Meet Our Staff

Founder, Director & Field Staff

Neill Bovaird has been practicing and teaching wilderness skills since 1998. He has a B.S. in Natural Resource Conservation from UMass Amherst, and holds Professional-level certificates through CyberTracker Conservation in Track & Sign, Trailing, and as a Professional Tracker. Neill has been a facilitator at Art of Mentoring since 2001 and has studied under Jon Young, Mark Elbroch, Errett Callahan, and Steve Watts.

In addition to being the founder and director of Wolf Tree Programs LLC, Neill has taught wilderness skills at countless private and public schools, nature centers, museums, conferences, elder hostels, and camps. Neill’s passions include flintknapping, bow making, hide tanning, tracking, megalithic construction, hunting and wandering in the wilderness.

Director of Youth Programs & Field Staff

Since 2011, Kyle has been working in outdoor and environmental education, leading experiences in backpacking, canoeing and kayaking, caving, climbing, leadership development, naturalism, teambuilding, tracking, and wilderness skills. Kyle holds a Bachelor’s degree in Ecopsychology, as well as a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies - Conservation Biology, and has taught courses in Earth Science, Mammalogy, and the Physical Sciences at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Kyle has worked with participants of all ages and backgrounds from local schools, colleges and universities, non-profits, libraries, corporations, homeschooling groups, and summer camps.

Family is most important to Kyle, especially his two daughters and his wife. He is also passionate about learning, reading, hunting, tracking, wilderness skills, music, and mindfulness.

Field Staff

Erica grew up as a participant in nature connection programs, practicing ancestral skills in community since the age of 8. It was a natural transition to leading nature programs, which she started at the age of 12 and hasn't stopped since! She has traveled all over the world, staffing programs such as the Art of Mentoring, running various programs with Wolf Tree, and leading her own nature connection group in Santa Cruz, CA for a year.

Her homeschooled upbringing allowed her to follow her passions, which include singing (she is part of a singing group which has been gathering for 1000+ consecutive days), basket weaving, animal raising, sewing, crafting of all kinds, and dancing. She lives on Brooks Bend Farm, where she raises cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, and bees.

Field Staff and Administrative Assistant

Eliza began cultivating her connection to the more than human world as a child, upending rocks and logs in search of salamanders and going for endless explorations of the woods of Colrain, MA with her brothers.

For the past decade, Eliza has been working with youth in the outdoors in various settings including environmental education programs in the Poconos, nature connection programs in MA, and rites of passage programs for teen girls in New England.

Eliza is enlivened by making music and crafts, cooking for big crowds, and deepening her connection with the natural world and the people in it. She loves to nurture community through skill building and brings love and kindness wherever she goes.

Field Staff

After several years working for Earthwatch Institute Eric left the office. He continues to assist Earthwatch researchers in the field and has facilitated fifteen teen expeditions. He began staffing Wolf Tree programs in 2015. His two children participate in Wolf Tree’s camps and the Tupelo weekends.

Eric earned a BA in English from Washington and Lee University and a MSEd from the University of Pennsylvania. He is certified as a Wilderness First Responder and holds a Level III Track and Sign rating. A favorite honor was once overhearing his daughter designate his profession as Adventurer.

He often wanders off trail - especially when deer, moose or a local carnivore’s tracks reveal another path. He believes in a mentoring style that similarly goes “off trail” and he strives to inspire other adventurers young and old.

Field Staff

David would like to thank his parents for sending him outside until sundown as a child. During this time he would run through the swamps of Eastern Mass turning over rocks and finding wild raspberries. Over the years of exploring New England he became aware of the innate healing that comes with connection to beings both human and other-than-human.

He is grateful to be a part of this journey alongside the youth with whom he works. David is passionate about tracking, working with fire, wild edibles, stillness, bark tanning, sense awareness, and having a blast. When not at Wolf Tree, David is with a nature-based outdoor childcare center in Western Mass.

Field Staff

Ellie is a skilled and experienced wilderness skills facilitator who grew up mentored by the rich nature connection community in Sussex, England. Her passion is supporting folks of all ages to connect with the more-than-human-world, our kin, in reciprocal, fun and adventurous ways. She especially loves working with teens, creating spaces for them to meet edges, challenges and engage in rites of passage experiences, deeply exploring old ways of living. Ellie holds an MA in nature connection education, has facilitated Art of Mentorings, led teacher trainings, and designed and led long-term nature connection programmes in England and New England. From co-creating Children’s Forest, a global tree planting organisation, to founding Women’s Trad Festival to empower and bring women together through rock climbing, it’s always about connection for Ellie - weaving threads between humans and the natural world. Ellie’s current favourite skills to explore are hide tanning, animal processing, and acorn-eating. She also loves singing about and to trees, climbing, growing a garden, raising cows, spending lots of time with friends, and being part of community craft and acorn gatherings.

Field Staff

Since a young age Tejas has been drawn to make with his hands. He was a regular at the Vermont Wilderness School programs, where he made his first bow under the tutelage of Preston Taylor. Since then, Tejas has learned about handwork from Howard Hitchmough, Neill Bovaird, Ben Putnam, and Al Jaeger. Tejas has a BFA in Ceramics from the University of New Hampshire. He is a clay artist and bowyer. He has taken artist’s residency in Jingdezhen China, and at the New Hampshire Potters Guild wood kiln in Deerfield NH. Tejas mentors at wilderness programs for youth, teaches adult classes in various crafts, and works as a licensed arborist. Tejas is passionate about helping others to engage effectively with natural materials in order to make things of use and beauty.