Staff/Board of Directors

Trevor Pellerite

Founder | President

Trevor is the founder and President of Grasslands Unlimited. After earning a writing degree at Northern Michigan University, he moved to Montana where he worked as a hunting guide in the plains of northeastern Montana. While chasing mule deer and antelope through the sage, Trevor fell in love with the expansive grasslands of the American heartland, and eventually decided to pursue a career in wildlife and public land advocacy.

Trevor attended law school at the University of Colorado, where he won the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment Outstanding Student Award. After practicing law for several years, Trevor returned to school at the University of Nebraska at Omaha to earn a master’s degree in biology, where his research focuses on comparing small mammal communities in restored and unrestored roadsides.

Harmon Zuckerman

Board Member

Harmon is an attorney focused on land use law and who also counsels clients in water law, real estate, and civil litigation matters. Before becoming a lawyer, he had two careers: one as a land use, environmental, and community planner in the public and non-profit sectors and another in building and design. As a planner, he directed the update of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s regional plan and served as the head planner for Douglas County, Nevada, updating the county’s master and open space plan documents and drafting numerous ordinances that preserve ranchland while increasing the economic vitality and enhancing the built environment of the Carson Valley’s small towns.

In the construction field, he was both the owner of a design/build firm and a construction manager, in both cases focusing on adaptive reuse and historic preservation projects. Harmon attended law school at the University of Colorado, and while there he interned for a Federal judge, performed pro bono work to protect and preserve the acequia community irrigation systems in southern Colorado, and became a founding CPI Board Member. Harmon serves on the Planning Board for the City of Boulder and, in his spare time, enjoys family life and a seemingly ever-expanding range of outdoor activities.

Elizabeth Arndt, PhD

Board Member

Elizabeth is a food scientist with more than 30 experience in research and development, nutrition, and labeling. She holds a PhD in Grain Science from Kansas State University and an MSc in Food Science and Technology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Formerly the Director of R&D at ConAgra Mills and PHM Brands, she is a co-inventor of several patents and currently owns a consulting business.

 Elizabeth grew up on a small farm in northeast Kansas and spent her childhood exploring the countryside, doing chores, and hunting for rocks and fossils. Her experiences living in the country helped influence her desire to support insects, birds, and other wildlife by working to reestablish native plant communities and manage invasive species in parks, along streets and in other public spaces. Elizabeth enjoys spending time with her family and gardening, and still loves exploring.

Liam Culhane

Board Member

Liam Culhane lives in Watertown, SD, with his family.  Liam grew up in Watertown, SD, attended South Dakota State University for his bachelor’s degree, and received a law degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO.  Along with his brother and mother, Liam practices a mix of personal injury, worker’s compensation, as well as taking many court appointed juvenile cases in Northeastern South Dakota.

 

Growing up on the Great Plains, Liam gained an appreciation for wild lands and wildlife.  Hunting, fishing, and simply spending time outdoors instilled the value of our wetlands and grasslands to Liam.  Along with his friends and family, Liam likes to spend his leisure time in the backcountry in the mountain west, riding mules, chasing big game, and spending time on the water whether that is on a lake or the open ocean.

Karin P. Sheldon

Board Member

Karin Sheldon is a lawyer with more than 30 years of experience in natural resources and environmental law, with an emphasis on the protection and management of the federal lands and resources of the American West. She is President of Four Echoes Strategies, a consulting firm that provides policy analysis and strategic advice on Western conservation issues. Karin is also a Senior Fellow of the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy & the Environment at the University of Colorado School of Law, and serves on the Center’s Advisory Council.

From 2007 to 2013, Karin was President of Western Resource Advocates, a regional non-profit environmental organization working to promote clean energy and conserve the West’s land, water, and natural resources. Prior to 2007, Karin was Associate Dean for the Environmental Law Program, Professor of Law, and Director of the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School. Before joining the faculty at Vermont Law School, Karin was President of The Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C., a staff attorney with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Find (now Earth Justice) in Colorado, a partner in a public interest law firm, and a member of Ralph Nader’s original Public Interest Research Group.

Karin is a graduate of Vassar College and the University of Washington School of Law.

Samuel Kanne

Treasurer & Board Member

Growing up a few miles outside of small town Iowa, Sam spent much of his childhood exploring the woods along the Boyer River, as well as an old settler cemetery that held some of the only virgin prairie in his county. It was during this time that he came to love the great plains and all of the nature it holds. He didn’t know it at the time, but his former stomping grounds held one of the largest populations of white trillium in Iowa. 

Sam went on to serve as a camp counselor at a summer camp for 7 years. 7 summers spent living in the woods cemented his love nature and introduced him to the importance of connecting kids with nature through volunteerism. This experience led him to pursue a degree in Sustainability Studies at UNO. 

Today, Sam works full time for Scouting America, where he helps volunteer leaders organize activities all across Nebraska and Western Iowa, ensuring financial responsibility along the way.

Brianna Kouma

Volunteer Restoration Coordinator

Briana is a Conservation Director who focuses on protecting Nebraska’s natural legacy by educating the public, supporting communities, and increasing civic engagement. She was born and raised in Nebraska and has very fond memories of living along the Platte River. Since she was young, she’s had a special place in her heart for wildlife that continues to grow. She holds a Bachelors in Fisheries and Wildlife Management from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

While attending university, she spent a summer in Botswana, Africa researching wildlife while camping in the bush. This experience made her realize more than ever how important it is for humans to learn to coexist with nature. This way of thinking has led her to become a board member for Heron Haven Nature Center, a Nebraska Master Naturalist, and a volunteer with Tri-County Prescribed Burn Association.

Grasslands Unlimited began humbly in spring of 2014 (when it was called the Colorado Prairie Initiative), when a group of law students, with more passion than nonprofit experience, decided it was time to take action to restore the great prairie ecosystems of the United States.

Mission Statement

Purpose

The purposes of Grasslands Unlimited are to aid the restoration of the grassland and prairie ecosystems across the Great Plains; to protect and conserve native species of wild prairie plants and animals; to make the prairie ecosystem more accessible to the public; to begin the long and difficult task of restoring the grasslands to their former vitality and beauty; and to use all legal means to carry out these objectives.

Beliefs

The mighty grasslands once stretched across the middle of the country, from Mexico to Canada. Home to untold millions of bison, elk, and antelope, the seemingly boundless prairies came to symbolize the intrepid spirit of the new America. But politics and agriculture devastated much of the great plains, as the bison herds were wiped out, cattle were introduced to and overgrazed the rangelands, native grasses were plowed under to make way for crops, and aquifers were depleted to irrigate dry climates not suited for farming. Eventually the Great Depression necessitated the buy back of some of the heartland of America by the government, which led to the creation of the National Grasslands.

But these National Grasslands failed to materialize as the bastion of prairie restoration they could have been. It is beyond debate that the rangelands are in poor condition, and private landowners and not-for-profit organizations have emerged as playing an ever larger role in their recovery.

Grasslands Unlimited exists to aid that recovery effort in the hopes that future generations may be able to enjoy what remains of the American prairies. Perhaps one day the thundering of countless bison hooves will shake the Heartland once again. Prairie life provides the best of what nature has to offer: power, resilience, unspeakable beauty. Let’s ensure we treat it such that future generations will judge us favorably.