WESTERN LANDOWNERS ALLIANCE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- California Grazing Lands Coalition Coordinator
- California Grazing Lands Coordinator
Alex is a sheep and cattle rancher, and shearer in San Luis Obispo County, California. After working on a number of farms and ranches on the Central Coast, Alex and his wife Kelsey started Outlaw Valley Ranch in 2017. They sell their beef, lamb and wool products direct to consumers in the region. Being the first generation meant starting from scratch and utilizing as many resources and funding opportunities as possible. They have worked with the NRCS, FSA, American Farmland Trust, and Fibershed to build infrastructure and monitor rangeland health on their ranch.
Alex received a Master's of Agriculture, Integrated Resource Management from Colorado State Online in 2019, with a focus in sustainable livestock production. As coordinator for the California Grazing Lands Coalition, his goal is to keep ranchers ranching. Not only by recognizing that economic and environmental sustainability go hand in hand, but by connecting ranchers with technical assistance, education and other conservation efforts on working lands in California.
Outside of work, Alex spends his time surfing, snowboarding, and enjoying time with his wife and daughter.
Job Titles:
- Member Emeritus of the Board
Bill McDonald is the fifth generation on his family's 105-year old Sycamore Ranch in far southeastern Arizona. He is a Past-President of the Cochise-Graham Cattle Growers, and past Director of the Arizona Cattle Growers. He was for 25 years on the Board of Supervisors of the Whitewater Draw Natural Resource Conservation District. He is a co-founder and former Executive Director and Chairman of the Malpai Borderlands Group. Bill was one of the original founding board members of Western Landowners Alliance.
Bill's awards and recognitions include:
• MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
• Arizona Game and Fish Commission Wildlife Habitat Stewardship Award
• Arizona Association of Conservation Districts Outstanding Supervisor Award
• Quivira Coalition Award for Leadership in the Radical Center
• Beef Today Magazine Conservationist of the Year
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Member / Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust
Bob Budd grew up in Wyoming and spent his high school and college years working on his cousins' ranch near Big Piney, Wyoming. This experience helped shape his passion for taking care of the land and his dedication to bringing people together around natural resources management. Bob is currently the Executive Director of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust (WWNRT), a program established to enhance wildlife habitats and the natural resource heritage of Wyoming.
Prior to helping launch the WWNRT program, Bob managed the Red Canyon Ranch and served as Director of Land Management for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming. In his work there, he was credited with developing and maintaining large-scale ecological process, while maintaining economic production on a working cattle ranch. Bob also spent 15 years with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, ten as Executive Director.
Bob has an M.S. degree in Range Management and B.S. degrees in Agricultural Business and Animal Science, all from the University of Wyoming. He is also trained in Holistic Resource Management. He is a past-president of the international Society for Range Management and the Wyoming Chapter of the Wildlife Society. He has facilitated development of management plans for the Big Sandy River, Sage-grouse and Bighorn Sheep in Wyoming.
Bob and his wife Lynn live in Cheyenne and have three children - Joe, Jake and Maggie. In his spare time, you can find Bob fishing and swapping stories with family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Eastern New Mexico Resource Coordinator
Bret, alongside his wife Kelly, and family own and operate the Sand Ranch in Caprock, NM and Dry Creek Cattle Co in Leedey, OK. Having been involved in various conservation research projects and working with several NGOs, Bret has become increasingly aware of the importance of good soil health and the value that it provides to healthy ecosystems. He believes that we have a unique opportunity to work with producers and various stakeholders to facilitate change on large landscapes by collaborating and providing needed support to bring about the holistic approach where ecology and economics combine to build and improve the health of our rural communities.
Bret enjoys spending time with his family and working with his grandkids on their livestock projects.
