Meet Our Team
Native Lands Restoration Collaborative is led by a small staff and a board of directors that work together to shape the current projects and future goals of the organization.
Staff
Courtney Masterson
2023 - current
Courtney believes an intimate connection to our native landscapes will empower land stewards (that’s you!) to preserve and restore ecosystems that protect our water, soil, communities and cultures. Befriending plants strengthens one's connection to place — native landscapes are home to all people and our wild friends. Courtney is ready to introduce you.
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Courtney earned a Master's degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Kansas. Her undergraduate studies focused on Biological Sciences and Chemistry (University of Missouri - Kansas City) and Photography (Johnson County Community College). Courtney has been teaching science-related curriculum (ecology, biology, environmental science, and botany) at local colleges and in community settings for over 10 years. Her combined experiences in art and sciences help Courtney to communicate ecological concepts to broad audiences and build bridges between community partners.​
Ecologist and Executive Director
Ryan Riedel
2023 - current
Ryan has a big heart for all things in nature. He's spent a great deal of his life exploring outdoors — hiking, camping, bird watching, and carefully checking for snakes and lizards under rocks. Ryan's broad skillset in everything from woodworking to welding, hoop house building to sustainable energy technologies, makes him the perfect fit as our Operations Manager. In this role, Ryan uses his creative brain to help us achieve our restoration goals, increase our capacity to serve communities, and teach our interns and volunteers a diversity of stewardship skills.
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Ryan has earned multiple undergraduate degrees and certifications, focusing on welding, solar energy, smart house technology, and more. He is a lifelong learner, picking up new skillsets every year from his mentors in the community.
Operations Manager
Current & Former Interns
Courtney King
NLRC Role: Student Intern, Prairie Restoration focus
Now: Research Assistant, Haskell Indian Nations University
aya Courtney King weenswiaani niila peewaalia neehi myaamia waayaahtanooki iilaapiikasiaani (Hello, my name is Courtney King. I am Peoria and Miami. I am descended from the Wea People). I am studying for a BS in Environmental Science at Haskell Indian Nations University. I am very excited to be a part of the Native Lands team as a Student Intern.
Over the past few years, I have fallen in love with Kansas' prairie, wetland, and woodland ecosystems. I am working every day to establish a deeper connection with our plant relatives while continuing to learn the language of Mother Earth. I approach stewardship by intertwining Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge with western science to maintain a spiritual relationship with our non-human relatives while understanding their intricate biological processes.
I hope to return to peewaalia (Peoria) lands in Miami, Oklahoma, to holistically steward Mother Earth as my ancestors have for thousands of years. meetimankwiki kimehšoominaanaki (we follow our ancestors' trail).
Dori Summers
NLRC Role: Student Intern, Prairie Restoration focus
Now: Master's Student, KU Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Hello there! I'm Dori, a native plant lover and an aspiring scientist. My main focus of research is prairie restoration and I am currently exploring how local plant ecotypes fit within the context of restoration. I received my Bachelor's degree in environmental science from Haskell Indian Nations University and I am now pursuing a Masters degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas. I love spending my mornings and evenings with the plants in any way I can, and going on long nature walks with my energetic Rez dog. You can connect with me through linked in or through the KU.
Myles Davis
NLRC Role: Student Intern, Prairie Restoration focus
Now: Master's Student, KU Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Myles received his Associate of Science degree at Tulsa Community College and is working towards achieving a bachelor's in Environmental Science at Haskell Indian Nations University. He appreciates being immersed in nature's beauty and recognizes it as a gift. He enjoys learning stewardship and how to preserve this gift with the Native Lands team and is excited to pursue his environmental interests.
Marlowe Kastens
NLRC Role: Current Nourishing Communities Intern
Marlowe was born and raised in Lawrence and has grown to appreciate the native ecosystems in Kansas. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology. Working with NLRC, Marlowe is excited to gain hands-on experience with prairie restoration, as well as skills to help others learn to steward local ecosystems. Under the Nourishing Communities project, she is assisting local farms with incorporating native edible and medicinal species that can be taken to market. Marlowe’s interest in prairie ecosystems started with scientific research, but more recently leans toward the artistic aspects of nature. She hopes to learn more about encouraging others to form connections with local environments through the intersection of native species with hobbies like art, cooking, writing, and gardening.
Board of Directors
Sarah Morse
Board Governance Chair
2023 – current
Sarah Morse is a born-and-raised Kansan who is excited to have the opportunity to promote the conservation and restoration of Kansas' native ecosystems with Native Lands. Growing up, Sarah was encouraged to appreciate the outdoors. Early in her career, she learned about ways to use her legal training to advocate for the places she loved to explore. Now, she is thrilled to volunteer her time with organizations such as Native Lands that work to share the importance, diversity, and beauty of Kansas with others. Sarah lives in Topeka with her husband, daughters, and black lab.
Apolonia Arteaga
Board Engagement & Outreach Chair
2023 – current
Born and raised near the Great Lakes, Apolonia is now fully rooted in the prairies of Kansas, where she earned degrees at KU in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology and Environmental Studies. Apolonia has worked and volunteered for myriad nonprofits advancing environmental education, land conservation, and food sovereignty. She works as a Project Associate at Bark Media in Lawrence.
Apolonia is an avid birder, reader, and rips out honeysuckle with a passion.
Ted Abel
Board Operations Support Chair
2023 – current
Ted is a KU graduate (BS Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) and later received a MS from the University of Central Missouri, with his research emphasis on integrated management techniques for difficult riparian invaders such as Reed Canarygrass. After finishing out his MS degree, Ted promptly changed careers and began working full time for KU Medical Center in 2016. Ted calibrates, optimizes and reprograms the campus energy management and building automation systems. Recent optimization and upgrade projects have resulted in a 30% reduction in energy consumption campus-wide. Ted also volunteers regularly with Grassland Heritage Foundation and helps Native Lands with certain types of management work such as prescribed burns. Ted lives in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City, MO, and owns rural property in Jefferson County, KS (including a prairie reconstruction site).
Kevin Halgren
Board Member
2025 – current
Growing up in Council Grove, surrounded by the tallgrass prairie of the Flint Hills, and with his mother’s artist’s interest in its native wildflowers, Kevin established a deep appreciation for the landscapes and natural beauty found throughout the state, as well as its peoples, their history, and ways of life.
He and his wife Beth live in Eudora where they have raised eight children and are privileged to own 10 acres of biodiverse land in the upper Captain’s Creek watershed. There they spend much of their free time preserving, restoring, and documenting the native flora and fauna and collecting rare native seeds for restorations elsewhere in the area. They can commonly be found together attending and supporting ecology-related events in the community.