Lisa Brush believes in the power of people and the power of nature and our deep, deep connection. At a crossroad in my life I chose between studying with a rinpochee or staying here feet on the ground and carrying that belief forward everyday with everyone. I am honored and blessed to have spent the past 25 years as the CEO & Founder of The Stewardship Network sharing what we can do together and I’m psyched to do more. 

Listen to Gary's colleague introduce him!

Gary Burnett has over 35 years of experience in natural resource management and nonprofit development, working with and for public and private landowners/managers on land protection and stewardship; prescribed fire; and natural areas, wildlife and habitat management.  He has developed and directed annual fund, major gift and planned giving programs for local, regional and national organizations, and holds a Master’s Degree in Wildlife Biology from University of Montana. Gary is the Executive Director for the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, following 10 years with the Blackfoot Challenge. He is on the leadership team for Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition, the coordinating committee for the Network for Landscape Conservation, the board of Sculpture in the Wild: Blackfoot Pathways in Lincoln, MT, and serves on the board for the local volunteer fire department. In his spare time, Gary enjoys getting outside with his family, especially his 3 grandsons. 

Jay Chamberlin is the chief of California State Parks’ Natural Resources Division, where he and his team lead resource protection and management activities for the 1.6 million acre State Park System. Prior to his work with State Parks, Jay led an ecosystem restoration program for the CA Department of Water Resources and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the California Natural Resources Agency. He holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MS from the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. 

Listen to Darcie's colleague introduce her!

As executive director at the League to Save Lake Tahoe, Darcie is responsible for mobilizing the League to achieve the most effective protection of Lake Tahoe. She oversees all aspects of the organization’s management, leadership, and strategy. Darcie serves as an ambassador to advocate for the Lake with state and federal leaders, and ensures the League’s advocacy is grounded in the best available science.

Darcie earned her doctorate at the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation addressed the chemical, biological and ecological character of water bodies to determine how environmental science can integrate with community engagement to inform public policy. Prior to joining the League, Darcie had served as Habitat Restoration Director for Save the Bay and had provided research support for the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Santa Barbara, monitoring lake and stream chemistry and ecology.

Born and raised in South Lake Tahoe, Dr. Goodman Collins’s first became involved with the League as a summer intern in 1996. In 1997, she was the Tahoe community’s youth representative at the first Tahoe Presidential Summit. Darcie serves on the Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Committee, is past board president of the Tahoe-Baikal Institute, and is a former board member of the League. Darcie joined the League staff in 2012.

Listen to Sharon's colleague introduce her!

Contact Sharon about: Collaborative Leadership, Project & Program Management, Ecological Restoration, Stewardship Program Delivery, Strategic Partnership Formation/Delivery, Community Engagement, Environmental Compliance

Sharon Farrell consults as a Strategic Advisor for the national Stewardship Network and other collaborative stewardship partnerships throughout California. Prior to this, she worked for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy for 20 years, most recently as the Executive Vice President of Projects, Stewardship & Science. Sharon and her team led the organization's project design and delivery, conservation initiatives, community science, restoration, and stewardship programs. This includes advancing opportunities for engaging partners, scientists and community members in research, monitoring and many aspects of land stewardship. During that time, Sharon helped found the California Landscape Stewardship Network in 2016. Sharon also worked closely with agency partners to oversee the One Tam Partnership, a community initiative to help ensure a healthy future for Mt. Tamalpais.

Prior to joining the Parks Conservancy in 2004, Sharon was the Executive Director of the Watershed Project. Her work included capacity building for “Friends” groups, with a focus on partnership and fund development with municipalities and local governments. Sharon developed training and grants programs to support this work, and forged regional partnerships with other Bay Area non-profit organizations to support community-based stakeholder groups.

Sharon has also worked as an ecologist and resource specialist with the National Park Service, a resource planner with the Presidio Trust, and as an environmental consultant. Sharon holds a MS in Park Management with emphasis on Ecological Restoration and Community Stewardship, and a BS in Chemistry.

