originally from Minnesota
and has lived the last eighteen years in Sioux Falls.
He enjoys all sorts of outdoor activities, especially
tramping through prairies and swamps in pursuit of wily
roosters and is passionate about protecting our natural
resources.
"I strongly believe that the greatest gift we can
give our children is protection of the natural state
of the wonderful world in which we live."
 JAMES
E. ROGERS, born June 24,
1977 in Omaha, Nebraska. Spent his childhood fishing,
camping, and earning his Eagle Scout badge in Nebraska,
Missouri, Idaho and Pennsylvania. Graduated the University
of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1999 with a degree in Forestry,
Fisheries and Wildlife. Graduated the Vermont Law School,
cum laude, with a Masters in Environmental Law in 2002.
Graduated the University of South Dakota School of Law
in 2002. Was the Editor-in-Chief of the Great Plains
Natural Resources Journal, in which he also had two
articles published. Spent a year in Des Moines, IA,
clerking for the Fifth Judicial District. Then spent
4 years in Sioux Falls, SD, as the General Counsel for
the Title Resource Network, First Dakota Title, focusing
primarily on title insurance underwriting decisions.
Recently,
he has moved back to Omaha, NE, and began work as a
Claims Attorney for LandAmerica, where he oversees title
insurance policy coverage determinations and case handling.
Since his graduation from USD, he has also been an adjunct
professor in the School of Legal Studies with Kaplan
University, teaching in subjects such as contracts,
torts, family law, medical records, and legal research
and writing. Currently, and for the past year, he has
taught the Introduction to Paralegal Studies class,
the first class all students must take upon entering
the program.
James is also a graduate of the
School of Flyfishing and The Leader's Institute. He
is a member of Trout Unlimited and is an avid handyman.
James, along with his wife Denise and son, Graydon enjoy
spending a great deal of time with their extended family
in Omaha.
- Northern Prairies Staff -
 JARREN
KUIPERS grew up on a farm near Platte, South Dakota
and graduated from Dakota Christian High School in New
Holland, South Dakota. He received a BS in Wildlife
and Fisheries Sciences from South Dakota State University
and an MS in Zoology from
the University of Wyoming. As a research scientist and
graduate student in Wyoming, he studied the influences
of livestock grazing systems on greater sage-grouse
productivity from 2000 - 2004. Jarren became a tallgrass
prairie project coordinator at Beatrice, NE for NPLT
and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in March
of 2004.
The position involves
working directly with landowners to improve management
of native prairies for native species diversity and
livestock production. Jarren and his coworkers provide
technical expertise and habitat cost-share projects
through the Nebraska Landowner Incentive Program and
the Nebraska Tallgrass Prairie Partnership. Jarren's
other interests include traveling with his wife Tara,
running, reading, naturalist activities, hunting, and
digital outdoor photography.
 JIM
MADSEN Born and raised on the family farm near White,
South Dakota . A 1974 graduate of SDSU with a BS degree
in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. Began a federal career
with the Farmers Home Administration, later to become
Rural Development, in 1975. Was stationed in Sturgis,
Martin, Webster and Watertown where he retired as Manager
of the Watertown office June 1, 2004 . Jim is a 25 year
member of the Izaak Walton League and currently the
Chair of the National Executive Board. Married to Barb
with 3 grown children, Chad , Jason and Jeremy.
 KENT
PFEIFFER was born on the High Plains at Wray, Colorado
and grew up in the Sandhills of Nebraska. He graduated
from the University of Nebraska - Kearney with a B.S.
in wildlife biology in 1990. He received an M.S. in
biology degree from Kansas State University in 1993
while studying the interactive effects of bison grazing
and fire on tallgrass prairie vegetation.
Kent worked for The Nature Conservancy's Platte/Rainwater
Basin Project from 1994-1996. He then served as plant
ecologist/land manager at the Platte River Whooping
Crane Trust until being hired by Northern Prairies Land
Trust as a private lands biologist in early 2006. He
will be working with Jarren Kuipers to implement projects
to restore and enhance tallgrass prairie remnants in
southeastern Nebraska. Kent and his wife, Rebecca, have
one child, Olivia.
 JUSTIN
HAAHR grew up in Laurel, NE and graduated
from Laurel-Concord High School. He attended South Dakota
State University and graduated in 2004 with a B.S. in
Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. He has spent the last
several years working temporary jobs with the NE Game
and Parks Commission. He was hired in December 2007
as a Project Biologist with Northern Prairies and NE
Game and Parks Commission for the Verdigris/Bazile Creek
Biologically Unique Landscape. Justin spends his free
time hunting, fishing, building demolition derby cars
and being around family and friends.
 SANDY
BENSON was born in Minnesota. She graduated from
Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, with
a B.S. in Forest Land Management. She worked for the
US Forest Service as a professional forester in Arizona,
Utah, and Nebraska and as an outdoor recreation planner
for the Niobrara National Scenic River in Nebraska before
managing her family's publishing business for several
years.
Sandy worked seasonally for the US Fish
and Wildlife Service at Fort Niobrara, the Niobrara
Council, and Nebraska Game and Parks during this time
to keep in touch with the natural resources arena in
the Niobrara River Valley and the
Nebraska Sandhills. She began working for the Northern
Prairies Land
Trust in September, 2007, and has an office in the Nebraska
Game and Parks
building in Bassett, Nebraska, where she works with
private landowners to
improve habitat for at-risk species and biological communities.
Sandy, her
husband, Barry, and their children live along the Niobrara
River.
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