 GAIL GREEN is co-founder and director of Living Adventure, Inc; a company specializing in adventure and art based developmental programming for work groups and individuals. For over 15 years, Gail's work has involved leading international expeditions, teaching outdoor adventure skills and guiding groups. This profession in outdoor recreation and leadership follows an early career in the arts and they merge in her present passion for international cultural experience. A major project for Gail has been the development of travel experiences to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Initiated 9 years ago, they have grown into a viable and comprehensive series of innovative art/adventure programs whose core intent is to honor the natural and cultural environments visited by Living Adventure, Inc groups.
Gail was logistics coordinator and team member of the Superior/Baikal Connect Expedition, an internationally recognized project designed to increase global awareness of the importance of fresh water resources. The seventeen-member team of Canadians, Americans and Russians circumnavigated the world's two largest freshwater lakes in 1991-92. Gail continues to conduct eco-adventure trips to Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia.
In an article on adventure travel and guide selection in the June 1998 issue of Shape Magazine, Gail was rated one of the two "best guides in the US" for sea kayaking. The September/October 2000 issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine features Gail and AIP co-founder Grant Herman in an article on the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
Gail is an instructor trainer-educator (ITE) for coastal sea kayaking in the American Canoe Association (ACA) and has certification in the British Canoe Union (BCU). She travels nationwide training instructor candidates as outdoor educators and often couples these trips with commissions for speaking and presenting at related seminars, travel shows, sea kayak symposia, women's conferences and special events. Gail has instructed and directed a ski school at a major ski area in the Midwest and continues her work there on a consulting basis.
Custom adventure-based programs in professional and personal development for corporate teams are a strong focus of Gail's present direction for the company. She is also passionate about specialty programming for women. Her work on a series of retreats with the Breast Cancer Recovery Foundation (BCRF) centers on the relationships between women's nature connections and body image.
She enjoys a long-time association with the Melpomene Institute, an organization centering on health and sports issues for women and girls. For their 'Woman of the Year' event, Gail has been commissioned to create and present glass art awards to prominent women role models such as Billie Jean King and Jackie Joyner Kersee.
 GRANT HERMAN from 1976 through 2002 served as Professor of Outdoor Education and either the Coordinator of the Outdoor Education Program or as the Coordinator of Environmental Studies Program at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. His extensive teaching background includes 25 years of presenting courses in four season technical adventure skills, adventure programming, recreational leadership, the philosophy of experiential education, interpretive program design, group process and communication, organizational development and multiple environmental issue-specific seminars. He taught courses in Northland's evening degree program in Community Leadership and also environmental education including the Apostle Islands School with the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. In 2002 Grant moved on from Northland and joined Gail in “Adventures in Perspective” (now Living Adventure) and together they launched the Apostle Island's-based sea kayak outfitting business to complement the Yucatan adventure travel business that Gail started in 1996.
Grant is often commissioned by various organizations and groups to facilitate workshops outside the college environment as well. Typically this work focuses on topics such as strategic planning, problem solving, decision-making, conflict resolution, leadership development and interpersonal communication. His present interests include integrating outdoor experience with intentional professional growth seminars. His lifetime connection with a variety of paddling disciplines and the music that surrounds them is often infused into these experiences. This is the interface for his involvement co-founding and working with Living Adventure, Inc.
Grant continues to guide and design a range of outdoor experiences for special groups in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore near Bayfield, WI. He is an instructor trainer educator for the American Canoe Association in coastal kayaking and an instructor trainer in river kayaking, flat and whitewater canoeing and he offers instruction in related areas such as river rescue and freestyle canoeing. He was also a certified senior instructor in the British Canoe Union. Staff members of many camps and outdoor institutes have benefited from pre-season training sessions directed by Grant.
One of Grant's most recent initiatives has been to restore a replica “North Canoe” (a 26' Voyageur style canoe) that he and the staff at Living Adventure use to run truly unique day trips to historic Madeline Island for families and groups. In addition, the big canoe is often used in teamwork development programs for organizations.
A strong passion for Grant is his regular participation with an a capella men's group called 'Les Fils du Voyageur' (The Sons of the Voyageur). Bedecked in colorful period costumes, the group performs across Canada and the Great Lakes area singing paddling songs from the French voyageur fur trade epoch. Their recent CD's, Bien Travailler & Canot d'Ecorce include favorite songs performed at festivals, rendezvous, and various regional events. Grant also sings with a second group known in lumberjack circles as “The Pinery Boys.” Performing music of the logging camps, rivers and lumbering towns in the early 1900's, this troupe performs at events all over the upper Midwest and for the “Great Outdoor Games” through ESPN. Their recent CD, Big Men, Big Trees, like those of Les Fils du Voyageur, are available at http://www.heartistrymusic.com/. In addition to these vocal groups, Grant also performs with The Northwinds Recorder Consort, specializing in instrumental music of the renaissance and baroque periods.
Together, Grant and Gail manage the business, a staff of 25 people during the summer months and a Yucatan staff of 4-6 during the winter.
Northland College
Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute
The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
British Canoe Union
American Canoe Association
National Geographic Traveler
Breast Cancer Recovery
Melpomene Institute
Heartistry Music
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