Meet LandPaths - Sharing Our Love Of Nature Every Step Of The Way

Staff & Board Members

Staff | Board of Directors

LandPaths Staff

Craig Anderson, Executive Director - 707.544.7284, email here

Craig has been the Executive Director of LandPaths since 1997. He is on the Steering Committee of the Bay Area Open Space Council, the national speakers panel of the Center for Whole Communities in VT, and has taught workshops and day-long seminars the past five years nationally at the Land Trust Alliance Rally on connecting people with place. He mentored under Don Beers of California State Parks on trail design, and worked previously for the Nature Conservancy, as an instructor at the Yosemite Institute and as an outdoor guide and abroad studies college instructor throughout the western US, Caribbean and in New Zealand.

 

Lee Hackeling, Assistant Director - 707.544.7284, email here

Lee has been the Assistant Director of LandPaths since 1999, focusing her work on project development, grant writing and more recently strategic planning. Her passion is the interface of people with nature, and is instrumental in LandPaths work in the more urban areas of the County. Previously, while living in NY, she worked as a joint employee of the Appalachian Mountain Club and the National Park Service's Rivers & Trails Conservation Assistance Program as lead Community Conservation Planner for the NY-NJ metropolitan area. Prior to this, she worked for NYC's Department of Environmental Protection doing community outreach and watershed planning, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Army Corps of Engineers.

 

Rebecca Abbruzzese, Volunteer Coordinator & Program Assistant, 707.544.7284 x10, email here

Rebecca has been working with LandPaths since 2005. She currently oversees LandPaths' volunteer program including 5 Volunteer Patrols on properties owned by the District and CA State Parks. She also coordinates the Friends of the Grove chapter, a dedicated group of volunteers committed to stewarding and caring for LandPaths' Grove of Old Trees Preserve. Rebecca regularly leads outings and stewardship projects.

 

 

Autumn Summers, Field Programs Coordinator - 707.544.7284 x17, email here

Autumn Summers started at LandPaths in October 2005 as part of LandPaths' In Our Own Backyard education team. As a Field Programs Assistant, she has led dozens of outings and permit program orientations. She brings 15 years of outdoor education and leadership experience which includes teaching for the California School of Herbal Studies, Sonoma State University and the Santa Rosa Junior College.

 

 

Jonathan Glass, Field Programs Director -707.544.7284 x12, email here

Jonathan Glass, Field Programs Director, LandPaths. With twelve years experience managing and facilitating outdoor programs, Jonathan currently oversees LandPaths' Field Programs. In this role, he directs over 80 outings each year to open spaces throughout Sonoma County and the larger region. He also manages LandPaths' public access and stewardship activities at the 3,373-acre Willow Creek addition to Sonoma Coast State Park and at the 330-acre Carrington Ranch. Jonathan has presented workshops at the National Land Trust Alliance conference and has consulted on trail/access studies including the Coleman Valley Trail Study, Sonoma Coast State Park General Plan, and the Salmon Creek access study.

In an effort to engage a diverse spectrum of the public and ensure resource protection on these protected lands, Jonathan has led LandPaths efforts in online communication (web, e-newsletter, etc.), convened an advisory council of neighbors and park users, and consulted with resource experts to guide appropriate public use.

Jonathan enjoys sharing the outdoors with his wife Amie and 2 year old daughter Eden.

 

Bree Benton, Education Director, 707.544.7284 x13, email here

Bree directs LandPaths' award winning In Our Own Backyard education program. She has worked as a Summer Youth Crew Leader and Supervisor for 6 summers in Oregon. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Bard College and an M.S. in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Environmental Ed. from Oregon State University.

 

 

Magdalena Ridley, Roseland Outreach Coordinator - 707.544.7284 x11, email here

 

Magdalena began her work with LandPaths in 2007 as the Community Outreach specialist for the Bayer Farm project, a unique public access model at a future city park site in Roseland, a largely-Latino area of Sonoma County. Building on the success of that project, she began work as a bilingual Field Programs Assistant to help develop a Spanish-outreach program to mirror existing outing programs. She has led several Spanish-language outings.

 

Linda Weathers, Administrative Assistant - 707.544.7284, email here

Linda has been working with LandPaths since 2007.  She oversees our outings reservation desk and helps to keep our database nice and tidy.

 

 

 

 

 

Lansia Jipson, Assistant Education Director - 707.544.7284, email here

Lansia joined LandPaths in 2008, and currently assists with the IOOBY education program, as well as with Public Outings and Bayer Farm. She has experience as a field instructor, naturalist, and wildland firefighter. She has assisted with several Spanish-language outings.

 

 

Meg Hamill, Field Programs Assistant, 707.544.7284, email here

Meg began working at LandPaths in 2006 as an instructor LandPaths' In Our Own Backyard program. She currently works as a bilingual Field Programs Assistant, leading public outings around the county, and permit orientations at the Willow Creek Addition to Sonoma Coast State Park. Prior to working at LandPaths, Meg was employed as an outdoor instructor with Save the Bay and The Student Conservation Association.

 

 

 

LandPaths Board of Directors:

Pat Eliot, Director

Pat Eliot founded Sonoma Mountain Preservation, a 501(c)3 group dedicated to the acquisition and development of passive public access where appropriate in the Sonoma Valley. As a teenager, Pat was a caretaker to Charmian London's cottage at the former London Ranch while Mrs. London was still living. In addition to being a leader in equestrian access in Sonoma Valley, Pat is married to ornithologist and LandPaths' volunteer trip leader Ted Eliot, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan (ret.).

 

David William Hansen, Director

David Hansen is the former General Manager of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. Under his watch the SCAPOSD, from its genesis in 1990, has become one of the most successful open space districts in the country. David now works as a consultant for the Marin Open Space District. He lives with his family in Windsor.

 

 

Bruce Kinnison, Director

Bruce, a longtime mountain person with many ties to the Sierra Nevada, is a retired Sonoma County Chief Deputy Public Defender. He has been an active LandPaths volunteer, especially at Willow Creek where he has an intimate knowledge of the trails and many of the culverts. He lives with his wife Connie in Santa Rosa.

 

 

Steve Meacham, Director

Steve is a former marketing consultant who is now dedicating his business skills to LandPaths in a variety of projects. He and his wife Christine have frequented LandPaths outings and workdays for the last several years.

 

 

 

Gordon Stewart, Director

Gordon Stewart is a software engineer who has dedicated much of his time in recent years to philanthropic pursuits through his and his wife's Acorn Fund, administered through SCCF. Gordon is a tireless volunteer at LandPaths outings, bicycling events for various organizations and at practically every known northern California acoustic music festival.

 

 

Dee Swanhuyser, Director

Dee Swanhuyser is the North Bay Trail Director of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council. She was a founder of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District as well as of LandPaths. Dee was the Sonoma County Environmentalist of the Year in 1989. She and her family live in the West County.

 

 

 

Joan Vilms - Board Chair

Joan Vilms, a resident of Santa Rosa, CA, has been a land use planner, consultant, and open space broker for 30 years. Working for land trusts, public agencies, attorneys and families, she negotiates agreements that permanently protect natural and managed resource lands. She is regarded as a national authority on conservation easements and other land-saving transactions.