Staff

Petrolia Staff

Petrolia office telephone number: (707) 629-3514

Sarah Vroom, Executive Director  
vroom@mattole.org

Sarah Vroom first became involved with the MRC in 2017 as a member of our Board of Directors. As our new Executive Director, Sarah brings a unique mix of experience in and out of the field. For 8 years, she owned and managed an edible landscaping and permaculture design company with a specialization in home scale water management solutions. Sarah has taught community college classes on permaculture, soil health and water management, and has been
a resident of the Mattole Valley for the last 5 years. Her field experience includes a wide variety of work ranging from fisheries technician to soil health consultant to fly fishing guide. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Mills College and is currently working on a Masters in
Natural Resource Management with a specialization in fire ecology.

Nathan Queener, Watershed Information Science Program Director  
nathan@mattole.org

Nathan has worked for the MRC since 2007, with a focus on the design and implementation of approaches to monitoring instream sediment conditions in the watershed, and analysis of trends in stream habitat conditions. He holds an MS in Watershed, Wildland, and Forest Science from Humboldt State University (2014). Nathan served as the Executive Director from 2018-2020, and has now returned to his prior position as program Director for our Watershed Information Science Program.

Ali Freedlund, Working Lands Human Communities Program Director
ali@mattole.org

Ali has been working for the Council continuously since 1996, beginning as a watershed advocate where forestry was concerned. Currently, she coordinates the Working Lands and Human Communities program for the Council.  Most of the WLHC program projects in the past several years have been focusing on reducing the wildfire threat by implementing fuels reduction projects throughout the watershed with MRCs many partners. She is also available to assist with information about the Mattole PTEIR, the watershed-wide permit for landowners wishing to do selection forestry.

Hugh McGee, Native Ecosystem Restoration Program Director
hugh@mattole.org

Hugh joined the MRC in 2006. At the MRC, his projects focus on designing and implementing riparian, grasslands, and oak woodland restoration projects. Prior to his time with the MRC, he worked for private ecological restoration firms, the National Park Service, and as a private consultant designing and implementing wetland and riparian restoration projects throughout the western united states. He also spent a couple summers working as a biologist hooting for mexican spotted owls and chasing song birds through sage brush. He holds a BS in Environmental Science (University of Vermont, 2002) with an emphasis on conservation biology and ecological restoration.

Flora Brain, Field Institute and Watershed Newsletter Project Coordinator 
flora@mattole.org

Flora joined the MRC staff in 2007 to work primarily as grantwriter. Her prior work experience includes leading trail crews in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, conducting soil and veg surveys for a private conservation firm, working on a citizen science invasive weeds mapping program for the University of Montana’s Wilderness Institute, and as a naturalist at an environmental school. Flora has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resource Conservation from the University of Montana School of Forestry and in 2010, she reduced her MRC workload in order to earn a Master’s degree in Environment and Community Social Science. Her Master’s research was focused on the place she loves best: the Mattole River watershed.

John Summers, Fire and Fuels Project Coordinator
john@mattole.org

John joined the MRC in 2015 as our Field Crew Leader for the Native Ecosystem Restoration Program.  His prior work experience includes several terms with AmeriCorps specializing in habitat restoration and environmental interpretation, and as a forestry technician for Full Circle Forestry. He is a graduate of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry with a BS in Conservation Biology.

Lisa Hintz, Sudden Oak Death, Oak Woodland Enhancement, and Invasive Species Projects Coordinator                                              lisa@mattole.org

Lisa worked as field crew for the MRC before being elected to the Board of Directors in 2018. She currently holds a position as the Native Ecosystems Restoration Program’s Project Coordinator for the Sudden Oak Death, Oak Woodland Enhancement, and Invasive Species projects. Lisa holds dual BA/BS degrees from the Evergreen State College where she focused on botany, terrestrial plant ecology, and environmental history. Her interest in ecological restoration led to her involvement in supporting awareness around and survival of prairie and oak savanna ecosystems. She has contributed to many studies looking at restoration outcomes and is also the co-editor of the upcoming second edition of a vascular plant field guide to the prairies of the South Puget Sound (Washington State).

Veronica Yates, Native Plant Nursery Manager veronica@mattole.org

Pamela Conn, Bookkeeper, Contract Manager
pam@mattole.org

Pamela joined the MRC in 2007. She is a graduate from Humboldt State University and holds a BS in Wildlife with emphasis in Conservation Biology and Applied Vertebrate Ecology, and an MBA coupled with a certificate of study in natural resources policy & administration. Guilty of raptor rapture, Pam has participated in several research projects on birds of prey within northern CA. She is also an avid drag racer and dog lover.

Jennifer Gilda, Office Manager   jen@mattole.org

Jennifer first joined the MRC in 2007, serving two years as an Americorps Watershed Stewards Project member, assisting with field work, outreach and education. She then worked as the office manager and environmental education director for our partner organization, the Mattole Salmon Group, as well as with field crew for the MRC. After a two year adventure around the San Juan Islands and Seattle, learning and teaching permaculture, Jennifer returned home to friends, family, and the Mattole watershed. Jennifer has a M.A. in Social Ecology with a focus in permaculture (Prescott College, 2017), and a B.S.  in Natural Resources Planning and Interpretation, with a minor in Native American Studies, and an emphasis in Cultural Studies and Environmental Education (Humboldt State University, 2005).

Whitethorn Staff

C. Moss, Mattole Ecological Education Program Director
moss@mattole.org

Moss joined the MRC staff in 2003 and was MEEP’s program coordinator and principal teacher in all 6 watershed schools from 2003-2012. Since 2012, Moss’s teaching focus has been in the two upriver schools–Whitethorn and Whale Gulch. Both through MEEP and in partnership with MSG, Sanctuary Forest, LCIA, and BLM, Moss’s education and restoration-focused work has encouraged students (as well as parents and community members) to plant hundreds of trees over the years, remove bioinvasives and do water quality monitoring throughout the watershed, and participate in countless other field trips and classes with a highly varied ecological and watershed education focus.

Theresa Vallotton, Nick’s Interns Coordinator
theresa@mattole.org

In spring of 1977 Theresa and husband Ken brought their two young children to live in the headwaters of the Mattole River. She was a teacher’s aide at Whitethorn School in the 1980’s, fostered teens in the 90’s, then hired by MRC in 2003 to be an upriver landowner liaison for the Good Roads Clear Creeks program. In 2006 Theresa became Nick’s Interns Program Coordinator working with participating agencies, schools, staff and students. “I love this job! It connects me with so many wonderful people and brings life changing experience to the students we hire.” Theresa remains the upriver contact for the Whitethorn Office.