Garrick Pfaffmann

Garry’s first memories of the outdoors and nature exploration involve building forts and dirt-bike tracks along the Cottonwood-filled banks of the Highline Canal in Littleton, CO. After a childhood spent mostly on basketball courts, soccer fields and baseball diamonds, Garry’s interest in nature began to unfold during college, which he ultimately completed at Colorado State University majoring in Natural Resources Interpretation (outdoor education). His final internship brought him to Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) in 1997. He taught environmental education at ACES for four years, both in elementary school classrooms and in field settings. He continued working with kids as a high school science and English teacher with the Peace Corps in the African kingdom of Lesotho, was fortunate to return to ACES again in 2002, then dove head-first into teaching at the Aspen Community School where he has taught elementary and middle school for the past 8 years.  He continues to teach environmental education courses in the summer months.
Inspiration for the Family Field Guide Series derived from Garry’s transition from ACES to teaching full-time in the classroom. He wanted badly to teach a high-quality natural science program as he had done as an environmental education specialist, but soon realized that he no longer had the time to pull together the disparate kid-friendly, region-specific, informative and visually-appealing natural history resources that could engage young readers. A niche was realized, the first book was published in 2006, and the journey began. Six years and five titles later, the series is a hit among teachers, parents and environmental educators throughout the region. Work has started on expanding the series to encompass other bio-regions of the country.
Garry lives with his wife, Lindsay, and their sons Mason and Bo in Basalt, CO.

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