INHF Welcomes Kody Wohlers and Bill Kohler

Posted on March 11, 2021 in Blog

INHF is excited to welcome Kody Wohlers and Bill Kohler as INHF's newest land stewardship directors!

Meet Kody Wohlers

Kody Wohlers is INHF’s Loess Hills land stewardship director and will oversee INHF projects, partnerships and stewardship throughout the Loess Hills region.

"I have worked with the INHF staff for over a decade on various projects. They are amazing! I am very excited to join the team, work with new partners, and expand their efforts within the Loess Hills region," Wohlers said.

Wohlers, originally from Missouri Valley, was previously a natural resource technician for Pottawattamie County Conservation. Wohlers was part of the Natural Areas Management department from its ground floor and helped build the program throughout the years.

Wohlers attended Central College in Pella and graduated with a major in Environmental Science with a Biology minor. After college, he worked at Vermeer Manufacturing until his wife finished her student teaching and a position in the conservation field opened up.

"When I was in college, I did not know where my degree would lead me. I have always loved the outdoors, working with my hands on the farm, and putting in a hard day’s work. I had an internship where I performed park maintenance duties, and had another where I performed aggressive land stewardship. I really liked that aspect of conservation, and working for the land to make big changes and preserve it for the future,” said Wohlers

Wohler’s relationships and partnerships with the conservation professionals within the Loess Hills region will be a great asset for his transition to the new position. His coordination for the Loess Hills Fire Partners over the past few years will be a strong asset for INHF to further build off of with those partners.

"INHF has just a fantastic reputation for developing passionate conservationists in the community, but also beyond that because of the work ethic, personal commitment, integrity and the quality of the work that we do," Wohlers said. "I can’t wait to be a part of this exceptional team, and continue the preservation of the great properties INHF works with, as well as building landowner relationships for future projects throughout the region and state."

To contact Kody or welcome him to the team, email kwohlers@inhf.org or call (402)-578-1935.

Meet Bill Kohler

Bill Kohler will be INHF’s eastern Iowa land stewardship director and focus on land stewardship and annual conservation easement monitoring.

Originally from Virginia, Kohler grew up on a working horse farm in rural Spotsylvania County and gained a deep love of the outdoors and the history of nature from his family.

Kohler attended James Madison University in Virginia and has a degree in Psychology, but ultimately this was not his chosen career path. Kohler left Virginia and has since lived in Arizona, California, Colorado and now Iowa. After traveling the country and the world and acquiring a diverse range of experiences, Kohler went back to school to get a degree in Natural Resource Management from Colorado State University.

“My hope then was to get back to my love of the outdoors and doing work which was meaningful and helpful to both people and the environment,” Kohler said.

Since obtaining his degree, Kohler has worked a wide variety of environmental and natural resource management jobs. Kohler worked at the USDA Wildlife Research center with cliff swallows to research the transmission of West Nile Virus, and spent three years working at Colorado State University’s Larval Fish Laboratory working to help remove invasive species and help endangered fish on the Yampa and Green River.

“Prior to INHF, I spent seven years with the Fort Collins Natural Areas Program, where I helped manage over 50,000 acres of public land and assisted with the reintroduction of Black-footed ferrets on our Soapstone Prairie Natural Area," Kohler said.

“My wife is from Iowa City and we are glad to be getting settled into Iowa and I am looking forward to getting onto the lands and prairies that INHF manages and preserves.”

To contact Bill, email bkohler@inhf.org or call (970)-980-655