Job Titles:
- Member Emeritus of the Board
Craig moved to Colorado in 1978 where he pursued a 25-year career in land management consulting, including three years with the BLM, and the last 10 years in private land management. He was the Environmental Manager for the Trinchera and Tercio Ranches in southern Colorado. At the 175,000 acres Trinchera Ranch, he developed an environmentally sound Coal Bed Methane project. The resulting 41-well field has won wide acclaim as being state-of-the-art in its sensitivity to the significant environmental values present there. Craig was a dedicated multi-term board member of WLA before his retirement, and tirelessly worked to share WLA with the world.
Dallas May was born and raised in Colorado in a ranching and farming family.
When he was young, he started a herd of purebred Limousin cattle from one heifer calf given to him by his grandpa on his thirteenth birthday. That began a lifelong quest to protect native grassland and wildlife habitat.
Today, he sells purebred breeding stock all over the United States and Mexico, and also operates an irrigated farm operation raising alfalfa and corn. His three grown children and their spouses are actively involved in the operation.
As he was growing up, May watched most of the remaining ranches around be converted to farmland. This had a profound effect on him as wildlife habitat disappeared in order for families to find a way to survive economically. This shaped his philosophy in searching for ways in which farming, ranching and the preservation of wildlife and associated habitat could coexist.
Job Titles:
- Outreach & Membership Coordinator
As the Outreach & Membership Coordinator for the Western Landowners Alliance, Dani works to support and strengthen WLA's membership base of landowners and land stewards. Prior to joining WLA, Dani spent five years as the Associate Director of Operations and Programs at United Way of Missoula County, where she streamlined administrative processes, planned community events, coordinated programs, and more. Her career has revolved around growing and supporting membership groups across many sectors, including nonprofits, craft brewers and more.
Growing up in Polson, Montana, she spent her childhood raising lambs, pigs, chickens, and more through her local 4-H program, which shaped her appreciation of local food and agricultural production. Dani holds a Master's Degree and Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of Montana, and currently serves on the board of Montana Conservation Voters. She resides in Missoula with her husband and dog and loves to ski, hike, raft and sew quilts on her days off.
Job Titles:
- Oregon Outreach Associate
Born in Idaho and a lifelong resident of Oregon, Ellie lives in Powell Butte with her husband Mark and two young sons, Roan and Rawley. Ellie earned a bachelor's in Biology from OSU-Cascades in 2014, and in May 2023 she will complete her master's at the University of Idaho in Integrated Natural Resources, focusing on rangeland and wildlife management. She loves spending time outdoors with her family and animals, fly fishing, and learning about hunting and cooking wild game with her sons.
Ellie was introduced to Western Landowners Alliance several years ago through her participation in Women in Ranching. She was so inspired by their work that she became determined to be a part of the team one day. She has a genuine love for the land, wildlife, livestock, and land stewards. That love is the driving force that motivates her to support working people and working lands to continue to provide food, fiber, critical habitat and ecosystem services in the future.
Job Titles:
- Working Wild Challenge Program Director
Job Titles:
- General Manager at Vermejo Park Ranch
Gus Holm is the General Manager at Vermejo Park Ranch and the President of the Cimarron Watershed Alliance. Vermejo Park Ranch a 585,000 acre Ranch in northeast New Mexico encompassing 6 ecoregions from short grass prairie to alpine tundra owned by Turner Enterprises Inc. The operation encompasses fishing, hunting, nature tourism, a sustainable forestry operation, bison production, coal bed natural gas development, and endangered species restoration. Gus is responsible for managing this diverse operation and supporting the TEI mission to "To manage Turner Lands in an economically sustainable and ecologically sensitive manner while promoting the conservation of native species." The Cimarron Watershed Alliance (CWA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the health of our local watershed along the Cimarron River. The Cimarron Watershed Alliance (CWA) was formed in 2001 to provide local input on water quality issues in the Cimarron Watershed in northeastern New Mexico. Most recently the CWA has completed a Watershed Based Plan which incorporates 671,144 acres and 28 sixth level HUC's, is actively working on Stream Restoration on Ponil Creek under an EPA 319 Grant, and has just started work on a Wetlands Action Plan in the Moreno Valley Headwaters of the Cimarron River. Gus graduated from Fort Lewis College with a BS in Geology in 1991. He began working at Vermejo Park Ranch in 2001 in the Natural Resources Division, which focused on managing its diverse ecosystem, and was promoted to General Manager in 2014. Gus has been active in stream restoration since 2002 when he first started attending Quivira stream workshops with Bill Zeedyk. In 2009 he began the Dave Rosgen PhD series for stream restoration and completed the classes in 2012 with River Restoration and Natural Channel Design. Currently Gus is involved with riparian restoration projects on the Vermejo River and Ponil Creek.
