About Us
U.S. Staff
Guido Rahr, President & CEO
Guido Rahr is the President and CEO of the Wild Salmon Center, an international salmon conservation organization with forty staff and conservation programs in Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, Sakhalin Island and the Sea of Japan region of the Russian Far East. Mr. Rahr earned a Masters of Environmental Studies from Yale University and has 22 years of experience developing programs for regional and international conservation organizations.
Before coming to the Wild Salmon Center Mr. Rahr was the Associate Director of Oregon Trout, where he developed the Fish Refuge Program. While at Oregon Trout his work won the President's Fisheries Conservation Award from the American Fisheries Society.
Mr. Rahr has also worked as a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme where he led the development of the Kamchatka Salmon Conservation and Sustainable Use Project, and the Rainforest Alliance where he worked on Amazon fish conservation projects. From 1985 to 1990 Mr. Rahr worked with the Nature Conservancy and later Conservation International as a Programme Officer working to establish and support protected areas in the Mexican tropics.
Mr. Rahr is also an expert fly fisherman and has produced dozens of flyfishing segments for cable channels and ESPN. Mr. Rahr is a member of World Conservation Union (IUCN) Salmon Specialist Group and the Hoh River Trust, and has published many articles on salmon and river conservation in both scientific and popular literature.
Email: grahr@wildsalmoncenter.org
Tom Bland, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Bland is a Certified Public Accountant, with over 18 years experience working with small to mid-sized companies. He has extensive experience in financial operations, investor relations, risk management, treasury and human resources. As an entrepreneur, he has participated in the creation and building of a number of organizations from the ground up, having been responsible for all administrative functions. A scientist who became an accountant, he has a BS in Genetics from the University of California and an MS in Genetics from the University of Arizona. He is involved in numerous conservation and botanical organizations, and has traveled extensively worldwide, with a particular interest in World Heritage Sites.
Email: tbland@wildsalmoncenter.org
Greg Block, J.D., VP for Conservation Programs
Mr. Block joined the Wild Salmon Center in September 2004. In his former position as the Director of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation based in Montreal, Canada, Mr. Block managed a staff of 20 senior managers working in the areas of international conservation of biodiversity; trade and environment; pollutants and health; and law and policy. He has led interdisciplinary teams on regional conservation initiatives in North America, and chaired several senior advisory groups. As a result of his international environmental work, he brings strong relationships with North American non-governmental organizations, government officials and universities. Mr. Block also served as the 2002-2004 Distinguished Environmental Law Scholar at Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College, and taught environmental law in Mexico under the auspices of a Fulbright Lecture Grant.
Email: gblock@wildsalmoncenter.org
Rachel Uris, VP of Resources and Communication
Ms. Uris has over 16 years of experience working in development and marketing/advertising. Most recently Ms. Uris led Reed College's major gift programs in New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles. Prior to that she was the director of the annual fund for Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette, and worked in marketing as a client relationship manager and as a director of marketing. Ms. Uris is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and is a proud fourth-generation Oregonian.
Email: ruris@wildsalmoncenter.org
Lucy Bernard, Director of Grant Programs
For the past several years, Lucy has specialized in non-profit development, securing foundation, corporate and government support for community-based organizations. Lucy is an experienced collaborator, having developed several multi-agency collaborative projects and facilitated the founding of a national coalition of immigrant worker organizations. She has a B.S. in Biology from Cornell University and eight years of experience in biological research and data management.
Donna Blair, Operations Coordinator
With a deep commitment to sustainable business practices and extensive experience in project management, Donna brings a wide range of skills and expertise to the position of Project Coordinator. Before joining the Wild Salmon Center, Donna provided LEED™ certification support to local building projects and developed and implemented custom software systems as a programmer and systems analyst. Donna is a recent graduate of Marylhurst University and an accomplished artist.
Email: dblair@wildsalmoncenter.org
Paula Burgess, Director of North America Programs
Ms. Burgess served as former Governor Kitzhaber's Assistant for Natural Resources, where she helped develop, build support for, and lead the implementation of the innovative Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, in addition to chairing the Governor's Healthy Environment Cabinet, the Ocean Policy Advisory Council, and numerous other standing and ad hoc committees. Later, Ms. Burgess acted as the Columbia Basin Coordinator for BLM and, most recently, as a recovery coordinator for NOAA Fisheries. Ms. Burgess' distinguished record of public service and extensive knowledge of regional salmon conservation strengthens the Wild Salmon Center's ability to protect the last, best salmon ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest.
