SCC Staff Members
Harry Bruell, CEO & President
Harry Bruell, CEO & President, has been with the Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) since May 2004 and has worked with service and conservation corps since 1991. During his tenure with SCC the agency increased its revenue tenfold and expanded from one office in Colorado to four offices in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. From 1994 to 2004 Harry worked with the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (now The Corps Network), most recently as Chief Operating Officer and previously as Vice-President. Harry began his work with corps at the Durham (NC) Service Corps in the early 1990s where he served as Work Project Coordinator and Associate Director. Harry co-founded the national Public Lands Service Coalition in 2009 and the Mountain Alliance of Conservation Corps in 2005. He serves on numerous Boards including The Corps Network and Veteran Green Jobs. Email: harry@sccorps.org
Kathryn Coryell, Comptroller
Kathryn has been with SCC since 2004 working in the office as Business Manager. Kathryn has an extensive background in business management. Before joining SCC she worked for the College of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona in Tucson as business manager as well as a Senior Accountant for the University. Kathryn also continues to work from home as a self-employed accountant. After several years of the intense heat of Tucson she chose to head back to her home state of CO to raise her children. While not at SCC or tending to her accountant duties she enjoys spending time with her two children, Meg and Aidan. If she manages to find any free time she loves to keep exploring CO by hiking, downhill skiing and fishing. Email: kathryn@sccorps.org
David Critton, Chief Operating Officer
David started in June of 2009 in this newly created position for SCC. Previously he spent more than a dozen years with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) where he held many positions from Crew Leader to National Director of the Conservation Corps Program. During this time David helped develop and manage several corps programs based on various models with different emphases – environmental education and trail work in Massachusetts, habitat restoration in the everglades region, native plant preservation in the arid west and post-fire restoration in southern California, among them. At various times he has also spent extended periods overseas, living for several years in both Africa and the South Pacific. Although his first degree was in engineering, he later received graduate degrees in both education and forestry. Traveling the world and hiking in any ecosystem that presents itself are passions, but new explorations with an outdoor theme are at the heart of all his activities. Not quite the adrenaline junkie that defines many of the younger folks at SCC, David prefers wandering through the forest or kayaking the seas or cycling the byways of the world in a more contemplative and observational state. Email: david@sccorps.org
Amy Foss, Executive Director of Inter-regional Initiatives
Amy joined us in 2003 as a crew leader for the Crew Leader Development Program. She also worked as a logistics coordinator and as program director with SCC before moving into her current position. Before landing here at SCC, she spent time working for the Green Mountain Club (GMC) as part of their Long Trail Patrol Trail Crew. Amy has a variety of construction, masonry, landscaping and other outdoor job experience that she gained while working with her father and family back home in Maine. She grew up on a small island on the Coast of Maine and then attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. She majored in Environmental Science and Political Science and competed as a member of the Varsity Crew Team for four years. After school she was drawn to the West with a few friends to ski in Utah and has remained here in the sunny Southwest since then. In her free time she spends time up on the ski slopes, hiking/backpacking, exploring and anything else that involves the great outdoors! Email: amy@sccorps.org.
Chris Nesset, Resource Development Director
Chris has been with SCC since 2002 when she started working as our Educational and Recruitment Coordinator. Her experience includes serving as a corpsmember and crew leader for the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) out of Never, CO as well as a Senior Crew Leader for Montana Conservation Corps (MCC) out of Kalispell, MT. In addition to her corps experience she has over 3 years of experience teaching environmental education to young adults ages 7 through 19 on the Washington coast. When not at work, Chris loves to spend time with her family which includes husband, Jan and daughters Silva and Aleksia. She is also an outdoor enthusiast that enjoys mountain biking, snowboarding, cross country skiing, hiking, and kayaking. Chris is also a Together Green Fellow, for more information see http://www.togethergreen.org/People/fellowsArchive.aspx. Email: chris@sccorps.org.
Ruth Fletcher, Grants Coordinator
Ruth joined SCC in 2009 in a temporary position and has stayed on as Grants Coordinator. After graduating from Western State College in Gunnison, she worked there nearly 20 years before moving to Durango. In past lives she has worked as an office manager, paralegal, waitress and tree-sorter. Ranking high on her list of things to do is spending time with her husband, three kids, four grandchildren and Alice the chicken. Email: ruth@sccorps.org.
