About the author

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In his career, Mike Anderson works for the Center for Sales Strategy, a consulting firm based in Tampa, Florida with media, marketing, and business-to-business clients across the U.S., Canada and Australia. In his free time, he enjoys canoeing, camping and conservation.

His first river clean-up happened back in 1994, when he helped organize a community effort to remove trash and debris from the first 125 miles of the Mississippi River, starting right at the headwaters at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota. In 2007, he launched CleanUpTheRiver.com to document the progress made and lessons he learned while cleaning debris from more than 54 miles of adopted shoreline on both the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. The goal of the site is to remind people that anyone, on any given day, has the power to improve a place.
In 2009, Mike was persuaded by his wife (and by his doctor) to start acting his age… and pursue his conservation ambitions in ways that involve less heavy lifting. So, he started another blog, known as FootprintsAndPhotographs.com. The idea behind this site is that conservation starts with appreciation. In other words, when people are connected to a place through hunting, fishing, hiking, paddling or any other outdoor activity… they are simply more likely to take care of those natural places. So, through colorful writing and vivid photography, FootprintsAndPhotographs.com seeks to help people notice and admire the outside world.

In 2011, he started another blog, designed to serve as a gallery for his non-wildlife photography, and to share stories about people who are doing something interesting... and of human service.  That effort is called, "A Kind Eye," and it is found at http://akindeye.com/.

Mike was named one of the “Heroes of Conservation” by Field and Stream magazine in July, 2009. His efforts have been covered in articles by Minnesota Waters (a lake and river advocacy group) and in Minnesota Trails magazine. Locally, he has been interviewed by WLTE Radio, and was the subject of a short feature about conservation that was produced by KARE-11 News in 2008, and re-broadcast for Earth Day in 2009. He is an award-winning amateur photographer and an associate member of the International League of Conservation Writers.

Mike lives with his wife, Julie, in St. Michael, Minnesota. The two have been married for more than thirty years, and share three adult children and three amazing granddaughters.  What more could a couple ask for?

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