Colleen E. Boyd

Assistant Professor/ Director of Native American Studies Minor Program – Department of Anthropology, Ball State University

Today’s Date: April 8, 2008

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

In 5th grade I spent a week taking horseback riding lessons through Camp Fire Girls. It was life-changing in that I learned to work with, and communicate with, a large and potentially frightening animal. I have been 'in love' with horses ever since!

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Several - I grew up in the Pacific Northwest - I always loved the beach and living in Seattle, it was never far away. I also spent a great deal of time in the summers swimming in Lake Washington. I loved Carkeek Park (on Puget Sound) and Whidbey Island, where we rented a cabin in the summers when I was very small.

Now? The Olympic Peninsula where I do fieldwork is at the top of a fairly long list that now also includes the Eastern Woodlands - I love the hardwood forests I have come to know living east of the Mississippi River.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is and why?

Horses (see above) and apes and monkeys (anthropologist, what can I say?) Sea mammals of all sorts (see above) and I am a serious cat person with tons of love left over for dogs.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

The threat of pollutants to lands, wetlands and salt and freshwater. I work with traditional salmon fishers and I actually cry thinking about the loss of marine resources. Probably global warming is on that same list.

5. If you could give one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Love it or give it back to indigenous people. And by that I mean quit thinking and acting in the short term - imagine what you want your descendents to see 100 or 1,000 years from now.