CNAP Council

The Colorado Natural Areas Council was created by the Natural Areas Act of 1977, and renewed in 2004. The advisory council provides advice on program administration and approves the designation of natural areas. For more information, check out the Council News link.

CNAP Council Members

Jill Ozarski (Chair) – Governor Appointee
Jill currently works for Accenture as a consultant, and previously served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts, the umbrella organization uniting nearly 60 not-for-profit land trusts and local government open space programs across Colorado.  Ms. Ozarski has over a decade of experience in public and private land management, including work for The Wilderness Society, The Nature Conservancy, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Town of Southampton, New York. She received a Master of Public Policy and a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University.
Appointed 2010

Bruce A. Schumacher (Vice-chair) – Governor Appointee
Bruce is a regional paleontologist with the USDA Forest Service. Bruce serves as an adjunct curator with the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Kansas, and a research associate with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Although devoted to resource planning and management of paleontological resources, Bruce continues to undertake geological research of Cretaceous age marine rocks and fossils. He earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in geology from Fort Hays State University (Hays, KS) and the South Dakota School of Mines, respectively.
Appointed 2009

Dr. Lee Shropshire– Governor Appointee
Dr. Shropshire has lived in Colorado for 50 years and is an authority on the geology of the state of Colorado. After receiving his doctorate in geology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, Dr. Shropshire served as a researcher, consultant and professor of geology at the University of Northern Colorado for 33 years. After his retirement from UNC in 1998, Dr. Shropshire has been involved with the Geological Society of America, the Colorado Scientific Society and the Colorado Natural Areas Council, where he did a previous stint as a member from 1994-2002.
Appointed 2008

Renée Rondeau – Governor Appointee
Renée leads the newly formed Conservation Planning team at the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, housed within Colorado State University. Renée recently completed a 5-year appointment as the Director of the Colorado Natural Heritage Program and prior to that, she was a field ecologist for the program. Renée completed her B.S. and M.S. in Botany from University of Florida and Arizona, respectively. Renée has been involved on conservation planning projects with non-profit groups, e.g., The Nature Conservancy, State Agencies, and federal and local government over the last 5 years. She has seen these efforts result in on-the-ground conservation that resulted in protecting over 1 million acres of priority conservation areas. Renée is also the lead on Colorado's Biodiversity Scorecard, a project designed to measure Colorado's conservation status in partnership with The Nature Conservancy's measures program. This project recently won NatureServe's Conservation Achievement Award.
Appointed 2007

Dennis G. Buechler - Representative of the Colorado Wildlife Commission
Dennis is the Principal of Wetlands and Watersheds, LLC. He is a biologist with expertise on mitigation and restoration of habitats (particularly wetlands and riparian), endangered species, and related laws and policies. Dennis was selected by Governor Ritter to represent sportsmen. He is an avid hunter and angler, has actively worked on fish and wildlife issues in Colorado since 1989, and is a member of numerous sportsmen and conservation groups. Dennis is a Director Emeritus and past President of the Colorado Wildlife Federation. He retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and previously worked for the ND Game and Fish Department.
Appointed 2007

Michele ("Mike") Bloom - Representative of the Board of Land Commissioners
Dean Emeritus of The Women's College of the University of Denver, Mike is an educator with over 40 years of experience in higher education and K-12 public education. Mike has served on a number of Advisory Committees and Boards of Directors including the Mental Health Association of Colorado, Girls Count, Colorado Springs Public Schools, the Denver Foundation, and the Rose Foundation. Mike and her husband Steve have lived in Colorado for almost 40 years. She is an avid birder and has traveled extensively throughout Colorado, the US and 22 foreign countries to watch and study birds and their natural habitats. They share their love of the natural world and a commitment to conservation with their three sons and three grandsons.
Appointed 2007

Lenna Watson – Representative of the State Parks Board
Lenna works in the Development Department for Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado. She is involved in community volunteer projects and serves as a voting member of the State Parks Board. Lenna and her husband often frequent the outdoor areas near Grand Junction, where she was born and raised, enjoying hiking, golfing and exploring Western Colorado.
Appointed 2009