Officers and Staff
Larry Pollard has served as the Executive Director, and now currently the President, of The Land Learning Foundation since it was reorganized in 2011. Pollard, a native of Chariton County, Missouri served with USDA Soil Conservation Service (now NRCS) for 30 years in several locations of Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Nebraska prior to retiring back to Chariton County.
Pollard is active with his church and volunteers in civic endeavors relating to community development efforts. Sustainable land uses that rebuild, recover and preserve natural resource values is his view for leading The Land Learning Foundation as President.
Scott Martin is the acting Executive Director of The Land Learning Foundation (LLF). He currently resides in Huntsville, MO where he lives with his wife, Katy, and their three children. Growing up in Northeast Missouri with vast opportunities to be in and participate in outdoor activities granted him with many core values and memories he holds dear.
In fulfilling the mission on LLF, "Fostering stewardship through outdoor expeirence, youth education, and conservation", Scott has the blessing to not only teach his own children, but those without the same opportunities to enjoy the same outdoor experiences through our youth programs.
Katie Wiesehan is a current Master's student at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the field of Biology. For her thesis, Katie is conducting a population mark-recapture study on the state-threatened Illinois Chorus Frog. She graduated from Lindenwood University with a Bachelor's in Biology in May of 2018.
She has been working with The Land Learning Foundation for over 3 years as the Assistant Director. Katie has a passion for the outdoors, field biology, and learning.
Natural Resource Policy Advisers
Eric Dannenmaier
Eric is a natural resources policy attorney who grew up in Missouri, and is licensed in Washington, DC, with over thirty years of experience in environmental and water-related legal and regulatory matters. After receiving his undergraduate degree in Biology from Drury University in Springfield, he earned a law degree from Boston University, a Masters from Oxford University and a Doctorate from Columbia University. Eric was part of the national environmental law practice in St. Louis-based Bryan, Cave LLP's Washington office before directing the United States Agency for International Development's Environmental Law Program, and later the Tulane Institute for Environmental Law and Policy in New Orleans. Eric also taught Environmental Law and Constitutional Law at Indiana University, McKinney School of Law, from 2007-2016, where he founded and directed the Law School’s Graduate Program in Environmental, Energy, and Natural Resources Law and taught specialized courses in Water Law and River Law.
Robert Stout
Robert spent more than four decades working with state government in Missouri and counterparts in surrounding states. Robert served as the Chief of Policy for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. His responsibilities included the development and implementation of a watershed approach to state water quality challenges. He successfully negotiated partnerships with federal, state, and local and nonprofit partners on major studies in the Meramec and Lower Grand watersheds. Robert’s experience includes representing Missouri on the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, serving as chair in 2016. His diverse responsibilities included serving as Missouri State Liaison Officer to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and coordinating NEPA consultation for the Department with federal, state, local government agencies for a variety of major projects.
