Social Media Links
- Darcy Allen
- Ethan Aumack
- Deon Ben
- Eleanor Bliss
- Jane Butter
- Jeremy Christensen
- Roger Clark
- David deRoulhac
- Dave Erley
- Natasha Johnson
- Laura Kamala
- Nikolai Lash
- Neil Levine
- Richard Mayol
- Taylor McKinnon
- Rick Moore
- Andrew Mount
- Mary O'Brien
- Phil Pearl
- Tim Peterson
- Adrianne Sanchez
- Evelyn Sawyers
- Tony Skrelunas
- Stephanie Smith
- Christine Sweeter
- Anne Mariah Tapp
- Emily Thompson
- Kate Watters
- Matt Willamson
Staff Bios: Quick Links
Bill Hedden: Executive Director
Since joining us in February 1996, Bill Hedden has coordinated the Trust’s activities in southern Utah’s canyon country. He has worked on a diverse array of projects, including the Moab Uranium Millsite cleanup and Utah state land reform. He was instrumental in expanding Arches National Park in 1998, retiring grazing from ecologically critical areas like the Escalante River canyon, and creating a directory of conservation groups working on the Colorado Plateau. Appointed Executive Director of the Trust in April 2003, Bill is a longtime resident of Moab. He is also a former County Council member in Grand County, a member of the Utah Board of Parks and Recreation, and a board member of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Bill has a B.A. and Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University.
Staff
Darcy Allen: Senior Director of Administration
Darcy Allen has been with the Trust since June 1995 and has lived in Flagstaff, Arizona, for over 20 years. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Darcy earned her B.A. in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Public Relations. As the “MAD” manager, Darcy is responsible for many different aspects of Trust life. Her main focus is the loyal and knowledgeable members of the Trust. Additionally, she helps with all aspects of development, and serves on the human resource, facilities, and finance teams. Darcy Allen loves her job. [back to top]
Ethan Aumack: Conservation Director
Ethan, a program manager from 1997–2001, returned to the Trust in 2004 as Director of Restoration Programs and took over as ranch director in June 2008. Ethan comanages fire and forest restoration work on the southern Colorado Plateau; he also oversees restoration and general management activities at Kane & Two Mile Ranches. His work focuses primarily on initiating or accelerating the recovery of natural landscapes, landscape processes, and native plant and animal species in the region. Ethan earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College and an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Northern Arizona University. [back to top]
Deon Ben: Native American Program Associate
Deon Ben, from the community of Tohatchi, New Mexico, joined the Trust’ Native America Program in 2009. He earned his B.S. in Environmental Studies from Northern Arizona University and since has focused his efforts on environmental conservation in surrounding tribal communities and nations throughout the Southwest. Growing up on Navajo land, Deon experienced the perfect mesh of traditional knowledge and environmental education, which led him to his work with Grand Canyon National Park and into his current position with us. Deon enjoys the isolation and natural beauty of his traditional homeland and looks forward to positive environmental change. [back to top]
Eleanor Bliss: Executive Associate
Eleanor Bliss has worked for the Trust, at our Moab office, since June 1998. She has a B.A. from Harvard University, majoring in Anthropology with a minor in Botany. She escaped Boston in 1976, with a huge sigh of relief, and built a home and gardens and raised two daughters in Castle Valley. She is also a member of the Castle Valley Planning Commission, Moab Music Festival board, and library board. [back to top]
Jane Butter: Utah Wildlands Program Associate
Jane grew up hiking, backpacking, and camping in the deserts and canyons of southern Utah, and enjoying the state's incredible beauty. In high school, she spent her summers volunteering for environmental organizations in Salt Lake City as well as canvassing to draw support for America's Redrock Wilderness Act. She has lobbied in Washington, D.C., to protect public lands. Jane attended Lewis and Clark College, earning a B.A in environmental studies with a minor in communication. She has been a river guide and worked for the Grand Staircase-Escalante Partners in Kanab. She joined us in 2012. When she is not working, Jane can be found playing guitar, running rivers, snowboarding, eating sushi with friends, and traveling. [back to top]
Jeremy Christensen: Utah Forests Program Wildlife Associate
Jeremy joined the Trust’s Utah Forest Program in March 2011. His responsibilities include assessing beaver habitat, monitoring ecosystem services, supporting beaver live trapping and translocation for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and facilitating communications with the UDWR, Forest Service, and community stakeholders affected by beaver restoration. He spent 3 years as a Wildlife Technician with Utah DWR at Strawberry, surveying aquatics, monitoring water quality, and restoring riparian habitat. Jeremy earned a B.S in Sociology in 2005 from the University of Utah. In his spare time, he can be found building or rowing wooden dories on the Colorado and Green Rivers, stalking elk , or fly fishing for steelhead in Idaho and Oregon. [back to top]
Roger Clark: Grand Canyon Program Director
