Garden Holiday

Clinton Claussen

Clinton Claussen is the garden supervisor at Mohonk Mountain House. In 2017 he started with the Rustic carpenters and transitioned to the garden staff that winter. He is an avid outdoorsman who has an enormous wealth of knowledge on the region’s flora and fauna. He majored in Philosophy and Literature at the University of Iowa.

Paul Huth

Paul Huth brings nearly 50 years of natural and cultural history research on the Shawangunk ridge, mostly concentrated at Mohonk and the surrounding Mohonk Preserve. He worked for 15 years with the Preserve’s 1st Director of Research, Daniel Smiley, and with his brother Keith, founders of the Mohonk Trust in 1963. Paul followed Dan as the Preserve’s 2nd Director of Research and served for over 20 years. Paul authored and coauthored over a hundred Research Reports and published papers on a diversity of subjects, including the century old Mohonk Lake Cooperative Weather Station, where Dan and Paul both served as long-term Cooperative Observers for the National Weather Service. Paul’s decades of service insured the future of Dan’s science legacy, now being digitized, for future generations.

Nina Smiley, Ph.D.

Nina Smiley, Ph.D., graduated from Vassar College and earned a doctoral degree in psychology from Princeton University. She is co-author of The Three Minute Meditator, now in its fifth edition and translated into seven languages, and Mindfulness in Nature, along with the CD Mini-Meditations That Will Enhance Your Life. Nina taught psychology at the University of Maryland and worked at the American Psychological Association. She has studied mindfulness with Jack Kornfield (founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center), Sharon Salzberg (co-founder of Insight Meditation Society), and others. Nina’s work has been featured in The New York Times, O, the Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Shape and Prevention. She delights in sharing insights about mindfulness meditation and well-being.