Sharon is an avid backpacker, nature photographer, and explorer. Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in the East Bay with her wife Sue. Together they are frequent hikers of the amazing landscapes on Mt. Tam, Point Reyes, and the Marin Headlands.

Listen to José's colleague introduce him!

José G. González is the Founder of Latino Outdoors. He is an experienced educator as a K-12 public education teacher, environmental education advisor, outdoor education instructor and coordinator, and university adjunct faculty. He is also an illustrator and science communicator. 

Angelina González-Aller is a researcher, educator, and organizer working at the intersections of health, climate change, and social justice. Angelina holds a PhD in political science, specializing in racial and ethnic studies, health disparities, and U.S. policy making. Angelina enjoys all things spicy, early mornings with coffee and reading in the sun. She works at the Center for Large Landscape Conservation in the Community Resilience Program where she strives to support communities in their efforts to achieve conservation goals and prepare for a changing world.   

Jonathan (Jon) Jarvis served in the National Park Service for 40 years as ranger, biologist, superintendent and as the 18th Director under President Barack Obama. In 2017, he retired from the NPS and launched the Institute for Parks, People and Biodiversity at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Listen to Shawn's colleague introduce him!

Shawn Johnson is Managing Director of the Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy at the University of Montana and Co-Chair of the Center’s graduate certificate program in Natural Resources Conflict Resolution. In advancing the University’s off-campus service mission, Shawn often serves as a facilitator and mediator on complex natural resource issues, including land use and water planning and management, forest planning, conservation priority setting, and collaborative approaches to conservation and stewardship. He also organizes and leads strategic planning and capacity building workshops for a wide variety of organizations focused on natural resource policy and management. 

Listen to Devin's wife introduce him!

Devin Landry is the Coordinator of the California Landscape Stewardship Network, where he supports the Network’s goals of providing practitioners statewide with opportunities for peer exchange, co-developing solutions to cross-boundary challenges, and increasing awareness of the landscape stewardship movement to stakeholders, policymakers, and funders. He also assists in the implementation of the Network for Landscape Conservation’s Peer Learning Program and is a Fellow at the University of Montana’s Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy. He is based out of Missoula, where he is lucky to find big, quiet places outside for working through his meandering thoughts.  

Listen to Marianna's colleague introduce her!

Marianna Leuschel is a creative strategist with a long career promoting sustainability in the built and natural environment. After managing creative teams for 20 years at her own communications design firm, L Studio in Sausalito California, Marianna launched New Agency in 2018 to immerse herself more deeply on select projects, focusing primarily on strategy and storytelling for landscape stewardship. She is recognized for her ability to synthesize complex information into simple yet powerful and inspirational ideas, and for moving diverse groups of stakeholders toward consensus through a process that blends creative and strategic communications. Her main goal today is to inspire everyone to become good stewards of the Earth, and help people connect to and care for the places we love. 

Marianna recommends you check out this interview titled "The Myth of Progress".

Listen to Joanne's colleague introduce her!

Joanne Marchetta is the Executive Director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, a bi-state Compact agency whose mission is to cooperatively lead the work to preserve, restore, and enhance the natural and human environment of the Lake Tahoe Region. She came to Tahoe in 2009 to serve as TRPA’s General Counsel before taking on the leadership role as Director. Joanne graduated from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources with a forestry degree and Catholic University with a law degree, and she started her professional career in Washington DC as a litigator for the Department of Justice leading environmental enforcement cases. Later at the Presidio Trust in San Francisco, she helped to transform the Presidio from an Army base to a financially self-sustaining national park. 

Listen to Amy's brother introduce her!

Dr. Amy Mickel is a professor of management in the College of Business at California State University, Sacramento and has served the State of California as a consultant and researcher for 20 years. She is committed to helping partnerships invested in landscape-scale stewardship, management, and conservation through her research on collaboration and partnership impact. 