As chief programs officer for Western Landowners Alliance, Hallie manages people and strategy to support private stewardship across the West. Prior to joining the WLA team in 2014, she worked as an environmental professional at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she handled compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA), collaborated on the site-wide sustainability plan, and banded birds for biological resources monitoring.
Hallie holds a B.A. in Environmental Science from the University of Denver and a M.A. in International Environmental Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. In conjunction with her academic studies and early career in the non-profit sector, she worked on many natural resources management and sustainable development projects in the American West and Central and South America.
Hallie currently serves on the advisory board of CSU's Center for Collaborative Conservation and as vice president on the board of directors for the Central Colorado Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys mountain biking, paddling and skiing with her husband and two children.
Job Titles:
- Western Water Resources Coordinator
As the Western Water Resources Coordinator for the Western Landowners Alliance, Jake provides landowners and collaborative partners information on water and related resources across the West. Before joining the WLA team, he worked as the Policy Communications Coordinator for a grassroots agriculture advocacy organization. He managed policy communications, supported state and federal lobbyists, and drove member engagement. Jake holds a B.A. in Political Science from Allegheny College and a Master in Public Policy from the University of Denver.
Jake is an avid fly fisher, skier, and cyclist who loves exploring all the West offers.
James Rogers currently resides in Twin Falls, Idaho and acts as the General Manager of the Winecup Gamble Ranch, a million-acre land holding in northeast Nevada owned by the Fireman Family.
Prior to joining the team at the Winecup, James was a Principal Partner in a Wyoming-based real estate brokerage firm south of Jackson Hole. His 12-year stent in the real estate business provided James with acquaintances from all over the world. In 2009, he began a private consulting business to assist large ranch owners in many aspects of their operations. From this venture, James was introduced to the accounting firm that handled all of the Fireman Family assets and eventually led to his involvement of managing their ranch property.
James has been passionate about the cattle industry since he was 14 years old when his father helped him start a herd of registered Angus cattle. Although his original interest and education was in cattle genetics and animal production, James has since turned his attention to the land and the people. James has studied under the Savory Institute for Holistic Resource Management and was the youngest person in the state of Wyoming to receive the ALC (Accredited Land Consultant) designation. James' Holistic Context today revolves around building teams of people that can regenerate the landscape 1 million acres at a time.
James has been married 24 years to Andrea, and they have grown their family to include 4 beautiful children. James enjoys hunting, mountain climbing, fly-fishing and visiting ranching operations around the world.
Job Titles:
- Development Director
- Founding Member of the Genesee Land Trust
As Development Director for the Western Landowners Alliance, Jan enjoys building relationships with donors and providing opportunities for them to learn how they may help transform the future of the American West.
Prior to joining the Western Landowners Alliance, Jan in 2011 joined the Nature Conservancy of Central and Western New York as the Senior Philanthropy Officer. Prior to that, she served as the Executive Director for the National Kidney Foundation in western New York for 17 years.
Jan is a founding member of the Genesee Land Trust and currently chairs the Legacy Society. She serves on the Board of the Rochester Spinal Association and is active in local government. Jan holds a B.A. from the University of Rochester and an M.ED. from Nazareth College.
