Valery is the Deputy Director of the Tectonic and Geophysics Institute where he organized a GIS lab that implements projects analyzing the environmental conditions in many regions of the Russian Far East and Siberia. The results of these analyses are then delivered to local officials and decision makers. Valery's GIS lab also serves as a regional hub that collects various GIS data sets and shares them with regional conservation groups. A geologist by training, Valery was very excited to use his free time to study geological formations of California and Montana, and to walk along the famous Californian faults. You can contact Valery at valery@itig.as.khb.ru.

Anna is an independent researcher working on a mapping project to monitor development of rapidly growing oil and gas pipelines network in Pacific-Asia region, in order to help analysts better understand the environmental impact from these pipelines. While in Missoula, she was working on hydrology map of her study area to supplement the GIS database for her research. On weekends Anna explored Montana's national parks, including Yellowstone and Glacier. Contact Anna at astranna@mail.ru

This was the second time for Alexander to participate in our Internship Program (the first one was in 1997). Alexander continues to apply GIS in his organization's conservation projects. At this time, before going to SCGIS training and two conferences in California, Alexander stayed for three days in New York City where he met with international forest activists participating in a Forest Forum organized by UN and checked out Central Park. He then visited our office in Missoula on his return to California. Alexander's email address is yumakaev@yahoo.com