Brian Caouette, Program Coordinator Sustainable Fisheries & Markets Program
Brian joined the Wild Salmon Center in September 2004 and now serves as the Program Coordinator for our Japan and Sustainable Markets Programs. Collaborating with colleagues in the government, private and non-profit sectors, Brian is coordinating efforts to build a wild salmon conservation agenda as well as supporting efforts to protect wild salmon ecosystems in Japan and the Russian Far East. Brian holds a Master's Degree in International Environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and an undergraduate degree from Boston University. Brian speaks Japanese and some Russian, and has lived, worked and traveled widely in China, Japan and the Russian Far East.
Hillary Colter, Russia Program Assistant
Hillary Colter holds a BA in Russian language and literature, and a MA in folklore from the University of Oregon. Before coming to the Wild Salmon Center, she worked as program coordinator at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. A native Oregonian, Hillary has traveled throughout Russia, including volunteering with the Red Cross in the Komi Republic, and working on a dairy farm in Karelia. She spent a year abroad studying Swedish in Uppsala, Sweden, and Russian in St. Petersburg. She also spent two years in a small town in Bulgaria, where she was a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching high school English. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, hiking, sports, and painting.
Email: hcolter@wildsalmoncenter.org
Devona Ensmenger, Olympic Peninsula Program Coordinator, Port Angeles, Washington
An outdoorswoman native to the Pacific Northwest, Ms. Ensmenger joined the Wild Salmon Center in 2006. Ms. Ensmenger is disciplined in physical geography, biology, and environmental science from Central Washington University, where she conducted international cross-discipline research in China (Beijing) as a NCUR/Lancy scholar and in Indonesia (Bali and Borneo) as a Brooks-Shaw scholar. Ms. Ensmenger has researched and engaged in recovery efforts on river systems in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, focusing on threatened and endangered species such as spring Chinook salmon and bull trout. Most recently, she served on the Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project analyzing hatchery and wild salmonid interactions utilizing a suite of ecological indicators. Currently, Ms. Ensmenger is engaging Olympic Peninsula stakeholders on a conservation agenda to spark collaborative stewardship and support for the protection of the most biologically diverse and intact salmon watersheds in Washington.
David Finkel, Director of Development
David Finkel has over ten years of experience working in conservation and business development. Most recently he was the Development Director at California Trout where he managed all functions of the organization's development program. Mr. Finkel holds a Bachelor's Degree from Colgate University and a Masters of Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College. For his Master's Thesis, he collaborated with the Washington Water Trust to create a prioritization methodology for water rights acquisition to benefit salmon in the North Cascades. In addition to time with other non-governmental organizations, Mr. Finkel has worked in San Francisco's business sector, as a freelance writer, and as a wilderness guide in the Rocky Mountains, Alaska, and the Yukon Territory, Canada. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Finkel lives in Portland and enjoys backpacking, photography, and fly fishing.
Email: dfinkel@wildsalmoncenter.org
Christina Friedle, Conservation Geographer
Christina Friedle joins the Wild Salmon Center as our Conservation Geographer. Prior to joining the Wild Salmon Center in 2007, Christina was the Program Director for a local non-profit, Wolftree, where she managed all functions of the science education programs. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Clemson University in psychology and secondary education and a Master's degree in Geography from Portland State University where she studied forest resource use and ecotourism in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve in Honduras. Christina also studied Geographic Information Systems (GIS), completing a graduate certificate program at PSU. More recently, Christina has taught courses at PSU and continues to teach a GIS course at Portland Community College. Christina loves the outdoors and enjoys hiking, backpacking, and snowboarding. She also enjoys working on creative projects, the most recently being the construction of a felt yurt.
Laurele Fulkerson, Government Affairs Coordinator
Laurele brings a legal background and several years of experience in environmental advocacy, policy work, and government relations to the Wild Salmon Center. She earned a J.D. and Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources from Lewis & Clark Law School, and a B.A. in Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations from UC Santa Barbara.
Most recently, Laurele was the Northwest Regional Director for the Alaska Coalition, where she worked to raise the visibility of threats to Alaskan public lands and advocate for their protection via lobbying, media relations, coalition-building, and grassroots organizing. Prior to that, she helped conserve and restore important aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems across the West through land acquisition, policy advocacy, and litigation while working for various non-governmental organizations, including Western Rivers Conservancy, Forest Guardians, and Western Resource Advocates.
In her free time, Laurele works on public lands grazing issues for Bark, a non-profit organization that protects Mount Hood National Forest. She also enjoys hiking, backpacking, hot springs, yoga, and spending time with her partner Jeff and their two dogs, Mango and Althea.