Roger Clark directs the Trust’s air quality and clean energy programs and our advocacy on uranium mining and natural quiet issues in the Grand Canyon. He first began working for the Trust in 1989 on actions to control air pollution from the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station, to reduce aircraft noise at the Grand Canyon, and to protect Colorado River resources downstream from Glen Canyon Dam. Roger left the Trust in 1994 to become the vice president in charge of exhibits and education at the Museum of Northern Arizona and to serve as a project director, faculty, and writer for the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University. He returned to our staff in January 2005. A lifetime member of Grand Canyon River Guides Association, Roger has been teaching since 1973. His undergraduate degree is from NAU’s School of Forestry, and his graduate degrees are from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. [back to top]
David deRoulhac: Utah Forest Program Associate
David deRoulhac began working for the Trust in September 2012. He is from western Montana, where a life spent exploring the Bitterroot Mountains fostered a love for the outdoors and a passion for conserving it. He spent 10 years conducting collections for the Forest Service on whitebark pine trees. David's work with us focuses on improving landscape health through collaborative stakeholder processes and the advocacy of science-based public land management. He likes to spend much of his time outside, with his wife, three kids and their dog Molly. David holds a B.A. from the University of Montana and is close to completing a master’s degree in Natural Resource Management from Utah State University. [back to top]
Dave Erley: Utah Forests Program Associate
Dave Erley joined the Trust is 2011 as the Utah Forest Program Associate. The job involves monitoring, documenting, and providing alternatives on most forest projects and all grazing permit renewals on the Manti-La Sal National Forest. Dave staunchly believes reform of public lands grazing on the Colorado Plateau is the most pragmatic way to create resiliency to climate change in the region. A graduate of UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Water & Soil Science, Dave later earned an MBA from the University of Colorado. In his free time, Dave works to protect his community's watershed and water rights as the mayor of Castle Valley, Utah, where he has resided for 20 years. [back to top]
Natasha K. Johnson: Native America Program Manager
Natasha K. Johnson is originally from the community of Twin Lakes, New Mexico, and joined the Trust’s Native America Program in summer 2011. Prior to joining the Trust, Natasha was a legislative staff assistant for the Navajo Nation Office of the Speaker, and she helped address issues affecting the Navajo people at the local, state, and federal levels. She also worked as a journalist for several years and has contributed to several Southwest magazines on American Indian subjects. Natasha has also worked in the film industry and still is active in a number of film projects. Her passion is working with American Indian communities to help strengthen community-based projects and to help diversify their economic development portfolios. She received her B.S. from the University of Arizona. [back to top]
Laura Kamala: Utah Program Director
A passionate advocate and resident of the Colorado Plateau for over 30 years, Laura joined the Trust full time in July 2003. She was a founding board chair of the Castle Rock Collaboration and former director of the Southeast Branch of Utah Open Lands. Educated in wildlife biology at Rutgers University, she is a writer, musician, community collaborator, and sculptor. Laura was a founding principal of The Synergy Company of Moab, Utah, which produces health supplements. She works for The Earth Mandala Foundation for Global Peace through the Arts and she once lived in Guatemala, working for social change with the president of The Foundation of Mayan Ancianos. [back to top]
Nikolai Lash: Water & State Trust Lands Program Director
Nikolai has been with the Trust since 1997, working on Colorado River, northern Arizona regional water, and Arizona state trust lands issues. He has a degree in Liberal Arts from St. John's College and a law degree from Stanford Law School. He drafted sections of the Arizona Preserve Initiative that allow for protection of 50,000 acres of state trust lands in northern Arizona; helped develop city of Flagstaff's water conservation program; and successfully advocated for regular high-flow experiments from Glen Canyon Dam. Nikolai's checkered history includes ownership of Midnite Records, three music stores in California, blackjack card counting, music composing and recording, and long distance trail running. [back to top]
Neil Levine: Staff Attorney
Neil became our Staff Attorney in June 2007. For the past 15 years, he has been litigating cases for environmental and community groups throughout the country on a wide range of issues, including grazing in national parks, saving endangered species, and protecting private lands from coal-bed methane development, among others. Neil previously served as an attorney for Earthjustice and Earthlaw (in Denver) and the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara. He received his law degree from Tulane Law School and recently returned from exploring Patagonia. [back to top]
Richard Mayol: Communications & Government Relations Director
