Drew Hamilton – Board President

Drew worked at McNeil River State Game Sanctuary and Refuge from 2010-2015. After leaving McNeil he leads wildlife-focused photography tours around North America.

While his annual migration takes him to look for polar bears in Canada and Alaska, brown bears in Alaska, monarch butterflies in Mexico, wolves in Yellowstone, and aurora wherever he can find it his heart will always be at McNeil River.

You can find Drew’s work on his website: drewhh.com

Mike Adams – Treasurer

Hailing from mid Michigan, Mike Adams attended the University of Michigan, where he received a Master’s degree in Architecture and works as a Civil/Structural Engineer Technician/Designer in Anchorage, Alaska. An Alaskan since 1988, he has visited McNeil River State Game Sanctuary and Refuge a total of seven times!  He joined the organization in 1992, became a board member in 1999 and served as President from 2005-2018.  Mike has worn many hats, critical to the organization that is the Friends group - he constructed the group’s first website, he volunteered as a carpenter with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game to help the employees open the camp at the beginning of the summer, fix up the buildings, trails, outhouses, sauna, build the nearly mile long boardwalk and rebuild the research cabin/tool shed. Mike was also instrumental in the development and publication of the McNeil River Bear Photo ID Field book. Though he’s held the titles of President and Treasurer, he’s most proud of being a defender against the various threats to McNeil throughout the years.

Didier Lindsey – Vice President

Didier Lindsey is an award-winning wildlife and nature photographer who lives in Anchorage, Alaska. Years of work and thousands of hours in the field have allowed him to capture some incredible moments. Lindsey’s photographs are characterized by strong composition, precise timing, and beautiful lighting provided by nature. Didier uses no filters, double exposures or other artificial manipulation to get the shots he wants. Didier was born in France and moved to rural Virginia at the age of five. Many years of enjoyment in the woods would help shape his character and his career. After receiving a B.S. from Longwood College, he headed west to work in Yellowstone National Park. His wanderlust took him to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades, and Cape Hatteras National Park. Eventually, his wandering brought him to Alaska to pursue his dream of becoming a wildlife/nature photographer. Didier believes nature photography is an art form with nature as the artist.  He hopes his images do justice to the beauty he has been privileged to witness.

You can find Didier’s work at his website:

http://www.alaskawildlifeimages.com/index2.htm

Julie Falle - Board Member

Julie has a masters in social work with an emphasis in project management and design and is presently working as a child and family therapist in Homer Alaska. Her love for Alaska and it’s wildlife is as broad as the places she has lived; from SE Alaska to the arctic and places in between.

She considers it an honor to know and love and fight for the bears that call many of these last wild places home. In her free time she likes to garden, participate in local advocacy and community projects, hike with her pup Raleigh and learn about local traditional practices while honoring the people who’s lands we are on.

Lennie Gorsuch - Board Member

In 2006, Lennie won her first viewing permit for McNeil River and was so taken by the coastal brown bears and the experience at McNeil River that she traveled to the FOMR Annual Meeting in Anchorage the following year and joined the Board of Directors. During her time on the Board she was instrumental in the development and funding of the “Got Bears?” hat and photo id book projects. After a brief sabbatical from the Board, in 2020 she returned to do what she could to assist with protection of the Sanctuary. Born in California, Lennie arrived in Alaska for first grade and has remained an Alaskan ever since. She has lived in Anchorage, Tok, and on the Kenai Peninsula, but most of her time has been in Northern Southeast Alaska where she lives on Pearl Harbor with her husband and two pups. During her years working for the State of Alaska in resource management, she traveled to almost every corner of the State she loves. She retired after 20+ years, having served as the Commissioner of Natural Resources and Executive Director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute during her career. Following retirement from the State she took what she thought would be a “toy job” as charter coordinator with a marine charter and tour company and after 20 years, retired again in 2020. She is a partner in the family lobbying firm, Capitol Associates. Her love of critters and the outdoors has taken her to the Arctic to see narwhals and polar bears, swimming with the Atlantic humpback whales off the Dominican Republic, trekking in Africa with mountain gorillas and tracking the big five, kayaking in Mexico, California and British Columbia with the gray whales and orca, camping on Round Island Sanctuary with the Pacific Walrus and a lifetime on the water in Southeast Alaska with the marine mammals. BUT, she admits her “happy place” is sitting on the lower viewing area (far right chair) at McNeil Falls surrounded by coastal brown bears feasting on salmon.

Staff

Rich Capitan – Executive Director

Originally from Michigan, Rich came to Alaska to conduct research on salmon, and was immediately bitten the the Alaska bug.  He lived the dream of biologist folk: he tagged lynx, counted and rolled (yes, rolled) walrus, did moose browse surveys, banded songbirds, and counted shorebirds and seabirds.  He also conducted wolf population surveys in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and spent an austral summer in Antarctica conducting penguin/seabird studies – translation – he made penguins “barf for science”.  Looking for his next adventure, he decided  to go into education.  He’s enjoyed working for Alaskan institutions, such as the Alaska SeaLife Center, Audubon Alaska, The Imaginarium and the BLM Campbell Creek Science Center.

He holds a B.A. in Biology from Olivet College, MI and lives in Anchorage with his spouse and two amazing children. When not thinking about bears, he can be found performing improvisational comedy. Rich was fortunate enough to visit the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary and Refuge in 2008, 2010, 2014, and 2019 and feels compelled to share his experiences there and advocate the value of such a magical place.