Patrick Gallo, Marketing & Outreach VISTA
A self-proclaimed “AmeriCorps Lifer”, Patrick has made a point to make service an integral part of his life since graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2007. A two-time AmeriCorps NCCC graduate, Patrick has served on or led crews serving projects ranging from hurricane recovery in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf coast to fuels reduction and wildfire management in South Dakota and Northern California. Becoming more and more drawn to conservation work, Patrick spent the summer 2010 leading an SCA crew and coordinated volunteer projects on the Angeles National Forest. Patrick came to SCC in April of 2011 with the Los Valles office and led a crew maintaining OHV trails in the Rio Grande National Forest. Always up for a new challenge, Patrick traded in his ATV and chainsaw for an office and computer screen to become the Outreach and Development Specialist VISTA for the headquarters office in Durango. When he isn’t bogged down in ‘paper-fun’ or on a cross-country road trip, you can find Patrick tossing around a Frisbee or helping out on a weekend service project. Email: patrick@sccorps.org.
Jennifer Bartlett, Director of Administration
Jenn began with SCC in August 2011, coming heavily from the field of youth development. Previously working with Boys & Girls Club, SUCAP Youth Services and other youth programs in our region, Jenn continues to spend much of her personal time on the train of youth development. She volunteers with other youth-serving organizations boards and committees; as well as directly mentoring teens through a variety of capacities. As the coordinator of High School Leadership La Plata, she strives to empower teens to personally grow through leadership education in partnership with the local schools. Beyond her volunteer time, Jenn enjoys running, biking and snowboarding; among anything else that has to do with “adventure.” As a Lumberjack alumnus from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, she majored in Parks and Recreation Management. Though she grew up along the shores of San Diego, the Rocky Mountains are her home and playground. Email: jenn@sccorps.org.
Katy Olson, Office Manager (Four Corners & Administration)
Katy joined SCC for the summer in 2010 and came back full time in May 2011. A southern belle from Birmingham, AL, Katy took a trip out west after college and ended up falling in love with a local Durango boy. Though his career moved them around a bit, they were finally able to settle back in Durango to raise their three children. Outside work, Katy loves living vicariously through her adventuresome kids of whom one lives in Alaska, one lives in Ecuador, and the youngest is happiest doing double back-flips in the backcountry. Side note: Katy has been known to play favorites to those who provide her with chocolate! Email: katy@sccorps.org.
Four Corners Regional Staff
Ron Hassel, Executive Director
Ron Hassel joined SCC in the spring of 2011. Previously to his work with SCC Ron worked with SCA, holding a variety of positions, coordinator and manager of the SCA fire education corps, director of the SCA Landfire and FIREMON Projects, corps operations manager, and most recently director of the Trails Corps. Throughout these positions Ron has developed skills in many different emphasis areas, including fire prevention, fuels monitoring, and management, restoration, wilderness monitoring, and trail design and construction. Ron is an SCA alumni having served as an intern team leader for the pilot year of the SCA Fire Education Corps in 2001. Prior to working with SCA, Ron worked as an engineer and project manager for a large consulting firm and was responsible for the design and construction of several highway and bridge projects. He has also been a construction laborer, inspector, and surveyor. Ron holds a degree in environmental/civil engineering from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI. When not working, Ron can be found biking the roads and trails of SW Colorado, hiking the canyons of the Southwest, bagging peaks, and skiing. Ron is passionate about preservation of wilderness, and sustainable living in this changing world. Email: ron@sccorps.org
Kevin Heiner, Program Director
Kevin joins SCC after finishing (finally) his undergraduate degrees at Western State College of Colorado with a double major in Outdoor Leadership & Resort Management and Business Administration. With a compelling urge to stay in the mountains and do something meaningful with his time, Kevin was ecstatic to rejoin the corps world again after leaving a stint of two life-changing seasons spent with Rocky Mountain Youth Corps of Colorado way back in 2002 to pursue other ventures such as running his own forestry company, finishing school, skiing, taking raft and kayak trips, and adventuring out in the wilds of Colorado and beyond. When he’s not at work Kevin can be found, often with his canine adventure companion, Mariah, exploring the many nooks, crannies, crags, and canyons that the Wild West serves up on a daily basis. Email: kevin@sccorps.org
Linnaea Renz, Program Coordinator
Linnaea joined the Four Corners team in March of 2011. Linnaea was first introduced to conservation work at the age of 15 when she joined the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) in Yellowstone National Park. After one season she was hooked! She spent 7 more seasons with YCC, transitioning from member to Crew Leader to Program Director. During the off-seasons Linnaea worked for a variety of other youth programs, including an after-school program, wilderness therapy, and a study-abroad program which sent her to Africa and South America to lead a wild bunch of high school girls. Linnaea is excited to be back in the Rocky Mountains where she can climb peaks, descend dark canyons and explore everything in between! Email: linnaea@sccorps.org.