Jason Fearneyhough joins WLA as chief policy officer after serving as the deputy commissioner of agriculture for Texas from 2015-2023. In Texas, Fearneyhough managed a global-scale agency with more than 650 employees and an annual budget surpassing $1 billion. Prior to appointment in Texas, Fearneyhough served the people of Wyoming as deputy director from 2006-2009 and then director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture from 2009-2014, under two different administrations.
He is also co-founder of World Ag Journal, a global agriculture news aggregator site that provides agriculture professionals news that they do not have access to through their normal channels.
Fearneyhough grew up in Wyoming and graduated from the University of Wyoming with a bachelor's degree in agricultural communications and then a master's degree in business administration. He lives in Cheyenne with his wife Tina, a powerhouse in her own right, and two corgis. They have two adult daughters.
Jeff is a fourth-generation owner of the Granger Ranches in Montana's Madison Valley. He lives in Montana full-time, where he manages the 13,000-acre traditional cattle ranch. Jeff's efforts to restore a 6,000-acre wetland complex on the property earned him the Environmental Law Institute's National Wetlands Award for Landowner Steward in 2010.
Joel Bernstein has been a tenured college professor in Native American art, a writer, bareback rider, cowboy and rancher for more than fifty years in Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and New Mexico. He has been involved with rodeos as a contestant, college coach, producer and writer. In addition he has been the president of three major western associations and twice judged the Miss Rodeo Montana pageant. He has written non-fiction books on the contemporary West and ranching and recently had a novel about the contemporary West published. He has served two elected terms on the New Mexico Veterinary Grievance Committee and was national director of "Indian Pride on the Move." He and his wife Gail run the 262 Ranch in the historic San Rafael Valley in southern Arizona and the 262 Ranch overlooking the Brazos Cliffs in northern New Mexico. They live on a smaller place just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.
As a Colorado native, Judy has a passion for its landscapes. She has designed and implemented experiential-based conservation education and private lands conservation programs for educators, students, landowners, and communities since 2000. Judy is the conservation and sustainability manager at Trinchera Ranch. In that role, she supports the natural resources and hospitality teams by highlighting the ranch's conservation and sustainability initiatives in an educational platform for employees, community, and guests at the ranch.
Kelly Bennett is a Colorado native whose great grandparents ranched north of Fort Collins. He is a co-founder of Ponderosa Advisors, LLC, a boutique firm focused on applying technology and analytics to natural resource issues. The company built and operates Water Sage, a web-based mapping and research platform for water and land information.
Kelly's family operates the Hollowtop Ranch at the base of the Tobacco Root Mountains in Pony, Montana, where they raise registered Angus, wheat, and hay. His family is committed to supporting efforts to encourage and protect private conservation and the values of the West. Kelly has a strong interest in the intersection of resource issues, preservation of large landscapes, and private property. He holds a BS in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College.
Kenyon Fields is one of the main founders of the Western Landowners Alliance (WLA), and served as the executive director for its first year (2013). His background is in conservation biology and landscape scale conservation planning. It is this background that led him to convene the first meetings of what later became the WLA, as he and fellow conservation biologists realized the critical role that landowners can play in keeping the West whole.
Having focused for several years on the need for wildlife corridors and landscape management that thinks far beyond individual property lines, he asked conservation-minded landowners from around the West to consider working together to share knowledge and influence other land managers (public and private).
Job Titles:
- Idaho Resource Coordinator
Originally from central Arkansas, Lane Justus has spent the past 6 years doing conservation research and conflict prevention field work in the northwestern United States and throughout Latin America. As Idaho resource coordinator, Lane works with landowners in Idaho to access funding and tools to improve the economic viability and success of land stewardship efforts.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, Political Science, and Latin American Studies from the University of Arkansas. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth.
