Board Member - Erica has a wide range of non-profit managerial, fundraising and conservation policy experience. She runs Blue Water Strategies, a non profit, natural resource fundraising consultancy. She has regularly paddled and camped at multiple Willamette Greenway sites, and loves to hone in on the relationship of people to conservation. She is a true advocate for the connection of people to nature, and Land Trust work is a passion for her.

President and CEO- After 24 years as the leader of the non-profit environmental advocacy organization Willamette Riverkeeper, he decided to create a new land trust. His goal was to dedicate his time to conservation and protection of lands and waters in an area that had not previously had a local land trust in the mid to northern Willamette Valley.

During the last ten years of his time at WR he was able to purchase three conservation properties, and receive two donated properties. It soon became clear that there was a need for a true land trust to conserve land and water in the mid to northern Willamette Valley. Given that land trust work is focused only on land acquisition and protection, far different that his former organization with an array of programs, he was excited to refine his professional focus.

The work of the land trust is conserving lands in multiple Willamette River sub-basins. He is also eager to work on a large stretch of the mainstem Willamette, with the goal of acquiring floodplain habitat for the long-term, and providing new river access for people.

He is a naturalist, with two books published about the Willamette River system. He is also a part-time freshwater mussel researcher, with a couple of key studies under his belt. He holds an MS in Environmental Science from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and a BA in Political Science from Portland State University. He grew up in Milwaukie Oregon, and has family and friends all over Oregon and beyond.

As a Type 1 Diabetic since the age of 6, he is also passionate about providing new low impact recreational opportunities for people, where it makes sense on conservation lands. The link between human health and having people experience the natural world is important to him. He lives with his wife and kids near Silverton, OR.

Board Member - Alan is an M.D. who has a long connection to the land trust movement via his brother Ron who worked in a leadership role for years with the Teton Regional Land Trust. Alan, originally from Ohio, loves the Willamette Valley and takes pride in his relationship to the Willamette’s ecology and wildlife. He completed a residency in Pediatrics and Medical Genetics at The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Alan works as a geneticist today.

Board Member - Mike has a long history in journalism, and public relations.

He has worked as communications director at various state agencies, including OPRD, ODOT, and DAS. He has also been involved in political campaigns, including two gubernatorial races and was a registered lobbyist in Salem and Capitol Hill.

Perhaps more importantly, he has a passion for the natural world, and has canoed in all five Great Lakes, the Georgian Bay, parts of the Erie Canal, the Finger Lakes, and most navigable waterways in Oregon! Mike loves the land trust model for protecting the natural world.

Advisory Board Member - Ken Bierly, is a promoter of wetland and waterway health. Mr. Bierly was the Wetlands Program Manager for the Oregon Department of State Lands from 1983 to 1996, the Governor’s Watershed Enhancement Board Program Manager from 1996-1999, and the Deputy Director of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) from 1999 until his retirement in 2013. In these roles he drafted administrative rules on wetland permitting, provided administrative enforcement for wetland and waterways laws, oversaw the development of the OWEB grant programs and represented the agencies in front of the Oregon Legislature, While at OWEB Ken coordinated the Willamette Special Investment Partnership to provide coordinated funding for restoration along the Willamette River mainstem by coordinating with Bonneville Power Administration and Meyer Memorial Trust.

Advisory Board Member - Dean Apostol is a natural resource planner, designer, and ecological restorationist who has been in professional practice since 1978. His 40+ year career includes 14 years in the public sector; US Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and Army Corps of Engineers, and the remainder split between managing his own environmental design consulting practice and working for various firms. His work has included: ecological restoration, natural resource management, watershed assessment, open space master planning, park design, trail planning, scenic resource conservation, landscape ecology, and town planning. He was a licensed landscape architect in Oregon from 1983-2015.

Advisory Board Member - Bart has been a public servant most of his adult life, including multiple terms serving on the Newberg City Council and Planning Commission, the Chehalem Park & Rec Board and 10 years as a board member of Willamette Riverkeeper. He has paddled many hundreds of miles of the Willamette River and it’s tributaries and has been involved with land acquisition and restoration projects.

Advisory Board Member - Frankie is an educator based in MA who grew up in Oregon. Frankie loves to be immersed in nature, and is excited about the mere prospect of purchasing and protecting land for the long-term for both the needs of wildlife, and for people to see and understand the natural world.

Advisory Board Member - Brooke is a long-time lover of the natural world. She is also an experienced educator who has a strong belief that kids need more time outside seeing and experiencing nature. She enjoys hiking, paddling, and has just become immersed with rafting.

Brooke believes the land trust has a key role to play from Salem north, and that the trust is in a great position to mitigate for climate change, protect essential habitats, and can also increase recreational opportunities for our local communities.