Mike Wight, River Restoration Director
Mike grew up in rural Vermont where he grew to love the snow, the mountains and rivers. In the years following high school, he began to explore the varied Southwest and pursue a degree in Ecology and Natural History /Photography at Prescott College in Arizona. Over the summers he labored away, soon leading a trail crew, firefighting and as a lookout in the most remote tower in the lower forty-eight states. Mike finished his formal education by conducting Wild and Scenic river research in the Grand Canyon where his love for rivers really began. Mike was then hired by the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps in Steamboat Springs, CO, as Project Coordinator where he trained crew leaders and facilitated conservation projects in many stunning locations. Throughout the next few years Mike worked to hone his rafting skills on numerous private trips and worked as head sawyer for a fire mitigation company. Mike has also been carpenter, a snowboard instructor, and an Outward Bound River Instructor. In 2002, he moved to Nederland, CO where he directed the Mountain Youth Corps in Invasive Species inventory, monitoring and treatment. He soon was the Academic Director at the local alternative high school filling the roles of counselor, registrar, disciplinarian, records monitor, independent study facilitator, substitute, and district liaison for Chinook West, a program that serves at-risk youth. He also directed fundraising, coordinated and lead school excursions backpacking in Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, exploring the four corners area, rafting the San Juan River and more. Mike realized that his heart truly lies with conservation work, especially within the canyons of the Southwest, and jumped at the opportunity to reconnect with conservation corps as River Restoration Director. Email – mike@sccorps.org.
Brian Gold, Veterans Coordinator
Brian first came to SCC as a member of the Sonoran Desert Office’s Conservation Leadership Development Program in 2009 and subsequently served on a Veterans Fire Corps Crew in the Los Valles Region. Immediately preceding his current role as Veteran’s Fire Corps Coordinator, Brian served as an AmeriCorps VISTA for The Action Leadership Project, a therapeutic adventure recreation program serving the Northern Arizona veterans community. Brian holds a B.A. in International Politics from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Prior to joining SCC he had worked as a Political operative, campaign manager, lobbyist, researcher and educator at various locations in the Northeast. Email: brian@sccorps.org.
Amber Beye, VISTA
Amber is a graduate of Colorado State University where she earned a B.A. in Sociology; she also has a Master Gardener certificate from CSU extension. For the past two years Amber has been working at a juvenile treatment facility in Durango, Colorado where she worked with adjudicated youth. Amber has spent almost half of her life living in S.W. Colorado and enjoys putting her knowledge to work as a VISTA addressing the area’s poverty by furthering the development of a year round sustainable agriculture program at the Old Fort Lewis College. She will also actively work with the Agriculture program at Fort Lewis College to expand agricultural and land stewardship programs for at risk youth and young adults ages 12 to 25. Amber enjoys hiking, gardening, running, horses, and learning new ways to become more sustainable. Email: amber@sccorps.org.
Carolyn Blehm, VISTA
February of 2011 marked the beginning of Carolyn’s first Americorps term as a VISTA in theFour Cornersarea. Carolyn was born and raised in the foothills of Northern Colorado and received her Bachelors degree in Sustainable Agriculture fromFortLewisCollegein May of 2010. After graduation she lived and worked full time at the Old Fort Lewis Field Station in Hesperus, Colorado (a 6,300 acre farm now including cattle, pigs, hay fields, three greenhouses, a ¼ acre market garden and much more). As aVISTACarolyn hopes to strengthen the relationship between the SCC and the Old Fort as well as teaching youth crews and the local community about sustainable living and agricultural practices. Email: carolyn@sccorps.org.