Lane has worked in several different ecosystems across North America and with a wide-range of species, from sharks and stingrays to sage grouse and wolves. She is particularly interested in regenerative agriculture and working alongside producers to maintain healthy landscapes. In her spare time, she likes to cook with friends and help out on an organic farm and dairy in Glenns Ferry, Idaho.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive
- Chief Executive Officer
- Founding Member
Lesli is a founding member and chief executive of the Western Landowners Alliance. She was also a founding member of the Chama Peak Land Alliance. For the past three decades, Lesli has worked extensively with private landowners and multiple stakeholders to advance conservation, sustain working lands and support rural communities.
Prior to Western Landowners Alliance, Lesli managed a large ranch the southern San Juan Mountains of Colorado. During her 16-year tenure, she implemented progressive conservation management through award-winning programs in restoration forestry, prescribed fire, grazing, stream restoration, hunting and wildlife management, and scientific research and monitoring. Lesli holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.A. from St. John's College, Santa Fe.
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Lands Program Director
- Working Lands Program Director
As working lands program director for the Western Landowners Alliance, Linda is responsible for the implementation and coordination of initiatives to support on-the-ground stewardship, public policy and economics of working lands.
Prior to joining WLA, Linda worked with nonprofits (The Nature Conservancy, NCAT Soil for Water), agencies (Washington Department of Wildlife), research institutions (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Oregon State University) and landowner-led groups (Ranchers Stewardship Alliance) to advance practices beneficial to the lands, water, wildlife, people and resource-based economies of
Louis Wertz leads communications for the Western Landowners Alliance. He grew up taking long road trips across the American West in the family minivan. Since, he has been obsessed with listening to and telling the stories of the land stewards who protect and regenerate the amazing places he fell in love with. Louis was previously communications director with the international rural development think tank EcoAgriculture Partners, where his stories focused on land stewards in East Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia.
Louis holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism degree from Northwestern University and a Master's of Science in World Heritage Studies from the Brandenburg Technical University in Cottbus, Germany, where he focused on holistic approaches for managing heritage sites. He completed his master's thesis in Yosemite National Park in 2008. In 2010 he spent a year working on an organic vegetable farm and apple orchard in majestic Mendocino County, California. He received his Permaculture Design Certificate in 2018 from the Denver Permaculture Guild and an Advanced Permaculture Landscape Design certification in 2019. He lives with his wife and their two young children just outside of Denver, Colorado.
Makenzie grew up in the Texas Panhandle and completed her Bachelors of Business Administration at Texas Tech University. She has since specialized in human resources and operations and is passionate about promoting wellbeing in the workplace. As the Business Coordinator for WLA, Makenzie supports day-to-day financial, human resources and business operations.
Makenzie lives in the Denver area with her husband, Sean, and their two senior dogs. In her free time she enjoys hiking, camping, and skiing.
Job Titles:
- Secretary
- Business Manager for Lonetree Ranch
Marissa is the Business Manager for Lonetree Ranch, located in southwest Wyoming. The ranch strives to balance the art and science of ranching by mixing age-old practices with modern knowledge and ideas. Balancing these disciplines keeps the ranch close to mother nature but also aware of opportunities science might provide to better observe, predict and react.
Before returning to the family ranch, Marissa worked for Rio Tinto Australia as a Social and Economic Impact Analyst. There Marissa created and institutionalized a framework for evaluating connection and importance of stakeholder networks influencing operational activities as well as the social and economic impact the mining operations had on local communities. Her experience with both mining and ranching have provided Marissa with a foundation to better understand man's connection to country.
Marissa holds a B.A. in Management from the University of the Pacific and an International MBA from the University of Denver. Marissa completed the Wyoming L.E.A.D program in 2018.
Mary Anne and her husband Bill live in Midland, Texas and ranch in Cody, Wyoming and Hedley, Texas.
She and Bill received master's degrees in geology from the University of Texas and then settled in Midland to work in the oil business and raise three children. Over many years of family ranching, Mary Anne has developed a passion for conservation, land stewardship, the
cattle business, and the plants, animals and people of the west. Her family received a 2021 Wyoming Game and Fish Landowner of the Year award in recognition of their stewardship of the TE Ranch.