Richard joined the Trust team in April 2004 as Communications Director. He brings us 25 years of experience as a nationally recognized, award-winning, political media and public policy consultant. Richard has managed and produced communication / mass media campaigns for congressional, gubernatorial, and mayoral candidates, as well as dozens of ballot measures across the West — compiling a 90 percent win record in the process. His media campaigns helped gain public approval for funding the McDowell Mountain Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona; the purchase of Willow and Watson Lakes in Prescott, Arizona; and open space in Flagstaff, Prescott, and Santa Fe, among other places. Richard has a B.S. from the University of Tulsa. [back to top]
Taylor McKinnon: Director of Energy
Taylor works to safeguard the Colorado Plateau from destructive energy development — including tar sands, oil shale, oil and gas, coal, and uranium. Taylor began at the Trust in 1999. He returned in 2013 as our director of energy following a stint as a Utah river outfitter and nearly six years with the Center for Biological Diversity as public lands campaigns director. Taylor holds a degree in environmental studies from Prescott College and has served on numerous boards and commissions regionally and nationally. [back to top]
Rick Moore: Senior Director of Programs
Rick fell in love with the Colorado Plateau on a hike down the Paria River in 1972. He received a B.A. in Philosophy and English from the University of Denver in 1974, moved to Durango, Colorado, and began exploring the region’s spectacular mountains, canyons, rivers, and slickrock country. Rick joined the Trust in 1992, initially focusing on the protection and management of the Plateau’s phenomenal cultural and archaeological resources. From 1994 to 1997, he represented the Trust on the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission, which worked on protecting visibility at parks and wilderness areas. In the late 1990s, Rick led our successful efforts at the Mohave Generating Station. He also led the Trust’s air quality program, which focused on cleaning up the Springerville and San Juan power plants. Rick became Associate Director for Programs in the spring of 2008. [back to top]
Andrew Mount: Volunteer Program Associate
Andrew joined the trust in November 2009. He earned his M.S. in Forestry from Northern Arizona University in 2008, in addition to his B.S. in Parks and Recreation Management. Andrew’s interests include wilderness advocacy, outdoor recreation and leadership, natural sciences, ecological restoration, human health, and volunteerism. He has worked as a park ranger, backpacking guide, research technician, and in municipal water conservation. He enjoys collaborative and adaptive land management, and sharing his passion for nature with others through outdoor experiences and adventures. Outside of work, look for Andrew at live music events, in a yoga posture, or on local trails. [back to top]
Mary O’Brien: Utah Forests Program Director
Mary joined Grand Canyon Trust in Fall 2003 to help organize and co-coordinate the Three Forests Coalition’s efforts to obtain greater care for native wildlife, vegetation, and ecosystems on southern Utah’s Dixie, Fishlake, and Manti – La Sal National Forests. Since earning a B.S. in Sociology, a Masters in Elementary Education, and a Ph.D. in Botany, Mary has worked as a staff scientist for toxics reform, environmental law, and public lands conservation organizations for 28 years. She thinks backpacking and hiking are particularly amazing ways to spend days on Earth. [back to top]
Phil Pearl: Senior Director of Development
A 30-year veteran of conservation programs and issues, Phil focuses on strategic development, donor cultivation, and fundraising for Trust programs. Prior to the joining us in October 2007, Phil was the principal of Open Space Resources, a land-conservation consulting firm. He also served as Northwest Regional Director for the National Parks and Conservation Association, Senior Project Manager for the Trust for Public Land, Program Director for the Lila Acheson and Dewitt Wallace Fund for the Hudson Highlands, and Land Preservation Director for Scenic Hudson. Phil earned his B.A. at Pennsylvania State University and Evergreen State College and his M.S. from Columbia University. [back to top]
Tim Peterson: Utah Forest Wildlands Manager
As a seventh-generation westerner, Tim cares deeply about our public lands. Tim came to the Trust in January 2010, bringing 12 years of on-the-ground field experience inventorying and advocating for wildlands in eight western states. He cut his teeth assisting with a re-inventory of America’s Redrock Wilderness Act on Utah’s BLM lands in the nineties, then moved on to conduct field inventory and off-road vehicle monitoring on Utah’s national forests and in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, Arizona, Oregon, and Idaho. Between field stints, he’s conducted GIS mapping, NEPA project work, and policy and legal analysis for local, regional, and national conservation groups. Tim enjoys spending time hiking in, fishing, floating through, and photographing the backcountry he seeks to protect. [back to top]
Adrianne Sanchez: Membership and Finance Associate
Adrianne joined the Trust in 2004 as our Administrative Assistant. She was born and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona, and attended Yavapai College. Adrianne is responsible for accounts payable, payroll, and much of our membership outreach. If you are a member, you’ve likely seen her handwritten “thank you” notes. When she’s not working, you'll find Adrianne with her two daughters at soccer and gymnastics events across Arizona or boating at Lake Powell. [back to top]
Evelyn Sawyers: Senior Director of Finance
