I am the Associate Director for Puget Sound Conservation at The Nature Conservancy’s Washington Chapter. I use my 14 years’ experiencewith the Nature Conservancy and working with local communities and unexpected partners across Puget Sound to expand our conservation impact andsupport our incredible Cities and Floodplains focused Puget Sound staff. Through my work, I seek to build practical relationships based on common ground that can get things done together. I am inspired and humbled by the passion of our teams and partnerships. This is heart-work for me, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to engage deeply every day. As a Mount Vernon-based staff person, I interact on a daily basis with the people in our North Sound communities. Listening carefully to understand their perspectives helps define our conservation priorities and opportunities.
Meet Daniel Misch, Arid Lands Assistant Manager
Meet Herman Flamenco, Central Cascades Conservation Forester
Maia Murphy-Williams, Applied Conservation Ecologist
Maia Murphy-Williams is the Science Program Specialist at the Nature Conservancy in Washington. As the Science program specialist Maia manages the day-to-day operations of the science team and supports The Nature Conservancy’s portfolio of science projects through ecological research, fieldwork, communications, and partnerships.
David Mendoza, Director of Public Advocacy and Engagement
David Mendoza as our Director of Public Advocacy and Engagement. In this new role, David will work with and lead our government relations team, build coalitions and strengthen the environmental movement in the state, and work to pass policies at the state and federal level that advance our mission and priorities.
Kathy Woodward - Projects and Innovation Manager
Meet Our Newest Scientist: Ailene Ettinger
Meet Alfonso Orozco, Volunteer and Field Experiences Manager
Michael Case, Forest Ecologist
Meet Matt Axling, Our New Yellow Island Steward
Meet Jessie Israel, Puget Sound Conservation Director
Meet Hannah Kett, Urban Program Director
Meet Courtney Baxter, Program & Communication Specialist
Randi Shaw, Stewardship Manager
Darcy Batura, Forest Partnerships Manager
Kyle Smith, Forest Manager
Kyle Smith is the Forest Manager for The Nature Conservancy of Washington where he leads a team of professional foresters who conduct forest management and river restoration projects across 80,000 acres in Washington. Kyle’s current areas of management include the Ellsworth Creek Preserve in Southwest Washington, the Hoh River Recreation Area and Conservation Area, the Clearwater Forest Reserve in the Olympic Peninsula, and the Central Cascades Forest in Eastern Washington.
Jamie Robertson, Conservation Geographer
Meet Erica Simek Sloniker, Visual Communications
Meet Emily Howe, Aquatic Ecologist
I am an aquatic ecologist at The Nature Conservancy’s cities, land, and water programs. I hold a Ph.D. from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, with a focus on estuarine restoration and food web ecology in tidally-influenced ecosystems. My work integrates across ecosystem boundaries, investigating how landscape configuration and management shapes cross-boundary relationships for food webs, organisms, and ecosystem processes.