She currently serves as Chairman of Dingus Investments, Inc. and serves on the board of the Duncan Fund. As a trustee of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, she is involved in strategic planning and diversity, equity and inclusion initiative. She has served on many boards through the years including most recently the Wyoming Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and as co-chair of their capital campaign.
She is a certified Texas Master Naturalist working as a volunteer involved in nature awareness outreach and citizen science projects. Favorite pursuits are spending time with family, hiking, riding, skiing, backpacking and observing the natural world.
Job Titles:
- Member Emeritus of the Board
Mary Conover is one of the original founding members of Western Landowners Alliance and served as the first Treasurer, and provided significant early support to help us staff up when few others would take the risk on a start-up. She served several terms and we are the better for her quiet, wise counsel. She owns and operates Mountain Island Ranch in Utah and Colorado, which she took over from her mother, and will pass to her son. She and the family that manage the cattle and hunting operations work hard to conserve the wildlife and habitat while producing quality organic beef and hay. Mountain Island Ranch is all under conservation easement (amongst the first in Colorado), has one of the first Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances for Gunnison sage grouse, and participates in the Ranching for Wildlife program. Aside from ranch life, she has been a professional photographer, editor and artist, floatplane pilot, restaurateur, and sat on the boards of numerous non-profits.
Job Titles:
- Working Wild Challenge Coordinator
- Working Wild Challenge Manager
Matt is deeply motivated to further practices, processes, and policies that support thriving working lands and wildlife in the American West. Through experience as a ranch hand in dense carnivore-country and four seasons as a guide in Wyoming's Upper Green River Basin, Matt's work is inspired by the challenges and opportunities of sharing working landscapes with wildlife. In his work with WLA, Matt is building on his previous time with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation and People and Carnivores, where he worked to reduce human-wildlife conflict and support connected landscapes throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Prior to joining WLA, Matt worked as a graduate researcher at Colorado State University to understand how rangeland collaboratives form and achieve success in reducing conflict between large carnivores and livestock. Through these experiences, Matt has developed an appreciation for the power of collaborative processes to build positive outcomes for landowners and wildlife alike. Matt currently lives in Salida, Colorado, where in his free time he likes to go hiking with his dog, Maisy, and find camping spots on the path less traveled by foot, horse or ski.
Job Titles:
- Western Grazing Lands Coalition Manager
- Working Lands Program Manager
Megan grew up in Montrose, Colorado, crediting her upbringing in the San Juan mountains as sparking her passion for rangeland management and wildlife conservation. Megan holds a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife, Sustainability, and Ecosystem Science from Tarleton State University and is an accredited Associate Wildlife Biologist. Megan spent nearly 4 years with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Texas, before coming on with WLA.
Megan most recently held the title of Grazing Specialist in the Texas panhandle, serving as a liaison to the Texas Grazing Lands Coalition. She has served landowners on multiple scales, providing technical assistance in the field, planning numerous conservation-driven events, and restarting a local GLC after several years of dormancy. She currently serves as Secretary for the Texas Section Society for Range Management and is actively involved in the chapter. Megan has a true passion for agriculture and advocates for youth involvement and education whenever possible. Megan and her fiance currently reside near Amarillo, Texas but retreat to the mountains just outside of Cody, Wyoming in the summers where her husband, Tyler Terry, works on a local ranch. Megan and Tyler have two boys, ages 6 and 7, and enjoy a wide variety of outdoor activities in their free time.
Serving as the Grants Manager, Micheline is responsible for the strategic execution and management of a comprehensive portfolio of grants to support WLA. Her professional experience ranges from managing food service operations and a small natural grocery store to international humanitarian aid work. Her previous role was as Director of Programs for a regional food bank, where she launched innovative, evidence-based programs providing long-term solutions to food insecurity. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Dietetics and Institutional Administration from Texas Woman's University. Micheline works closely with her local community to support community food systems and environmental education programs.
