Meet Our Staff

Whitney Bacon

Since 1997, Whitney Bacon has been an indispensable part of the WildEarth Guardians team. He plays such varied roles as river restoration specialist, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping expert, Information Technologies (IT) whiz, and is single-handedly responsible for building our custom membership database. Born in Denver and raised in Santa Fe, Whitney has always been interested in conservation. He has a degree from Middlebury College in Geography and Environmental Studies. When he's not spending time with his partner, Tanja, and his two sons, he loves to run rivers and practice Iyengar yoga.  wbacon@wildearthguardians.org or 505.795.0539

Bryan Bird, MS

Bryan Bird is WildEarth Guardians’ Wild Places Program Director. Bryan received his Masters in conservation biology from New Mexico State University in 1995 and holds an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1990. He has undertaken conservation research, planning, and protection projects in Central America, Mexico, and the Southwestern United States. Since first working for the Guardians in 1996, Bryan has focused on restoration of national forestlands and their critical ecological processes, as well as monitoring, reviewing, and challenging destructive Forest Service logging proposals and land management plans. He has served as President of the Board of Directors of the National Forest Protection Alliance and is currently the New Mexico state delegate. He also currently serves as a volunteer on the Sierra Club’s National Forest Protection and Restoration Committee. Bryan lives with his family in the Galisteo River watershed and in his spare time enjoys backpacking, snowboarding, and traveling.
bbird@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1157

Rosie Brandenberger

Rosie Brandenberger is the Publications Manager for WildEarth Guardians. Before assuming this position, Rosie taught high school English in Santa Fe. Rosie worked as a legal secretary in international law in Washington, DC. She graduated from St. John’s College in 2000 with a BA in Liberal Arts, and while at St. John’s, studied the history of western philosophy, science, and mathematics. She finished with her senior thesis on the works of Dostoevsky, and out of these studies grew a sincere commitment to social justice and reform. Rosie enjoys working out, hiking, reading, writing, and making art. In addition, she is an avid music lover and spends most of her spare time playing in her band. Her partner, Bill, and their four furry housemates keep her sane through it all. rosie@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1166

Lori Colt

Lori Colt is WildEarth Guardians' Membership Communications Director.  Lori grew up in San Diego and received her B.A. in European History from San Diego State University.  After 20 years in "Corporate America" she decided to shift career paths and use her skills and passion for improving the lives of animals and wild places.  Lori enjoys cooking, writing, travel and spending time with her husband Mike and their menagerie of "fur children."  lcolt@wildearthguardians.org or 505 988-9126 x1156

Angelisa Espinoza

Angelisa Espinoza joined WildEarth Guardians in 2010 and is our Office Administrator.  She has spent the last eight years working as a travel guide in various places including New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Hawaii, Maine, Alaska and New Zealand. She has a passionate love for wild places and enjoys being part of an organization that works hard to keep these places wild. She grew up in Arizona and received her degree from Northern Arizona University. Angelisa enjoys spending time on her road bike, taking in the scenery and impressive lightening around New Mexico.  She also enjoys cooking and playing guitar with friends. aespinoza@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1151

Melissa Hailey

Melissa Hailey is WildEarth Guardians' Staff Attorney. She holds a bachelor's degree in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from the University of Denver and a juris doctorate from Seattle University School of Law. Before attending law school, Melissa was employed in the natural sciences doing both field and laboratory work. Since that time, she has provided legal services to the Government Accountability Project, the Seattle City Attorney's Office, the University of Denver Environmental Law Clinic, Rock the Earth, and the Center for Sustainable Economy. Since joining WildEarth Guardians in 2006, Melissa has focused primarily on public lands policy reform and endangered species recovery. She lives in Denver, CO with her two dogs, Tommy and Annabelle.  mhailey@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1159

John Horning

John Horning has been with WildEarth Guardians since 1994 and became the Executive Director in April 2002. During his tenure, he has worked in a variety of positions including grazing program director, watershed protection program director and conservation director. He has had extensive campaign and litigation experience working on western water, grazing, endangered species and land-use management issues in addition to his development and administrative responsibilities. In 2005, the Wilburforce Foundation recognized him with its annual outstanding conservation leadership award. A graduate of Colorado College, where he received a BA in American History, John has worked as a wilderness ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, as an environmental educator, and as an editorial intern at High County News. Immediately prior to coming to New Mexico, he worked for two and a half years in Washington D.C. for the National Wildlife Federation on public lands and western resource issues. John loves hiking and skiing, endurance running, and speaking Italian and assists his wife Terry with horse events.
jhorning@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1153

Mona Kay

Mona was raised in Albuquerque and has spent the last 28 years in Santa Fe. It is inconceivable to her to live anywhere but New Mexico with its blue skies and clean air. She graduated from UNM with a B.A. in political science and has always felt the environment and all wildlife, especially coyotes, wolves and bears, should be protected. After many years at the College of Santa Fe’s public relations office, she decided to begin a new career in bookkeeping/accounting. She has worked for both local businesses and non-profits.