Anna Gabis, Controller
Originally from Nakhodka, Russia, Anna Gabis worked for over six years as the Deputy Chief Accountant at Primorsky Zavod, Russia - a leader in the Russian ship repair industry. She holds a B.A. in engineering from Siberian Metallurgical Institute in Novokuznetsk and has completed extensive course work in accounting at the Technical Institute of the Far East in Vladivostok.
Email: agabis@wildsalmoncenter.org
Mark Hubbard, Communications Manager
Mark brings seventeen years of communications, media relations and environmental law experience to the Wild Salmon Center. A lawyer by training, Mark came to Oregon in 1990, where he specialized in federal land law and endangered species protection at the Oregon Natural Resources Council. He was also centrally involved in a multi-state campaign to protect Pacific Northwest salmon under the Endangered Species Act.
In the late 1990s Mark began to focus his efforts exclusively on communication strategies and media relations for Pacific Northwest conservation organizations. As a Communications Director at Resource Media and as an independent communications consultant, Mark has worked with dozens of local, statewide and national conservation groups on forest, desert and river protection issues. Over the past decade, he has applied his communications and media expertise in multiple Pacific salmon and marine protection campaigns in California, Oregon and Washington.
Mark holds a J.D. from Suffolk Law School and a Sociology-based Human Relations degree from Connecticut College.
Andrei Klimenko, Director International Relations & Government Affairs
Andrei Klimenko earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, with a concentration of study in Natural Resource and Environmental Management, and a BA in Geography from Clark University. Prior to joining the Wild Salmon Center, Andrei worked in Baku, Azerbaijan as the Deputy General Manager and Financial Controller for Tidewater Marine, a support vessel provider for the offshore oil and gas industry. Additional experience includes: business consulting; six years commercial salmon fishing in Alaska in False Pass (Area M) and Upper Cook Inlet; Russian language interpreting for governmental, business and NGO clients; and five years as a joint venture representative working aboard Soviet vessels for Marine Resources International in their Bering Sea and Atlantic Ocean operations.
Roman Kultajev, Project Manager for Kamchatka Salmon Biodiversity Program
Roman has extensively traveled and lived around the world, having graduated with a BBA in Tourism Management from the Institute of Economics and Management in Sillamae, Estonia. He has experience in establishing environmental projects and student exchange programs in Europe. Roman also holds an associate degree in Banking from the Tallinn School of Economics in Estonia - his homeland - and has pursued ventures in the worldwide trade of chemicals and rare metals. Roman is fluent in Russian and English, and speaks some Estonian and German.
Rich Lincoln, State of the Salmon Director
Rich has 33 years of varied experience in fisheries research, management, and policy in the Pacific Northwest as well as working on global fisheries sustainability. A graduate of the University of Michigan, a central focus of his career has been promoting the use of best available science in sound resource management decision-making. Prior to joining the Wild Salmon Center Rich was International Policy Director with the Marine Stewardship Council in London, UK. Other past roles have included bi-lateral chair of the Pacific Salmon Commission's Fraser Panel under the U.S.-Canada Salmon Treaty, leading development of Washington State's Wild Salmonid Policy and Wild Stock Initiative, and developing cooperative management arrangements with Northwest treaty Indian tribes. Rich has a strong history of involvement and leadership in salmonid research program's including hatchery supplementation, freshwater productivity evaluation, and development and application of salmonid stock identification techniques to improved fishery management. Rich's diverse skills and experiences collaborating with salmon researchers, policy makers, and managers around the Pacific Rim create a great fit for leading the State of the Salmon Program.
David Martin, Director of Western Pacific Programs
Mr. Martin brings over a decade of international conservation experience to WSC. He holds master's degrees from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in International Policy Studies and Russian Translation. He is fluent in Russian and has traveled extensively throughout Siberia and the Russian Far East. Prior to joining WSC, Mr. Martin was Russian Program Officer with Pacific Environment. He has focused on working with grassroots activists, scientists, business, government officials and communities on natural resource and conservation issues, and helped pioneer innovative partnerships to protect wilderness and promote sustainable development. In his free time he enjoys hiking, biking and frisbee golf.