Anna Hendricks, Recruiting & Admissions Coordinator
Anna joined the SCC Four Corners team in early 2012. She began her conservation career by volunteering for four months on an ecological reserve in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve of Guatemala with the non-profit organization, Volunteer Petén. While receiving her degree in Anthropology from Metropolitan State College of Denver she interned with Fifth Sun Development Fund as an Environmental Anthropologist in the rural villages of Northern Mexico. Upon graduation, her calling to join the world of youth conservation corps began by serving with the Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) fire effects monitoring program traveling throughout the Great Plains of North and South Dakota. Intrigued by the world of fire, she continued on in fire programs serving in southeast Ohio and throughout southern Utah. Eager to escape the winter chill, she traveled to sunny Florida to coordinated SCA”s Alternative Spring Break program working along the Florida Trail. Born and mostly-raised in Colorado, she is excited to be a part of conservation projects much closer to home and her heart. She has found the SCC to be a great organization in which to cultivate her wonder for the natural world while connecting with and building community. When released from behind the desk, you can find her climbing, dancing, and generally wandering about the amazing landscape of the southwest. Email: annamarie@sccorps.org.
Ancestral Lands Region Staff
Cornell Torivio, Program Coordinator
Cornell leads SCC’s efforts at the Ancestral Lands office. An Acoma native and resident, Cornell previously served as a Board Member and Crew Leader with SCC and has a long history of working with young people and on public lands. Cornell previously worked with Acoma Game & Fish Department as well as Aztec Ruins National Historic Site. He is an expert in historic preservation and has expertise in restoring the historic structures of the ancient Southwest. Email: cornell@sccorps.org.
Los Valles Region Staff
Heather MacSlarrow, Executive Director
Heather began working with Los Valles in the fall of 2007. Previously she has worked for the: Washington Conservation Corps; Rocky Mountain Youth Corps; Montana Conservation Corps; SCC Tucson and SAGA. Her love of conservation was cultivated growing up in the Pacific Northwest, and refined as an Environmental Studies major at the University of Montana. When not hard at work, she likes to hike, raft, snowshoe, ride horses, read, swim, listen to/play/watch music, and adventure with her dog, Yukon. Email: heather@sccorps.org.
Todd Loubsky, Field Director
Todd moved to Salida in May 2009 to work with SCC Los Valles team. Prior to arriving in Salida, he was working for the Wyoming Reclamation and Restoration Center in Laramie, Wyoming where he also completed a Master’s degree. His experience with conservation corps programs includes working on trails from Arkansas to Alaska with the Student Conservation Association and the California Conservation Corps. Having grown up exploring the prairies and northwoods of his native Midwest, he now enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountain region’s rivers, forests, and trails. Email: todd@sccorps.org.
Julie Mach, Program Director
Julie Mach moved to Salida in January of 2009 to join SCC as an AmeriCorps VISTA and has continued on with the Los Valles office in a new role as Development Coordinator. After growing up in Northern California, Julie spent four years in NW Pennsylvania earning her degree in Neuroscience and Psychology at Allegheny College, and several months living and working in Philadelphia. As an avid snowboarder, kayaker, camper, and horseback rider she enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains while working to improve energy conservation and environmental sustainability programs throughout the region. Email: julie@sccorps.org.
Megan Strauss, Recruiting Coordinator
Megan joined the Los Valles team in January 2010. Megan grew up in Texas where she received an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M and then pursued her Masters in Social Work from the University of Texas. Seeking adventure, Megan moved to the Pacific Northwest and completed two AmeriCorps terms with Northwest Service Academy – Mt. Adams Center. The allure of more adventure, service and sun brought Megan to Salida where she will spend the rest of her days playing with her dog, exploring mountains, splashing around in the Arkansas River and making sure that SCC members have the best darn experience of their lives. Email: megan@sccorps.org.