Her husband, Ken, is an avid mountain climber who has climbed 31 of Colorado’s fourteeners. Her son, Ryan, inherited his father’s love of mountain peaks and climbing. Mona enjoys growing things, wild birds, day hikes and walking her dog, Winnie, a dachshund mix, who never tires of going somewhere. mkay@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1102

Wendy Keefover-Ring

Wendy has been a leader in carnivore protection since 1998, aiming to end the indiscriminate killing of predators in the West. She built a coalition that stopped contest hunting in Colorado—the first state in the West to do so. She also began an ongoing campaign to expose the federal government’s use of toxic poisons intended for predators. In 1999, Wendy organized a national coalition of grassroots groups that are working to ban aerial gunning of wildlife. She works with regional organizations on a variety of predator and prairie dog issues.  Prior to joining the Guardians, Wendy worked on anti-trapping initiatives in Colorado and Arizona. She also served on the former Sinapu’s Board. Previously, she worked at The Land and Water Fund of the Rockies and as a paralegal. She holds an M.A in history from the University of Colorado with a research focus on environmental activism among women in early Colorado. wendy@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1162

Jim Matison

Jim Matison joined WildEarth Guardians in 2002 and is the Restoration Projects Director. Jim leads efforts to restore riparian/wetland ecosystems with hands-on habitat restoration projects on private, public, and state school trust lands. He also directs the organization’s restoration projects on national forests, which entail closing roads as a means to restore forest ecosystems. Jim holds a degree from the University of Arizona.  jmatison@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1154

 

Jeremy Nichols

Jeremy joined WildEarth Guardians in 2008 as the Director of the Climate and Energy Program, taking action to fight fossil fuels, promote clean energy, slash greenhouse gases, and develop innovative strategies to safeguard the climate and the American West.  Jeremy has been active in conservation advocacy since 2000, when he first started working with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance to protect forests, grasslands, and imperiled species in Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota.  In 2006, he founded and led Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, a nonprofit that successfully held polluters, states, and the Environmental Protection Agency accountable to our clean air laws throughout the Rocky Mountain region.  A native to Idaho, Jeremy made his way to the Rocky Mountain west to study geology at the University of Wyoming.  He lives in Denver with his son, Obsidian. jnichols@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1303.

Carol Norton

Carol Norton is WildEarth Guardians’ Associate Director. Before coming to work at the Guardians, she spent over eight years working at Intel Corporation in Rio Rancho, NM in the information technology group as both a people and project manager. While there, she earned a Project Management Professional certification from Project Management International (PMI). Carol’s other positions have included running a family software business with her father, doing sales support for Apple Computer, and project management for the National Indian Business Association. Carol graduated from Brown University with a degree in Biology. Then she worked for the National Park Service for a year before starting a career in the technology field. She gladly returns to conservation--her true calling. Carol has lived in the Southwest since 1989 and has worked on a variety of issues here including land use and wilderness designation. Carol is an avid backpacker, hiker, and runner, which she does with her dog Paz whenever possible.  cnorton@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1150

Nicole Rosmarino, PhD

Nicole Rosmarino has been with WildEarth Guardians since 2001 and is the Wildlife Program Director. Nicole received her PhD from the University of Colorado at Boulder in May 2002. Her dissertation considered the evolution of the Endangered Species Act and ways in which ecosystem protection, the precautionary principle, and values have factored in the law’s legislative history. Nicole has been actively involved in efforts to protect native wildlife since 1994. She was previously employed by the Biodiversity Legal Foundation and Rocky Mountain Animal Defense and is a co-founder of the Southern Plains Land Trust. Nicole is an outdoor enthusiast, spending long hours in the field appreciating native wildlife and plants.  nrosmarino@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1163

Mark Salvo

Mark Salvo directs the Sagebrush Sea Campaign for WildEarth Guardians. The campaign focuses public attention and conservation resources on protecting and restoring the vast sagebrush-steppe landscape in ten western states. Mark was born and raised near Portland, Oregon. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Oregon Honors College and a doctorate of jurisprudence from the University of Oregon School of Law. He helped direct the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene and served as executive editor of the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation during his three years in law school. Mark began his conservation career with American Lands Alliance, sleeping on a floor in Washington, D.C. and defending federal public lands against domestic livestock and the United States Congress. The Sagebrush Sea Campaign grew out these early efforts to protect sagebrush habitats and critters from grazing, oil and gas drilling, and off-road vehicle abuse. Mark lives in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife, Leslie, where he still has not acclimated to the torrid summer heat! msalvo@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1165

Jay Tutchton

Jay Tutchton joined WildEarth Guardians' staff as our General Counsel, bringing with him fifteen years of litigation experience defending wild places, native plants and animals across the country. His true love is the West, particularly prairie grasslands and southwestern deserts that allow unfettered views of wildlife and broad vistas. Representing a variety of clients, Jay has obtained Endangered Species Act protection for nearly 100 species and has challenged grazing, oil and gas, logging, and killing of endangered species. He's initiated novel approaches to use NAFTA for international environmental protection and the Energy Policy Act to promote fuel efficiency. Jay helped to start and has overseen the University of Denver's Environmental Law Clinic for the past eleven years, mentoring law students by guiding their participation in real cases, including many for WildEarth Guardians. Jay graduated from UCLA Law School in 1990 and previously worked for the National Wildlife Federation, Earthjustice, and the Center for Biological Diversity. In addition to his keen litigation skills and broad knowledge of environmental law, Jay brings with him a fierce determination to stem the extinction crisis. Jay is also a world traveler, seasoned sailor, soccer coach, and father of three children, Nathan, Alek, and Robin, who share Jay's deep love of the wild. jtutchton@wildearthguardians.org or 505.988.9126x1164