Email: dmartin@wildsalmoncenter.org
Tom Miewald, Conservation Planner
Tom Miewald joins WSC as our Conservation Planner. Before working for WSC, Tom was a Project Manager and Senior Analyst for several large, regional mapping projects. This included 3 years of developing models of ecological systems throughout the Pacific Northwest for the USGS GAP Program. He also developed regional depictions of land use change for the NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program in the Gulf Coast and Pacific Northwest. Prior to this, Tom was a Geographer for a non-profit organization in the Central Appalachian region where he collaborated with a number of different organizations to develop tools to assist local watershed organizations. For a year, Mr. Miewald worked for a contract under the UK Department for International Development to develop a GIS facility at the Mount Cameroon Biodiversity Conservation Centre/Limbe Botanic Garden in the Central Africa country of Cameroon. He was also a Peace Corps volunteer and has had internships with NASA, USGS, EPA, and Oregon State University. Mr. Miewald received a Master's degree in Geography with an emphasis on the integration of GIS, remote sensing, and landscape ecology. He has a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies.
Randi Moore, Human Resources and Office Manager
Randi has been in Portland for nearly 20 years after spending her youth in California and several years in Rhode Island. She has her BS in Environmental Science from Portland State University. Randi is an experienced office administrator having worked in a variety of industries, most recently environmental engineering. Randi has traveled extensively in the U.S., sailed the Caribbean, and explored Europe. She enjoys photography, being outdoors, spending time with her family, a good movie or a good read. Randi has been stretching herself recently having tried archery, belly dancing, and boxing.
Email: rmoore@wildsalmoncenter.org
Naomi Molstrom, State of the Salmon Program Assistant
Naomi Molstrom joined the Wild Salmon Center and State of the Salmon (SoS) as the Program Assistant. She started with the Program in 2005 as a volunteer and intern translating Japanese salmon data and updating the SoS literature database. Originally from Japan, Naomi brings her experience as a coordinator and plays a role in communications with our growing network of Japanese colleagues. Naomi plays a key role in organizing SoS workshops and meetings, and planning for the SoS Triennial to be held in Vancouver, BC in 2009. She is currently finishing a B.S. degree in Biochemistry at Portland State University. Naomi has traveled the world extensively mostly for scuba diving, which opened her eyes toward environmentalism. Other interests include cooking, swimming, skiing, hiking, and exploring Oregon with her husband and energetic dog, Sango (meaning "coral" in Japanese).
Jay Nicholas, North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership Program Manager
Jay Nicholas brings 30 years of distinguished experience as a fisheries biologist to the Wild Salmon Center, where he manages the North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership Program. Jay's work as a fisheries scientist within Oregon agencies included the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Governor's Office, and the Watershed Enhancement Board. His fisheries expertise is founded on a technical and intuitive understanding of wild Pacific salmon and historical management paradigms. Jay's fisheries policy work included leading a team of scientists and stakeholders who produced the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds.
Jay dreams of wild salmon and healthy rivers. His passion for fish and family inspires his dedication to protecting the best remaining North American ecosystems, salmon, and our children's future. And by the way, he is a well-seasoned fly tyer and fly fisher.
Jennifer Niemeck, Administrative Assistant
Jennifer Niemeck is the "face and voice" of the Wild Salmon Center. Originally born in Washington D.C., she has lived and traveled in many colorful places. After attaining a B.A. in Philosophy at U.C. Berkeley, she spent seven years in Brazil. Thereafter, she moved to Oregon where she has lived for the past six years. "For a city, Portland is incredibly livable," says the mother of two.
Jennifer brings to the Wild Salmon Center a true appreciation of conservation and protection of ecosystems. She spent the last four years as a personal assistant to a board member of several non-profits, an international attorney, and most recently as an Executive Assistant. She offers a variety of skills that support the day to day well-being of the Wild Salmon Center. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, culinary arts, and hot springs.
Alla Popova, Financial Assistant to the Controller
Originally from Uzbekistan, Alla brings her entrepreneurial skills, knowledge of Russian and English accounting and attention to detail to the Wild Salmon Center's accounting department. Alla holds an AA in Accounting.
Email: apopova@wildsalmoncenter.org
Nicole Portley, Russia Far East Program Manager
Nicole Portley is an environmental biologist from the California Bay Area. She holds a BS in biology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Before coming to the WSC, Nicole was involved in aquatic toxicology research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, studying the problem of algae overgrowth in the Californian Central Valley. In 2003-2004, Nicole worked at the Institute for Biology of Inland Waters in the friendly village of Borok on the shores of the Rybinsk Reservoir in central Russia. Nicole speaks French and Russian. Her interests include cross-country ski racing, piano, writing, and surfing, and she has recently taken up welding.
