George Smith
George Smith is the National Conservation Director for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, and has served in this position for over ten years. In 1992, George co-initiated the campaign to conserve the Northern Rockies (Muskwa-Kechika) in northeastern BC. This work was rewarded on October 8, 1997, when the BC government announced the largest land use decision in British Columbia's history - 11 million acres in the northeastern portion of the Northern Rockies were announced as new protected and special management areas. On November 14, 2000 the government announced a 5 million acre addition to the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area including the Gataga/Frog/Kechika area in the northern Rocky Mountain Trench.

George's work on other wilderness issues includes successful campaigns to protect the Tatshenshini in northwestern BC, the Akamina-Kishinena in southeastern BC adjacent to Waterton Lakes and Glacier National Parks, the Tetrahedron on BC's southwestern coast, and the legal case which ended commercial logging in Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. He continues to work on the implementation of the Muskwa-Kechika conservation model and the international Yellowstone to Yukon conservation initiative.

Currently, George sits on the Muskwa-Kechika Advisory Board and the Tetrahedron Park Public Advisory Committee, which are appointed by the BC government. He has recently stepped down from the government-appointed Advisory Committee to the Oil and Gas Commission and from the board of the Environmental Mining Council of BC.

In 1997, George was co-recipient of the first Achievement Award given by the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. In 1998, he received the Minister's Environmental Award in the Individual Citizen Category from the BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. In 2000, he was honoured with the Wilburforce Foundation's first North American Award for Conservation Leadership.

George and his partner Merrily Corder live in Gibsons, BC, where George initiated and managed the construction of the Tetrahedron backcountry ski trails and cabins system in the 1980s. George's background includes newspaper reporting, work with the Outdoor Recreational Council of BC, the forest industry, and employment with the Canadian government at the Office of Energy Conservation and the Native Citizen's Directorate at the Secretary of State.

Ken Madsen
Ken Madsen is an award-winning writer, photographer and adventurer living in Whitehorse, Yukon. He is the author of Paddling in the Yukon, Tatshenshini Wilderness Quest and Wild Rivers Wild Lands. His articles and photographs have appeared in numerous books and magazines including Canadian Geographic, Protecting Canada's Endangered Spaces, Tatshenshini River Wild, Beautiful BC, Paddler, Canoe, Up Here, Nature Canada, Kanawa.

Wild Rivers Wild Lands was nominated for best adventure travel book at the 1997 Banff International Book Festival. Ken received the gold medal for natural history stories in the International Regional Magazine Associations Awards for his article "River of White Death" in 1993 and was a finalist for best photography in the 1993 Western Canadian Magazine Awards. His article "Paddling the Wild Stikine" was nominated for best travel article in the Canadian Magazine Awards in 1994.

Ken uses his writing and photography to help preserve North America's fast-disappearing wilderness heritage. He was instrumental in the successful international campaign to establish the Tatshenshini-Alsek Wilderness Park. He is a founder of the Yukon Wildlands Project, president of Friends of Yukon Rivers and coordinator of the Caribou Commons Project. In 1999 he received the Northern Conservation Award for his work towards protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Ken is well-known in canoeing and kayaking circles for his white-water exploits, which include the first Canadian descent of notorious Turnback Canyon and the first descent of the Stikine River from its headwaters to the sea. He has paddled in many places around the world and has led many "first descents" in the north.

Matthew Lien
Matthew Lien, a resident of Canada's Yukon Territory, has been composing, recording and producing music since the 1980s. His unique approach to sound production has yielded five solo albums, one album with the Wildlands ensemble and numerous other projects and commissioned works. In addition to his studio work, Matthew is known for his exciting live performances. In Whitehorse, the capital city of the Yukon, Matthew's concerts are always sold out, and in the island nation of Taiwan, where Lien has achieved phenomenal (and, for a foreigner, unprecedented) success, Lien has performed for crowds of over 30,000, even in the pouring rain!

Glen W. Davis
Glen W. Davis is a "semi-retired" Toronto businessman. Since 1985, he has provided financial support for a number of conservation projects, generally through WWF Canada as part of its Endangered Species program. He has also supported projects of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club of Canada. As an "ecotourist," Glen has travelled extensively in the western United States and Canada.