Chandni Navalkha is the Associate Director, Sustainably Managed Land and Water Resources, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, where she works on projects to advance and accelerate the enduring protection of land and water resources worldwide. Prior to joining the Lincoln Institute, Chandni was a fellow with the Sri Lanka Program for Forest Conservation, conducting research on the impacts of conservation on local livelihoods near the Sinharaja World Heritage Site. Chandni has worked for organizations in North America, Latin America, and South Asia supporting urban, peri-urban, and rural communities involved in voluntary land and resource conservation, and earlier in her career worked in change management for private and public sector organizations as a consultant with Accenture. She holds a Master’s in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a dual Bachelor of Arts in English and Economics from Cornell University. 

Kellyx Nelson has spent 28 years in the private and public sectors in program and project development and implementation, environmental education, organizational capacity building, community outreach, building partnerships, and developing solutions to difficult resource problems. She has served as the Executive Director of the Resource Conservation District since 2006. Her diverse career has included 14 years as an environmental educator for underserved communities in New York and San Francisco, driving a Freightliner cross-country as a long-haul trucker, delivering packages as a motorcycle messenger, and managing conservation projects for Peninsula Open Space Trust. She has an undergraduate degree from Columbia University in Political Science and Environmental Science and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from UC Berkeley.

Under her direction the RCD has achieved distinction, receiving the 2016 Sustainability Award from Sustainable San Mateo County and 2012 District of the Year from the California Association of RCDs. In 2015, Kellyx was inducted into the San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame in recognition of her contributions to the overall well-being of the County.

Listen to Michelle's colleague introduce her! 

Michelle is Founder and CEO of O’Herron & Company. She has a BS in Biology, an MS in Conservation Biology, and 15+ years of experience working with a variety of government and nonprofit organizations in the areas of science communication, community engagement, technical and grant writing, and program/project management.

Previously, she was a project manager at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and before that, worked in diverse capacities on behalf of the National Park Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center. She has particularly deep experience in multi-agency environmental collaboratives, having played a key role in the development and implementation of both One Tam and Redwoods Rising.

Listen to Yakuta's colleague introduce her!

Claire Robinson is founder and serves as Managing Director of 501c3, Amigos de los Rios, the ‘Emerald Necklace Group’ in Los Angeles, California. Her multi-disciplinary background in art & design education, sustainable city planning and entrepreneurship has led to unique success of Amigos in catalyzing a collective impact coalition of agencies to engage community based planning and development of a culturally relevant Emerald Necklace Natural Infrastructure network throughout East LA County. Amigos’ work is inspired by first peoples’ sustainable life within the LA BASIN’s watersheds and the 1929 Olmsted Bartholomew Plan for LA Metro Area.

Amigos has pioneered creation Emerald Necklace Natural Infrastructure at Schools: what if we see each school as a microcosm of greater watershed? We are committed to integrating natural infrastructure elements into public school campuses for the physical fitness, mental health and academic performance benefits they confer. Claire trained as an architect at Cooper Union in NYC / and studied European cities at University of East London and has an MBA from UCLA Anderson School. She is committed to mentoring next generation nontraditional designers into the field of natural infrastructure planning, and has taught at RISD, Carleton University in Canada, served as visiting faculty for myriad schools.

Listen to Sarah's colleague introduce her!

Sarah Wells is the Conservation Director at Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, an accredited regional land trust in north-central Massachusetts, where she specializes in designing and implementing multi-landowner, multi-partner land protection initiatives. She coordinates the North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership (NQRLP), the second-oldest Regional Conservation Partnership (RCP) in New England. She first joined Mount Grace and the NQRLP in 2010 as an AmeriCorps member. Sarah is a founding member of the RCP Network’s Steering and Fundraising Committees, which focus on New England and eastern New York. Sarah lives on a 4th generation family farm with her husband and two stepdaughters. 

My priorities are family, God, and then everything else. I get asked to do a lot of stuff so my resume is full of things I never expected, or believed I could do, and my life is constantly full of “doing.” I always look forward to the possibility that is just around the corner, and try to remember that things are never what they seem. Also, strangely, I have come to love policy, people and places across California I never get to see in person, thinking about how systems work, writing letters (for example: A), and meandering morning bike rides to summer camp with my daughter.