Growing up in a Coast Guard family, she bounced around America's south and west from Texas through New Orleans, and San Francisco to Kaneohe, Hawaii and back again. She learned a lot about the unique landscapes, cultures, and cuisines of each place along the way. These experiences, along with additional travel as an adult, developed into a strong love for the natural world. She now lives where the West begins-just outside Fort Worth, Texas-on a micro-farm where she enjoys growing unusual varieties of vegetables and monitors the antics of her chickens and runner ducks on a marvelous patch of tallgrass prairie.
Job Titles:
- Colorado River Basin Stewardship Coordinator
Nelson Shirley is a livestock producer, operating Spur Lake Cattle Company on the New Mexico-Arizona border.
His primary interest is wildlands and both the wildlife and the human communities that help sustain them. He has a long family history of farming and ranching and has also worked in jobs from the oilfield to construction. His business interests have included engineering services and production automation for the petroleum industry.
Job Titles:
- Board Member of Trout Unlimited 's Coldwater Conservation Fund
Paul R. Vahldiek, Jr. is Chairman of The High Lonesome Ranch (HLR) and President of Deep Water Cay (DWC). He received his undergraduate degree from Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas in 1977 and a J.D. from St. Mary's University School of Law, San Antonio, Texas in 1979. He began practicing law in 1980 and in 2008 received the Distinguished Graduate Award from the St. Mary's University School of Law.
The High Lonesome Ranch comprises approximately 300 square miles of deeded and permitted public lands (BLM), located northeast of Grand Junction, Colorado. The ranch includes lands ranging from approximately 5,000 to 9,200 feet in elevation that have been in agricultural and ranching uses since the mid 1800's. The High Lonesome Ranch's vision is committed to ensuring its lands, waters, and resources are healthy and productive for compatible values and uses, demonstrating how private and public lands can be stewarded in perpetuity for ethical uses and economic vitality. This effort will further and model a land ethic.
In addition, Mr. Vahldiek and HLR are actively supporting the development of the High Lonesome Institute (HLI) that is being established to: advance scientific and scholarly knowledge relevant to stewardship of resources on working landscapes in the Intermountain West. It accomplishes these purposes through intentional science, education, and outreach focused (1) on improving land and resource management decisions, and (2) on being a venue for dialogue among diverse groups seeking to find common ground on conservation and sustainable development.
In 2009, Paul and his partners purchased and focused on the refurbishment, expansion and modernization of Deep Water Cay in the Bahamas. The commitment remains to bring the same science ethic to the island and surrounding marine environment.
As the chief operating officer for the Western Landowners Alliance, Rachael directs operations and organizational growth, strategy, and development. Prior to joining the WLA team in August 2022, she worked as the Vice President of Operations for a nonprofit in the human services sector where she directed operations, research, evaluation, public policy, and advocacy. She holds a B.A. in Communications from St. John Fisher University and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Colorado, Denver.
In her free time, she enjoys hiking, fly fishing, trying new recipes, snuggling with her rescue pups, and crying over the Buffalo Bills.
Rob developed a passion for sustainability at an early age thanks to a family history full of food production and admiration for what nature can provide. As a researcher and project manager, he has lived and worked globally, in many collaborative groups, and with many cultures including Indigenous Peoples, fostering a better understanding of the socio-ecological systems we live in.
He honed his environmental and scientific basis at the University of Montana studying Wildlife Biology. Joining academic and government research projects, he explored conflict and trade-offs in conservation. Working for NGOs like TNC and WWF, he gained an appreciation for the power of collaboration and partnership, and the power of GIS. He developed a fascination for and expertise in monitoring and evaluation, in particular outcomes and impact, at Imperial College London. He has since been engaged in analytics and telling stories with data and visualizations, integrating information across environmental, social and financial systems into platforms with maps, charts and graphs to support comprehensive decision making.
