TUALATIN RIVERKEEPERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Summer River Rentals Staff Member
Job Titles:
- Summer River Rentals Staff Member
Job Titles:
- Summer River Rentals Staff Member
Brett Laney grew up locally and has lived in Tualatin for the last 10 years. He studied at Clackamas Community College and Colorado State University. Brett's career began in 2002 as an operator at Clean Water Services' Durham Water Resource Recovery Facility (where he often worked with TRK's co-founder Rob Baur). He is currently an Operations Analyst II assigned to the phosphorus recovery facilities at the Durham and Rock Creek treatment plants, and has graciously led many tours of the plants for Tualatin Riverkeepers. He's been an active volunteer for several tree plantings events in the watershed. Brett spends much of his free time volunteering for TRK as a paddle trip leader, guiding paddlers while educating them about the current state of the river.
Job Titles:
- Stewardship Program Coordinator
Brittany grew up along the Rocky Mountain foothills in Colorado. It wasn't until after high school that she made the leap from hiker to activist. Her spark for advocacy began in 2017 when she moved to Bend, Oregon. From there, she became inspired to educate, encourage, and empower people to speak up for public lands. Brittany would go on to intern for organizations like the Oregon Natural Desert Association and Association of Northwest Steelheaders while earning her B.S in Urban and Public Affairs with a minor in Sustainability from Portland State University. Now, she looks forward to empowering Riverkeepers to find a sense of place right here in the watershed.
Brittany lives in Washington County with her partner, Patrick, and their two dogs, Cherokee and Kenobi. You'll often find them hiking through the Oregon Coast, the Cascade Mountains, or local public lands like the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge.
Job Titles:
- Summer River Rentals Staff Member
Growing up just one block from the Tualatin River gave Casey ample opportunity to get her feet wet and foster a close relationship with the Tualatin River and the wealth of plants and animals who depend on it. She recalls many childhood adventures, which have shaped her passion for waterways and the need to help keep them and communities thriving.
For over a decade Casey has worked in the nonprofit sector from animal conservation, environmental education, to her current role in giving a hand up to women through economic independence at Oregon Tradeswomen, as the Fundraising and Events Manager. During her free time, she can be found with her husband and dogs hiking, backpacking, kayaking, and woodworking.
Dave Waffle has represented the cities of Washington County on the Clean Water Advisory Commission and formerly on the Tualatin Watershed Council for more than a decade. He is a long-time city manager in Oregon and Wisconsin. Managing in smaller cities brought many opportunities for involvement in water, wastewater, open space, public finance and community development issues. Presently he serves as chair of the Cornelius Planning Commission. He and his wife live along Council Creek and enjoy birding. Waffle has a bachelor's degree in Urban Community Policy Problems from Michigan State University and an MPA from the University of Oregon in Public Affairs.
Job Titles:
- Summer River Rentals Staff Member
Jan has been connected to nature and water since her earliest memories, growing up in Michigan, where she would poke around in the creeks and ponds, looking for tadpoles and turtles, on her walk to school. She learned to canoe at summer camp when she was eight, spent summers boating with her family, and swimming in and skating on the many lakes "up north." She spent much of her teens and early adulthood riding horses, running, and cross-country skiing through "the woods," and then finally found her way to the Pacific Northwest, where she felt immediately at home among the big old trees and cold clear water of the temperate rainforests.
As a young environmental lawyer, Jan inherently grasped the connection between land uses and practices and the health of the watershed. For two decades, she helped Oregon communities and neighborhoods protect the urban and rural landscapes that their lives (and the lives of many non-human inhabitants) literally depend on. Then she spent the next decade helping conservation nonprofits make connections to people at their workplaces. Jan is as passionate about strategic planning and effective leadership as she is about the natural world.
Jan lives in Southwest Portland, near Fanno Creek, with her partner Paul, who shares her love of the natural world, and their dog Cami, who is often along for the adventure.
Jessica is a second-generation Oregonian who grew up camping mostly on Mt. Hood. She's fished a few times, a crabbed a few times, caught a lot of frogs... and somewhere along the line, it shaped her soul.
Following a BS in education from Western Oregon University, and long career in the field, Jessica is now a homeschooling mom of 2 young children who also have a deep love of the outdoors. As a co-admin at Wild Recess, a local nature-based adventure and education co-op, she has the opportunity to instill an appreciation for the outdoors in people of all ages.
Volunteerism has driven her all over this world, from supporting the nurses in a failure to thrive clinic in Romania through Global Volunteers to helping rebuild the brackish coastline of the Louisiana bayou with In Good Company and, of course, our own "backyard" here in the PNW. Before joining the team, Jessica was a volunteer with our Stewardship program, where she helped maintain Dirksen Nature Park's oak savanna habitat. You'll often find Jessica, her husband, and two children camping, backpacking, bicycling, or kayaking all across Oregon and Washington. Her favorite place to kayak on the Tualatin River is simply upstream of the 99W launch and she can't wait to share this excitement with the Riverkeepers community!
