Our Board of Directors  

Connie has worked for nonprofit organizations for over 30 years in forest stewardship, grant and contract administration, natural resource education, communications, public relations, and overall nonprofit management. She currently works for Cascade Pacific RC&D for the last 6 year.

Most of her childhood was spent in Tucson, Arizona. Then, she moved to Flagstaff to attend Northern Arizona University and obtain a Bachelor of Science in Land Use Planning. After working in the Phoenix area and getting restless with city life, her love for the woods and mountains led her to Corvallis to get her Master’s in Natural Resource Education, Interpretation, and communication from the OSU College of Forestry, which allowed her to fulfill her new passion and work with kids outdoors. She landed a position with OMSI to work with their outdoor school and summer programs. Eventually she returned to Corvallis to start the Avery House Nature Center and work with Corvallis Environmental Center to build an environmental Education program. After working with CEC for several years, she left to start a family, and later returned to environmental education to work with Chintimini Wildlife Center as their Program Director for six years. 

Her current part-time position with Cascade Pacific allows her to volunteer and enjoy hiking, gardening, and spending time with her husband and two grown boys skiing and mountain biking. 

After graduating from the University of Texas, Gerry served three years as a navy officer in Hawaii. He received an MS in Geophysics from OSU and worked for the Geophysics Group at OSU Oceanography for three years. He left OSU in 1981 to form a geophysical consulting company, NW Geophysical Associates, Inc. (NGA) with nine of his colleagues from OSU. NGA specialized in gravity, magnetics, near-surface geophysical techniques, and specialized geophysical software for subsurface investigations for a wide range of clients internationally. Gerry served as president and chairman of the board of NGA for 27 years and was an Oregon Register Geologist for 30 years. Since selling NGA in 2007, he consulted for the successor companies until he fully retired in 2021. He enjoys spending time outdoors scuba diving, canoeing, sailing, hiking, biking, and fly fishing. Gerry has lived on the banks of the Marys River for the last 47 years.

Pete received his PhD in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University and subsequently spent 31 years as a professor in Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University, retiring in 2006. His research interests varied from remediation of heavy metals contamination in water and soils, nutrient loading and water quality assessment in lakes and rivers, and stabilization of hazardous solid waste materials in highway construction applications. He has participated in water quality studies in several national parks, including Crater Lake, Mt. Rainier, Great Basin, and Yosemite. Taking advantage of travel opportunities for both professional and personal reasons, Peter has visited numerous countries in Africa, Asia, and South America, as well as Europe, with a sabbatical year in Oslo, Norway. Peter is an avid outdoorsman and especially enjoys fly fishing, kayaking, biking, and cross-country skiing. However, Peter’s main activity since retiring from OSU has been supportively interacting in the lives of his three married children and six grandchildren, along with his wife, Susan. Although his environmental conservation interests across the Mary’s River Watershed are broad, Peter’s focus is on water quality issues in the more urbanized sub-basins of the watershed.

After graduating with her masters from Oregon State University in Water Resources Engineering, where she studied the geomorphic response of rivers to reservoir drawdown and dam removal, Tessa began working as a Restoration Engineer with ICF. She grew up in the dairy farms of western New York, before going to the University of New Hampshire for a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering. Her previous experience spans from invasive species education, drinking water treatment research, civil engineering, and stream restoration projects. It’s her goal to strengthen the relationship between MRWC, the university, and the community so that people are able to cherish Marys River for generations to come.

Clara moved to Oregon in 2019 and is working as a Groundwater Data Specialist for the Oregon Water Resources Department. She previously served for MRWC as an Americorps VISTA member in 2021-2022, and has been a big fan of beavers since 2018 when she volunteered with MRWC while getting her undergraduate degree in Engineering Science and Environmental Geology – Hydrology from Tufts University. Clara loves learning about the ecology of the Marys River Watershed, as well as swimming in local rivers, fiddling, and biking.

Paul is a retired fish research biologist who worked for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for 28 years, focusing on the ecology and recovery of Oregon’s rare fishes and their habitats across the state. Paul received his MS degree in Fisheries at Michigan State, where he conducted research on a commercially harvested fish in Lake Michigan. After graduation, he moved to the Pacific Northwest, first landing in Moscow, Idaho where he conducted fish genetics research at WSU and immersed himself in the folk music community. In 1988, he moved to Philomath where for nearly two years, he was an at-home dad to his two daughters and started planting fruit trees and restoring a wetland on his rural property. Paul enjoys playing acoustic music which is influenced by the music of the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia. He is an outdoorsman with specific interests in hiking, backpacking, and whitewater rafting/kayaking.

Mark has spent most of his life in Oregon, but also briefly lived in Alaska, and Texas. He came to Corvallis in 1980 to attend Oregon State university, graduating with BS degrees in Fisheries Science and Wildlife Science. After Graduation he worked for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for 34 years, retiring in 2020. He spent the first half of his career monitoring and evaluating the ODFW hatchery program, mainly monitoring post release survival of hatchery salmon smolts. The second half of his career was spend monitoring adult spawning escapements of wild salmon and steelhead in Oregon’s Lower Columbia and coast rivers. This also included developing an abundance index for Pacific Lamprey spawning. During his career, and since retirement, he has been volunteering with various environmental groups on educational efforts, including the Salmon Watch program. Since retiring he spends time hiking, berry picking, working in the garden and visiting family and friends.

Christina moved to Oregon, her sixth state, to live her dream of conserving native species and ecological systems. Christina earned a B.S. in Wildlife Conservation from the University of Delaware and a PhD in Entomology and Applied Ecology from North Carolina State University and conducts ecological research on threatened and endangered species and communities to promote conservation. Christina enjoys watching nature while at work and at play, and created a feral Oregon homestead with her husband, dogs, and other creatures on her property within the Marys River Watershed. 

Shannon grew up in Vermont where she developed her passion for outdoor recreation and environmental stewardship. She graduated from Colgate University in Central New York with a B.A. in environmental biology and a minor in geography. Then she moved out west working in forest ecology, GIS, and stream surveying in California, Washington, and Nevada. Now she is pursuing her M.S. in Water Resources Science at OSU. Her research seeks to understand the impact of wildfires on streamflow in the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest. Shannon loves spending time in nature- particularly skiing and hiking.

Jean-Paul is a resident of the lower Marys River watershed. He is Senior Program Manager in the Watersheds department at Bonneville Environmental Foundation where he collaborates with local non-profits and Tribal staff across the Pacific Northwest to restore watersheds and support climate resilience. Jean-Paul gained a deep reverence for Earth’s natural beauty through repeated trips to the Andes Mountains in Chile and southern South America, both during family visits as a child and while conducting watershed ecology research for his college degrees. That love for the outdoors and environmental sciences eventually landed him in Oregon, originally in 2003 and then back for good in 2011. When not working, he loves spending time with his family enjoying the bounty and outdoor recreation the Marys River and   Willamette watersheds provide through   hiking, biking, paddling, and foraging.

Julia moved to the Marys River watershed from California in 2020. She earned a B.A. in Biology and Art from Westmont College and an M.S. in Applied Watershed Ecology from California State University Monterey Bay. Julia is a botanist and restoration ecologist working in renewable energy development. She enjoys spending time with her cats, gardening with native plants, and hiking and mushroom foraging with her husband. 

Bio coming soon!