Brinkley Nelson Messick, Field Coordinator
Brink began crew leading with SCC Los Valles in March of 2009 and joined on as staff in April of 2010. Brink grew up in rural North Carolina and attended Appalachian State University where he earned a bachelors degree in anthropology and sustainable development. He has worked with several NGO’s in Honduras and Costa Rica focusing on sustainable human development and the environment of Central America. Brink made the journey west to Colorado to lead horse pack trips for the Colorado Outdoor Education Center where he also taught outdoor education and was a full time ranch hand until 2008. The recreational opportunities that the Los Valles region offers lured Brink to the area and helped create a bond and appreciation to the area he serves. Email, brink@sccorps.org.
Hanna Hopkins, Field Systems Specialist *VISTA
Hanna began her stint at SCC in February 2011 as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the Los Valles region. While SCC is her last stop on the AmeriCorps train, Hanna has served throughout the country for *NCCC and the Montana Conservation Corps. Her initial interest in joining AmeriCorps was to escape the overwhelming grayish color that encompasses the entire state of Ohio – where she was raised and graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelors of Science in Visual Communications. Her first experience exploring the Rockies came when she moved to Big Sky Country to crew lead for the MCC – which essentially led her to the SCC. She is excited to be a part of the Los Valles crew (dogs and all) and is looking forward to exploring the area! Email: hanna@sccorps.org.
Tyler Lincoln, VISTA
Colorado born and raised, throughout his life Tyler has continued to live, attend College and work seasonally across the state. Earning a double baccalaureate of arts degrees in Environmental Studies and Spanish this past spring from Western State College of Colorado in the Gunnison Basin, he moved one basin over to the Arkansas River watershed to find work. Starting May of 2011 he landed in the Southwest Conservation Corps and became a Crew Member for the Summer season and then evolved to Crew Leader come Fall. Now as a VISTA, he is excited to develop a sustainable food program with SCC, to grow and bring food to the field crews and the community of Salida. Whether it is skiing at a resort in Summit County or paddling a desert creek on the Colorado Plateau, Tyler loves all the opportunities that this mountainous place has to offer. Email: tyler@sccorps.org.
Sonoran Desert Region Staff

Attila Boros, Program Director
Attila spent two thirds of his life behind the red curtain in Eastern Europe. He was born in Transylvania and he is Magyar, which explains the accent and why his preferred idiom is Hungarian by default. He decided to emigrate in 1998 and seek fortune in the land of plenty. Lived in a few U.S. states, but spent most of his time in Minneapolis where he studied the dismal science at the University of Minnesota. He replaced the harsh winters of the Midwest with the blue warmth of the Arizona sky in the fall of 2005. Disillusioned by nonsensical corporate practices, he found refuge in the nonprofit arms of the Southwest Conservation Corps in the fall of 2007. He’s been active all his life, although as years pass by, his seemingly bottomless energy tank shows signs of degradation. Played soccer competitively while growing up and is still very much partial to the game no matter how much his American friends try to belittle it. However, he seldom plays because it doesn’t feel the same on this side of the Atlantic. Instead he runs, bikes, hikes, and plays Ping-Pong every time he is Canada. Email: attila@sccorps.org.
Holly Schempf, Recruitment Coordinator
Holly Schempf began her SCC career as a member of the Leadership Development Program in October of 2007. Since then her SCC career has consisted of; Assistant Crew Leader, Crew Leader, Valley of the Sun Coordinator and now Recruitment Coordinator. She is happily balancing placing people in positions on Sonoran Desert Conservation Crews with working towards her B.A. in Geography at the University of Arizona. Sharing outdoor experiences with young people and adults has been a passion of hers for six years. She is excited to get more young adults from the Tucson Area involved in the program and to make connections with other youth agencies that share the mission of empowering young people. Email: holly@sccorps.org.