Jill Chomycia grew up in Michigan, where she developed a love of the outdoors and a life-long curiosity about the natural environment. She explored this curiosity in college, earning degrees in geology, hydrology, and soil science. Today Jill works as a consultant with Stantec in the water resources field, with a focus on permitting and environmental compliance in the Portland metropolitan area. Her 15 years of experience in the field has given her a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities for stewarding natural resources within our communities.
Jill lives in Washington County with her family. They enjoy exploring the outdoors throughout the Pacific Northwest, including spending hours on the Tualatin River each summer.
Mark grew up paddling Minnesota's 10,000 lakes and rivers and has been a teacher, guide, and educational program developer/coordinator since then. He has most recently been dividing his time between coordinating the Audubon Society of Portland's annual Birdathon fundraiser, guiding hiking and paddling trips for NW Discoveries, and teaching classes for the Backyard Bird Shop.
Mark also volunteers for the Johnson Creek Watershed Council and is a North Clackamas Urban Watershed Council board member. His other interests include nordic skiing, traditional archery, and paleo-archaeology.
Originally from the Seattle area, Maya grew up surrounded by mountains, forests, and water and has been deeply connected to the natural environment from a young age. After studying plastic waste as an undergraduate, she became passionate about advocating for the health of aquatic ecosystems in Oregon. Since then she worked as an environmental consultant through the Oregon Applied Sustainability Experience internship program to reduce waste and utility consumption at Grand Central Bakery, and as an Office Assistant at a plant nursery where she has worked to increase awareness around relevant environmental issues. At the same time, she earned her Masters degree in Environmental Science and Management at Portland State University. Now, she's excited to collaborate with diverse stakeholders across the watershed and create a healthy, resilient ecosystem.
Maya and her partner live in SE Portland with their young dog, Nala. They can often be found taking Nala for long walks or runs around their neighborhood and parks.
Job Titles:
- MEMBER of the BOARD
- Purchasing Analyst at Consumer Cellular
Mickie spent most of her life in the arid deserts of the SW. When her children migrated to the PNW, she was right behind them!
Mickie is a Purchasing Analyst at Consumer Cellular. Conservation and sustainable city planning are passions of hers. She is a certified Sustainable Building Advisor, participant in the Backyard Habitat Program, citizen science and advocate volunteer with Portland Audubon and safety boat volunteer with Tualatin Riverkeepers.
In her free time Mickie enjoys birdwatching, gardening, making pottery, remodeling houses and playing with her grandbabies.
Rod Fragiao is a graduate of the University of Washington where he earned a degree in Business Administration. He has been a commercial banker for almost 20 years and joined Premier Community Bank in 2013 as Vice President Commercial Loan Officer in the Durham branch. Rod is a long-time volunteer for Tualatin youth sports having coached in various sports over the past 12 years.
He and his family live on 4.5 acres in Tualatin which includes a large pond that is home to otters, beavers and numerous species of waterfowl. This location has given him a curiosity for nature and a passion for river protection.
Job Titles:
- Summer River Rentals Staff Member
Schuyler was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and she is now playing basketball at Seattle Pacific University. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest with nature all around her, Schuyler could be found camping, rafting, and hiking with her family and friends, giving her a deep appreciation for the great outdoors. Rafting trips on the John Day river were a foundational element of her youth, where she first learned to fish and paddle a boat.
Now as a college student, Schuyler spends as much time as possible exploring the many hiking paths around Seattle. As a river rentals staff member with TRK last year, Schuyler adored spending time on the water and she's excited to spend her second summer with the Tualatin Riverkeepers.
Taj Tinsley is an Oregon native, having lived and worked in the Portland and broader Oregon area for many years. He currently works as a Product & Marketing Analytics Manager for Providence Health, and recently served in similar capacities in marketing, sales, and product for A-dec, Mercy Corps, and Symantec. Taj has led and learned through many different industries, building strengths in marketing strategy and operations, analytics, demand generation, sales and banking operations, and leadership development along the way. Taj has been a passionate advocate and proponent for the outdoors and, even more specifically, diversity, equity, and inclusion in our beautiful Oregon outdoors spaces for his entire life. Taj currently lives in SE Portland with his wife and daughter, and earned his bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of Oregon.
Job Titles:
- VICE PRESIDENT of the BOARD
Val Brenneis teaches environmental studies and biology at Portland Community College Rock Creek. She is committed to getting her students outside, doing science in the natural areas of the Tualatin River watershed. Val is originally from Southern California and graduated from UC Berkeley with a biology degree. She moved to the East Coast to teach middle school science in the Bronx and later high school science in Washington, DC, where she also earned a M.Ed. in Science Education from the George Washington University. After five years of teaching secondary science, Val moved back to the West Coast to complete a Ph.D. in aquatic ecology from UC Davis. Val has lived in Oregon since 2006, doing research, working on policy, and teaching at the college level. She loves getting outside with her family, especially anywhere near water.
Victoria grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a city perfectly placed at the confluence of three major rivers. She spent her childhood constantly in the water boating, floating, and fishing. Her undergraduate career took her on a path of environmental policy, addressing the impacts of combined sewage overflow on water bodies and low-income communities.