Peter Rand, Ph.D., State of the Salmon Senior Conservation Biologist
Peter Rand has more than sixteen years of experience in basic and applied aquatic ecology, with a focus on fisheries science, management, and conservation. Peter is a graduate of Colgate University and received his master's and doctoral degrees from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Peter was a postdoc at the University of British Columbia from 1995-1997 and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology at NC State University from 1997-2003. Peter has authored 16 peer-reviewed journal articles, two book chapters, and numerous other publications. Since his master's thesis, Peter's research has focused on Pacific salmonids in collaborative work with scientists in the Laurentian Great Lakes region, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Alaska. In recent years he has broadened his research program to include studies of tropical and subtropical fisheries. Peter has expertise in modeling and statistical analyses, and has been involved in the development and application of field sampling equipment and computer software useful in fisheries science.
Email: prand@wildsalmoncenter.org
Gordie Reeves, Visiting Scientist
Gordie Reeves is a Research Fish Biologist in the PNW Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service where he has worked for 25 years. His expertise is in the freshwater ecology of anadromous salmon and trout, conservation biology of those fish, and aquatic aspects of landscape ecology. He has studied the ecology of anadromous salmon and trout in the Pacific Northwest, northern California, Idaho, and Alaska and fish ecology in New Zealand and New York. He has published over 50 papers on the freshwater ecology of Pacific salmon and trout, effects of land management activities on the freshwater habitats of these fish, conservation plans, and dynamics of aquatic ecosystems in the PNW. Gordie received several awards for his work from the Forest Service and the Pacific Rivers Council. He was a member of committees that developed and evaluated management options for managing federal lands in the PNW and Alaska. He currently serves as the Team Leader of the Aquatic and Land Interaction Program at the PNW Station in Corvallis. He also currently is a member of the NOAA Fisheries Technical Recovery Team for coho salmon in coastal Oregon. He has been a co-leader of the Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study, a long-term, large, interdisciplinary project to model and evaluate forest policy effects at multiple scales. He commercially fished for salmon in northern California during the summers while in graduate school.
Email: greeves@wildsalmoncenter.org
Chris Robbins, U.S. Northwest Program Manager
Christopher S. Robbins comes to the Wild Salmon Center from the Oregon Chapter of The Nature Conservancy where he worked as a conservation planner. Mr. Robbins worked for TRAFFIC North America, the wildlife trade monitoring program of World Wildlife Fund and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), where he oversaw plant trade and conservation research. Mr. Robbins has a background in conservation biology and environmental policy, specializing in planning, research, outreach and communications. He has researched and published extensively on such issues as the forest products trade, wildlife conservation and sustainable agriculture. Mr. Robbins has a decade of experience working in the non-profit conservation community, assisting organizations with strategic planning and development. Mr. Robbins is President of the Northwest Natural Resource Group based in Port Townsend, Washington.
Rachael Snow, Development Associate
Originally a mountain girl from rural California, Rachael has spent the last eight years working with organizations both in the United States and abroad. Her development background includes work with an independent school, a university foundation, a health-focused NGO, and a community arts organization. Most recently she managed the annual giving program for Santa Catalina School in Monterey, California. Rachael has a BA in Communications from California State University and an MA in Non-Profit Management from Regis University. She is an avid traveler and has recently visited Ireland and Central and South America. A self confessed tech junkie, Rachael also enjoys spending time outdoors, fiddling with her computer, and dancing argentine tango.
Email: rsnow@wildsalmoncenter.org
Erica Stock, North America Salmon Stronghold Partnership Coordinator
Erica brings several years of experience in development and nonprofit management to the Wild Salmon Center. Prior to joining WSC she founded and served as the Interim Executive Director of a K-12 girl's academy in Burundi, Africa and wrote Federal higher education grants. As a self proclaimed public transit nut, Erica betrayed her Detroit roots and moved to Portland in search of urban growth boundaries and a car-less lifestyle. Erica holds a B.A. in Psychology and Biology with a focus on quantitative research methods and molecular genetics from Mount Holyoke College. In her free time she enjoys, sailing, skiing, hiking, and exploring the beautiful Oregon wilderness with her energetic Border Collie, Merlin.
Email: estock@wildsalmoncenter.org
Bob Van Dyk, Forest Policy Advisor
Bob is a political scientist who originally hails from Washington, D.C. Since 1994 he has taught at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where he is now the chair of the Department of Politics and Government and the associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Bob has followed forest policy in Oregon for more than a decade, with a special focus on the management of the salmon-rich Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests. He received his doctorate from the University of Washington and his undergraduate degree from Duke University.
Email: bvandyk@wildsalmoncenter.org