Kamillia Hoban, Executive Director
Kamillia worked with the Youth Corps of Southern Arizona (YCOSA) for 3.5 years before YCOSA merged with SYC to create SCC. She rejoined the SCC team in December of 2007 as Program Director of the Sonoran Desert program. Kamillia’s first experience with trail work was as a 14 year old crew member with a county program in her home town of Boulder, Colorado. After graduating from Columbia University in New York City, she reconnected with the great outdoors and trail work by becoming a Crew Leader with Northwest Youth Corps. She recuperated from the rigors of Corps life by thru hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2001. Since 2000 Kamillia has worked with NYC, SCA, YCOSA, and SCC in a variety of staff positions including Crew Leader, Field Coordinator, Program Director, and Executive Director. Kamillia is an avid international traveler who loves to hike. In her free time you can find her doing home projects to make her house more sustainable, hiking, riding her bike, doing yoga or reading on her back porch. E-mail: kamillia@sccorps.org.
Josh Burt, Field Coordinator
Josh is originally from Columbus, Ohio, a fertile land full of corn, puppies, and Ohioans. He grew up a Reds fan in Cincinnati and later became a Mudhens fan in Toledo, a city also full of Ohioans. Following university, Josh started doing trail-work for the SCA at Bearbrook State Park in NH. This transitioned smoothly into an outdoor education gig and leading summer high school trail-crews. Later, he taught for two years in China and finally found himself doing trail-work for SCC in the Fall of 2007 and spending a lot of time in Tucson, AZ (a city which is also strangely full of Ohioans). Email: josh@sccorps.org.
Jean Hickman, Community Outreach and Development Coordinator
Jean, also a native of beautiful Arizona, comes to Southwest Conservation Corps from working many years in the corporate world where she had little freedom for growth or challenging opportunities. She’s attended ASU and most of the Maricopa Community Colleges to graduate with a BS in Recreation Management and Tourism, an AAS in General Studies, and an AS in Interior Design. Life and work experiences have taught her to be more flexible and accepting of others, which is why, when faced with wanting to make a positive change in her life, and the world around her, she researched positions with AmeriCorps and was placed at SCC in 2008. Jean says “It is amazing how this environment encourages me to grow! Everyone I meet is open to learning and becoming a better person, and making the world a nicer place in which to live, which motivates me to do the same! I truly have experienced and learned more here in the past two years than I have in a lifetime of dead-end jobs!” She sets up events for Tucsonans to support local neighborhoods in beautifucation projects - digging and shaping rainwater harvesting basins, planting native trees and shrubs, removing invasive weeds, and picking up litter. Jean is also active in community associations and partnering with other conservation-focused non-profits in Tucson. She devotes her free time in developing marketing materials for the Sonoran Desert SCC and sitting on the marketing committee. She enjoys her position, and loves learning more about conservation and giving back to the planet. Email: jean@sccorps.org.

Scout Phillips, Logistics Coordinator
Scout is an Arizona native who left the desert for the wet and moldy beauty of the Pacific Northwest for more than a decade. Feeling the need to let the moss grow on something other than a sleeping bag, Scout slowly made the move back to the desert. Being the grandchild of a man who spent most of his adult life expanding the publication base of Arizona Highways magazine, and the offspring of parents who shared their own love of the outdoors through family camping and hiking trips, Scout is quite proud to be actively involved in the beautification and conservation of the Southwest. Eternally an athlete, Scout can be found cycling, skateboarding, hiking, walking, rowing, snowboarding, surfing, playing, swinging on branches, climbing trees…Scout will even show up to races Attila signs them up for, and might even make brunch afterwards. Scout has been with the SCC Sonoran branch since August 2009, and can’t think of any office more wonderful to be stuck in. Email: scout@sccorps.org.
Celia Sanchez, Office Manager
Celia has been working with SCC Tucson since 2003, when it was in it’s infancy as the Youth Corps of Southern Arizona. She has been living in Tucson for over 20 years. When not at work, Celia spends time with her husband and two children and many extended family that also live in Tucson. Email: celia@sccorps.org.