Rob has experience in a wide range of sustainability topics including ecotourism, ranching and land management, real estate remediation and development, conservation and community development, and corporate sustainability. He has been able to put those experiences and perspectives to use to better understand project partner strengths and needs, and to provide holistic tools to represent the many dimensions that contribute to the wellbeing of relevant stakeholders.
Job Titles:
- Resource Coordinator
- Member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe
- New Mexico Resource Coordinator
- Vice President of the Grasshopper Livestock Association
Sisto Hernandez is a member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona. He comes from a ranching heritage on both sides of his family. His maternal grandfather & great-grandfather were both cattle owners on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. His paternal grandparents operated a ranch in northern Chihuahua Mexico.
Sisto serves as the Vice President of the Grasshopper Livestock Association. The Grasshopper Livestock Association is a Tribal grazing collective that operates on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The association is comprised of 14 members.
Before joining WLA, Sisto was the rangeland management specialist for the White Mountain Apache Tribe for 16 years. There he assisted Tribal ranchers in accessing and participating in USDA programs, as well as representing his Tribe and serving as president of the Mexican Wolf/Livestock Council for Arizona & New Mexico. In his role on the council he was instrumental in promoting tolerance, the implementation of proactive coexistence practices, and depredation compensation. Sisto is a strong advocate of ranching, agriculture, natural resources & wildlife conservation.
Tom lives in Central Idaho with his wife and two children. He and his brother Michael own Big Creek Ranch, a conservation-oriented cattle and hay operation in the Upper Salmon River basin. On the ranch, Tom works to restore and enhance habitat for several threatened and endangered species including Chinook salmon and greater sage-grouse, in addition to the many big and small animals that live there. He is a member of the Central Idaho Rangelands Network and the University of Idaho Rangeland Center Partner Advisory Council. Prior to his engagement in conservation ranching, Tom spent many years working in the non-profit community and the recreation industry as a guide. When he isn't talking about land management policy, Tom enjoys hunting in the mountains of Central Idaho in the fall, long trail runs and reading.
Valerie Gordon owns and operates a family ranch in Alpine County, California. She grew up on a ranch in southeastern Arizona, where her family blended cattle and conservation together as one. After graduating from Harvard with a focus on Biological Anthropology, Valerie began her work in conservation, first on the East coast and then in California. As director of a grasslands conservation project in Merced County, Valerie worked closely with central valley ranchers to project more than 30,000 acres of wetlands and grasslands and to help facilitate the site location development of the UC Merced Campus. In addition to serving on the Rangeland Trust board of directors, she serves as a board member of an organization dedicated to the land protection, habitat restoration and sustainable resource management of the borderlands region between the Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair
- Director of TomKat Ranch
- Vice Chair / TomKat Ranch, CA
Wendy Millet is the Ranch Director of TomKat Ranch, TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation and LeftCoast Grassfed. For more than twenty years, Wendy has worked to bridge a love of conservation and working landscapes with practical economic solutions and effective partnerships.
In addition to working for several years on cattle and dude ranches in Wyoming and Montana, she ran a local land trust, worked for a timber investment company, developed programs for an environmental economics research foundation, led education and leadership programs for the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and spent 12 years at The Nature Conservancy working with farmers, ranchers, and timberland owners to protect and restore ranches, rivers and forests. Her efforts to share best practices led to work on several publications including: Land Use in America (Island Press), A Place-Based Partnership Manual (The Nature Conservancy of California) and Preserving California's Natural Heritage: A Guide to Land and Water Conservation (California Resources Agency).
Wendy holds a B.A. in Literature from Harvard. She studied Environmental Economics at the University of Washington and Environmental Planning at University of Virginia. She serves on the board of the California Council of Land Trusts, the Farmland Advisory Committee for Peninsula Open Space Trust, and the Board of Councilors of Save the Redwoods League. She is also co-founder of Gallop Ventures LLC offering equine-guided teamwork and leadership programs to corporations, individuals and organizations.