Since joining the Trust in October of 1994, Evelyn has been responsible for the organization’s financial and administrative affairs. In addition to representing the Trust to the financial community, she prepares and maintains financial records, statements, and reports. Evelyn brings us over 12 years of progressive experience in accounting, with a developed expertise in fund accounting. [back to top]
Tony Skrelunas: Native America Program Director
Tony rejoined the Trust in 2003 after spending 12 years working on sustainable economic development. He not only served as Executive Director of the Navajo Nation Economic Development Division and Government Development Office, but he was also a partner in Horizon Springs Partnership. He coordinates our work with tribes, communities, and nongovermental organizations on conservation and sustainable development projects. Currently a partner in Southwest Tradition Log Homes, Tony is Board President for the Navajo Nation Shopping Centers, Inc., a $40M realty management company. In addition, he chairs the Native American Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit affiliate of the Native American National Bank. He successfully combines his traditional Navajo upbringing with a western education that includes a B.A. and MBA from Northern Arizona University. [back to top]
Stephanie Smith: GIS Manager
Fueled with a strong passion to live in the West, Stephanie uprooted her life in North Carolina and joined the Trust in April 2012. She earned a M.A. and B.S. in Geography from Appalachian State University with a focus on Biogeography and Geographic Information Systems. Prior to joining the Trust, she served as the GIS Specialist for the ASU Energy Center and Adjunct Instructor for Appalachian State University’s Geography Department. When not tackling the cartographic and analysis needs of the Trust, you can find her playing in any garden, backpacking, hiking, making clothing, playing music, or attending music and cultural events. [back to top]
Christine Sweeter: Membership & Administrative Assistant
Christine became part of the Trust team in December 2012 and works in membership outreach and covers general office duties. She was born and raised in Prescott, Arizona, and has lived in Flagstaff for 12 years. Prior to joining the Trust she had 17 years of experience in finance. Christine earned an A.A. degree in Art, as well as a paralegal degree at Yavapai College in Prescott. When Christine isn't working, she's out enjoying her two children, hiking the outdoors, and riding her horse. [back to top]
Anne Mariah Tapp: Law & Public Policy Fellow
Anne Mariah joined the Trust in January 2013. She graduated from the University of Colorado Law School in 2012, where she focused on public lands law, water law, and Native American rights. Luckily, her summer jobs (and a passion for desert rock climbing) introduced her to the Colorado Plateau, and she was instantly captivated both by the landscape and rich history of the region. Finally free from law school, she moved to Flagstaff and had the good fortune to begin her career at the Trust. Anne Mariah's work for the Trust involves energy policy in Utah, economic development on tribal lands, and public land management. Outside of work, she can usually be found somewhere in the cliffs between the Trust's Flagstaff and Castle Valley offices. [back to top]
Emily Thompson: Volunteer Program Associate
After receiving her M.S. in Environmental Studies with a focus on Watershed Ecology, Emily returned home to northern Arizona and joined the Trust in February 2011. She is currently Project Coordinator for an AmeriCorps crew that is living and working on the Paria Plateau. Emily worked on the Colorado River as a research technician for over 5 years doing native fish research and sediment work, studying the ecological and geomorphic impacts of Glen Canyon Dam on the downstream environment. She has experience in outdoor and environmental education teaching both children and college students. When not working, you may find her hiking in the Canyon, boating down a river, skiing on the sacred San Francisco Peaks, exploring the hidden treasures of Colorado Plateau, or spending time in her vegetable garden. [back to top]
Kate Watters: Volunteer Program Director
Kate Watters joined the Trust in December 2007. Her past experience includes 10 years as a trail crew member and field biologist with Grand Canyon National Park; she has also worked for the Ecological Restoration Institute, Arboretum, and Museum of Northern Arizona, where she participated in restoration, plant survey, and native plant gardening projects. Kate earned a M.A. in Botany, Conservation Biology, and Creative Writing in the Liberal Studies Program from Northern Arizona University, and a B.A. in Sociology from Wheaton College. She is coauthor of River and Desert Plants of the Grand Canyon. [back to top]
Matt Williamson: Kane & Two Mile Ranches Manager
Matt joined the Trust in 2010 to contribute to our forest restoration efforts. During that time he became fascinated by the diverse landscape on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim and enthusiastically accepted the opportunity to manage the Kane and Two Mile Ranch Program in January 2012. His primary areas of expertise are restoring forests and rangelands and estimating the impacts of restoration activities on songbirds. He has also spent considerable time developing monitoring and adaptive management strategies for large landscapes. He has over 7 years of experience leading volunteer-driven efforts to restore native species to degraded landscapes. Matt holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. [back to top]
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