KLAMATH RIVER RENEWAL - Key Persons
Amy Cordalis is the first enrolled Yurok citizen to serve as her Tribe's General Counsel. She has spent her entire life protecting and restoring the Klamath River. Amy is a traditional salmon fisher and culture bearer. Both of these are sacred activities in Yurok culture and are inextricably connected to the Klamath, which has been severely stressed since the first dam was erected a century ago. Her longtime advocacy for the river is rooted in Yurok culture and history. In 2002, when Amy was working as a Yurok Fisheries Department Technician while on summer break from the University of Oregon, the largest fish kill in US history took place on the Lower Klamath River. She watched as an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 salmon died at her feet - an event exacerbated by the dams. This excruciating experience compelled Amy to become the dynamic attorney and indigenous rights advocate she is today. After obtaining her JD from the University of Denver College of Law, Amy worked for the Native American Rights Fund and Berkey Williams LLP on a wide range of Indian law issues.
Job Titles:
- California Regional Director for American Rivers
Ann Willis is the California Regional Director for American Rivers where she works to conserve and protect rivers through science-guided projects, policies, and collaborations. Prior to joining American Rivers, Ann led a research program at the University of California Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. Her program focused on implementing stream conservation strategies on working landscapes; she partnered with conservation NGOs, agencies, and private landowners to advance conservation strategies throughout California, including the Klamath, Sacramento-San Joaquin, and North Coast watersheds. She has previously worked in private consulting and at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Mr. Williams is an attorney whose firm represents, exclusively, Indian tribes and tribal organizations throughout the United States. His practice focuses on representation in the areas of water rights and natural resources
Job Titles:
- President
- California Director for Trout Unlimited
Brian Johnson is the California Director for Trout Unlimited (TU). TU is the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit working to conserve, protect, and restore North America's trout and salmon rivers, with about 15,000 members in Oregon and California. Brian and his colleagues at TU have long worked to settle the fisheries, water, and power issues in the Klamath River with its partners in tribal government and irrigated agriculture, including the Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement. Brian joined TU in 2005, led TU's California Water Project for 6 years, and became the state director in 2011. Before TU, Brian worked at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, was the Communications Director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality from 1993-97, and was the co-creator and manager of EPA's first "Energy Star" initiative from 1991-93. Brian grew up in Iowa and graduated from Duke University and Stanford Law School.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Vice President
Krystyna U. Wolniakowski has served as the Executive Director of the bi-state Columbia River Gorge Commission since 2015. Before joining the Commission, Krystyna led the Western Regional Office of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) in Portland for more than 14 years as Regional Director, managing conservation grant-making programs, fundraising and developing regional partnership in seven western states, including serving on the National Fish Habitat Board for 10 years. She worked in the Klamath Basin since 2000 and initiated the NFWF Klamath Basin Keystone Initiative in 2008, a watershed partnership program to restore habitat in the upper and lower Klamath Basin for ESA-listed Coho salmon and sucker species in California and Oregon. In 2014-2015, she served as science advisor for development of the statewide Focused Investment Partnerships Program for the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB). From 1991-2000, she worked for the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. as Director for Central and Eastern Europe, developing programs for conservation, economic, and democratic reforms in seven countries after the fall of the Berlin wall.
Lester Snow is a consultant on natural resource policy and most recently served as the Executive Director of the Water Foundation. Mr. Snow has a long career working on complex natural resource management matters. He has served as Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, Director of the California Department of Water Resources, Regional Director of the Bureau of Reclamation, Executive Director of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, and General Manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. Lester currently serves on the Board of Directors for California Water Services Group and the Water Education Foundation. He holds a Master's degree in Water Resources Administration from the University of Arizona and a Bachelor's degree in Earth Sciences from Pennsylvania State University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Director
- President
Ms. Rose Day, President and Chief Executive Officer of 7 Lakes Alliance in Belgrade, Maine, brings unique experience in the development and implementation of results-based approaches to improving relationships between people and natural resources. In 1999-2016, Laura helped lead the Penobscot River Restoration Project, a collaboration engaging tribal, state, federal, hydropower, non-profit and private interests in an effort to significantly open access for depleted sea-run fish on the largest watershed within Maine. As Executive Director of the non-profit Penobscot River Restoration Trust, she oversaw all aspects translating a complex legal agreement into successful on-the-ground restoration, including the purchase and decommissioning of three dams, removal of two and bypass of a third, and related work with people of the region. Previously, Laura served as counsel to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, managed the National Wildlife Federation's Lake Superior and Biodiversity Project, and directed the Natural Resources Council of Maine's Watershed Program.
Natalie Arroyo lives in Eureka, CA where she currently serves as an elected member of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors representing District 4. Ms. Arroyo has worked on a wide range of watershed restoration, public health, and community organizing projects throughout Humboldt County and neighboring Northern California over the past 15+ years. Ms. Arroyo is a proud veteran and continues to serve as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. She is a lecturer at Humboldt State University within the Department of Environmental Science and Management. Ms. Arroyo has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Salmonid Restoration Federation, Humboldt Trails Council, and multiple community benefit organizations local to the Humboldt Bay area, and has worked as a California Conservation Corps member and with the Mattole Salmon Group. She also currently serves as the board chair of the Humboldt Transit Authority, as a board member for the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission, and as a board member of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority. She is passionate about watershed health, active forms of transportation, effective community engagement, and the relationship between people and place - particularly in rural and geographically isolated community settings.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Project Director at Element Consulting Inc
Ricardo has been a project director at Element Consulting Inc. since 2016. Mr. Cano has more than 25 years of experience in program and project management, successfully delivering over 200 projects over the course of his career. Mr. Cano is a graduate of the California State University, Los Angeles, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Operations. He is affiliated with various local and national trade associations, such as the Project Management Institute (PMI), and the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) where he currently serves as Co-Chair of the Program Planning Committee.
Wendy Poppy Ferris- George is a former Vice-Chair and Council Member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. She has worked since 2002 on the campaign to remove Klamath River dams. Wendy descends from the Karuk and Hupa Tribes. She has spent her life fishing on the Klamath and Trinity Rivers and is engaged with the people that depend on them for subsistence and economic purposes. She has been a cultural arts instructor along the Trinity and Klamath Rivers for over 20 years specializing in the return of the traditional Jump Dance Basket. Wendy served 7 years on the California Indian Basket Weavers Association working on environmental justice issues and eventually founded her own non-profit titled, World Renewal. She currently manages her own business titled, Cultural Resources Consulting. Credentials: AS, Behavioral and Social Science; BA Anthropology - Sonoma State University: linguistics, biology, anthropology, CRM; Current Status: - MPS CHRM University of Maryland. Masters Cultural and Heritage Resource Management