Kathleen Dean Moore is an essayist and activist who writes about cultural and spiritual connections to wet wild places.  Her award-winning books include Riverwalking, Holdfast, The Pine Island Paradox, and Wild Comfort.  Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril, her newest book, gathers calls from the world’s moral leaders to honor our obligations to future generations. Moore, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Oregon State University, publishes in both environmental ethics and popular journals such as Audubon, Discover, and Orion, where she serves on the Board of Directors.  

Craig Childs is a writer who focuses on natural sciences, archaeology, and remarkable journeys into the wilderness. He has published more than a dozen critically acclaimed books on nature, science, and adventure. He is a commentator for NPR's Morning Edition, and his work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, Outside, and Orion. His subjects range from pre-Columbian archaeology to U.S. border issues to the last free-flowing rivers of Tibet and Patagonia. He has won several awards for his writing.

William Deverell is a professor of history at USC, where he specializes in the history of California and the American West and directs a scholarly institute that collaborates with the Huntington Library in Pasadena. He is the author of Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of Its Mexican Past and Railroad Crossing: Californians and the Railroad, 1850-1910. With Greg Hise, he is co-author of Eden by Design: The 1930 Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los Angeles Region.  William is a Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for Humanities at USC.