Western Hardrock Watershed OSM/VISTA Team & Environmental Stewards Staff

Hailing from Charleston, South Carolina (ranked in the top ten for attractiveness, intelligence, and friendliness), Rachel made the puzzling decision to begin a career in conservation by joining AmeriCorps as an OSM/VISTA with the Western Hardrock Watershed Team serving Upper Pecos Watershed Association (UPWA) in Pecos, NM. While there, she worked on water and community-related issues by helping to coordinate the Pecos Collaboration to address such issues, planning the 2010 NM Watershed Forum, and organizing UPWA’s first fundraising event. Upon the completion of her term and in keeping with her interesting choices for places to settle, Rachel moved to southern West Virginia, nestled in central Appalachia to work for the Southwest Conservation Corps as the Eastern Coordinator for the OSM/AmeriCorps Regulatory Trainee pilot program. While there, she also became the Coordinator for the Environmental Steward Summer AmeriCorps Program and helped develop the Environmental Stewards Program Associates. In September 2011, Rachel moved to Durango, CO to take on her duties as Program Director of the Environmental Steward Programs. She enjoys being outside and with Penny Lane, her Golden Retriever who has an unfortunate underbite. Email: rachel@sccorps.org.
Adrian Uzunian – VISTA Leader
Adrian joined the Western Hardrock Watershed Team in August of 2010 as an OSM/VISTA Leader. Prior to his current position he served as an OSM/VISTA with the Appalachian Coal Country Team in Western Maryland with the George’s Creek Watershed Association. Before starting his two year exploration into the world of mining in the East and West, Adrian briefly did canvassing work with Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment in New York and volunteered with the Cloudbridge Nature Preserve in Costa Rica tracking spider monkeys. Adrian received his bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Environmental Policy from Fordham University in New York City. He has been planning his move from the Northeast to the West since he can remember and is content in his new home. In his free time he enjoys all of the mountains, parks and sun the Southwest has to offer, often hopping in his car on a whim and driving to the first place that sounds appealing. Email: support@hardrockteam.org.
Alex Brooks – VISTA Leader
Alex joined the WHWT support office in May 2011 and started in July 2011 as the Colorado-based OSM/VISTA Leader. Prior to his current position, he served for a year with the Western Hardrock Watershed Team as an OSM/VISTA volunteer at the Grand County Water Information Network in Grand Lake, CO. There he worked on developing education, volunteer monitoring & watershed planning programs. Alex grew up in and around Boston and graduated in 2008 from Grinnell College (in Iowa) with a degree in Political Science and a concentration in Global Development Studies. Upon graduation, he was awarded a year-long fellowship to work as an intern coordinator & research assistant at the Gobabeb Research & Training Centre — an environmental center in the Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia. It was there, living among the sand dunes, scorpions, and sun that he worked on an ephemeral river hydrology project and developed his passion for water sciences and conservation. Email: vistaleader@hardrockteam.org.

Cora McCold, Program Administrative Coordinator
Cora jumped at the chance to move to Durango and join the SCC in March of 2010. Before landing in Durango, Cora served with the Western Hardrock Watershed Team from 2008 – 2009 as an OSM/VISTA in Summit County, Colorado. As an OSM/VISTA Cora spent her time on nonprofit development, a 319 watershed plan and community outreach with the Blue River Watershed Group. Previously Cora worked and played in Washington, D.C. and Valley Forge National Historical Park as a National Park Congressional Intern with the Student Conservation Association. She has also worked as a researcher, tutor and teaching assistant. Cora credits her parents and her time roaming the hills and hollers of east Tennessee for developing her love of mountains, plants and creepy crawlies. She attended Appalachian State University and earned her degree in Political Science. Cora loves living in and exploring southwestern Colorado. When she’s not working, she can be found hiking, skiing, contra dancing, or in her garden with the chickens. Email: info@hardrockteam.org.
Jorie Emory, Strategic Initiatives Coordinator
Jorie joined the Western Hardrock Watershed Team as a Summer Associate in 2010 and stayed on to write grants and help with OSM/VISTA training. In December 2011, she joined the staff in a new role—Strategic Initiatives Coordinator. Before the SCC, Jorie worked as a grant writer for arts organizations, universities, farmers’ markets, and more. Jorie earned her M.A. in Cultural Policy and Arts Administration from the Ohio State University, and she remains a dedicated supporter of community-based art and multidisciplinary collaborations. She currently lives in Eureka, California where she enjoys exploring the redwoods, rivers, mountains, and beaches. Email: jorie@sccorps.org.















