Trees Foundation Staff
Jeri Fergus
Graphic Design & Administrative Director
Jeri has extensive experience working with nonprofits, including The Trust For Public Land and the Golden Gate National Park Association. Her diverse nonprofit background makes her an exceptional resource for traversing the unique challenges, needs, and administration of nonprofits. Jeri produces Trees Foundation’s quarterly magazine, Forest & River News, as well as many of our Partner’s projects, such as newsletters, business cards, posters, and brochures. In addition to Graphic Design duties, Jeri also manages Trees Foundation’s Administrative Department. At Trees she balances her ability to design graphics, supervise, develop programs, teach skills, and organize with her love of nature in all its forms. Jeri is also a Board Member and manager for Salmon Creek Legacy Farms Cooperative. Jeri left San Francisco in 1996 for the beauty and calmness of Humboldt County and joined Trees in 2002.
Mona Provisor
Bookkeeper
As a lifetime Humboldt resident, Mona is delighted to have Trees Foundation as her first environmental non-profit job. Growing up in the hills of Southern Humboldt, her mom instilled in her the importance of community and our natural environment. Today, the natural beauty of the local forests, rolling hills, creeks, and rivers are a large part of why she will continue to call this community her home. In her free time she enjoys gardening, knitting, hiking, and rescuing recycling from garbage cans and the sides of roadways.
Mary Gaterud
Organizational Development and Partner Outreach Director
Originally from the east coast, Mary found her way west in 1992, where she obtained a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from Seattle University, building on a BA from New College of USF. Mary first came to visit Southern Humboldt in 1995, and immediately felt a visceral pull to relocate, and call this wild place home. She has lived on the banks of the Main Stem Eel River, the ancestral territory of the Sinkyone, homesteading, farming, stargazing, DJing, and art making for the past 22 years. Her recent foray into local activism has whet her appetite for more direct involvement in the implementation of concrete environmental stewardship and sustainable land-use practices, and so she is honored by the opportunity to join the Trees Foundation team.
Kerry Reynolds
Forest Health and Fire Resources Program Director
After serving nearly four years as our Organizational Development and Partner Outreach Director, Kerry has now moved into leading our emerging Forest Health and Fire Resources program. She is experienced in meeting facilitation, organizational development, building bridges between communities, and supporting collaborative land stewardship projects. Kerry has a masters degree in environmental education from Lesley University, and a bachelors degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University.
Damien Roomets
Community Fire Resources Coordinator
Damien moved to the North Coast of California from Park City, Utah in 2009. Drawn to the area’s breathtaking landscape and the artist and activist culture, he has spent much of his time here in the woods working as an arborist and sawyer, volunteering as an active member of the Briceland Volunteer Fire Department, playing music, and living off-grid. He holds a Bachelor’s degree focused in Environmental Economics from Dartmouth College, and brings a diverse background of work experience that includes prescribed fire, fuels reduction, building construction, nature photography, technical writing, and website development.
Cullen Cramer
GIS Coordinator
Cullen does GIS for Trees, creating and updating regional conservation status maps for periodical publications, public presentations, and grant reports for partner groups. He draws on a BA in Geography with a natural resource and GIS emphasis. Other experience includes: data collection and analysis on biological survey and wildlife studies, private land-use management, and regulatory compliance cartography.
Board of Directors
Susan Barsotti
President
Promoter and Environmental Advocate at Black Oak Ranch
Susy has been an active member of the Hog Farm communal family for 40+ years, and has served on the Trees board for 20+ years. Her work history includes organic grape farming, office management, landscaping, and performance art. She and her husband Bob have regularly helped organize and produce music events to benefit social and environmental organizations. Susy lives in Mendocino County, where one can still see a redwood tree occasionally.
Leib Ostrow
Treasurer
Founder of Trees Foundation, Music for Little People, and Earth Beat! Records.
A North Coast resident since the mid-1970s, Leib was one of the founders of Trees Foundation and of Music For Little People records, one of the largest independent children’s record labels in the world. He has produced over 100 recordings and has been awarded two Grammy nominations. An environmental activist for most of his life, he is a landowner in southern Humboldt practicing sustainable forest management and regenerative farming. He is also a performing musician. He considers getting arrested with his son at Headwaters Forest one of the best civic lessons he could teach.
Lenya Quinn-Davidson
Secretary, Fire Advisor at University of California Cooperative Extension, Director of Northern California Prescribed Fire Council
Lenya Quinn-Davidson is University of California Cooperative Extension’s only Fire Advisor. She is based in Humboldt County, California, but works at local, regional, and national scales, leading efforts with a variety of groups, including the Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association, Northern California Prescribed Fire Council, California Fire Science Consortium, Fire Learning Network, TREX Coaches Network, and the Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils. Lenya is passionate about empowering people to work toward solutions, as exemplified by her work on prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) and private landowner-led prescribed burn associations, both of which use prescribed fire as a centerpiece for diversity and collaboration.
Bill Eastwood
Member, Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council, Eel River Salmon Restoration Project
Bill has a master’s degree in geology from U.C. Berkeley. He is the co-director of the Eel River Salmon Restoration Project and has over 30 years experience in fisheries and watershed restoration work. He was on the staff of the Institute for Sustainable Forestry for 10 years, where he helped develop a forest products certification program, and was in charge of the education and publications program. For many years he has been working on fire hazard reduction and prescribed burning issues as a member of the Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council.
Ali Freedlund
Member, Mattole Restoration Council
Ali has worked for the Mattole Restoration Council since 1996. At first, she concentrated her efforts on lessening the impacts from industrial timber harvest plans and the protection of Old-Growth forest stands. However, her job soon grew to incorporate different kinds of restoration projects from upgrading roads to reducing fuels, in her desire to protect and nourish watershed processes. Because Trees Foundation had long been a tireless supporter of MRC’s efforts, she did not hesitate when asked to become a member of their Board of Directors. She is pleased to be working alongside the dedicated and inspiring team of both the board and staff of Trees Foundation.
Elizabeth RedFeather
Member, Round Valley Tribal Social Worker
Elizabeth is a Tribal Member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes and she is proud of her rich culture as a descendant of ConCow, Wailaki, and Nomlaki Peoples. Born in Healdsburg, CA, she moved home to her Reservation around 2007 and now works as a Tribal Social Worker. Elizabeth is active in her traditional ceremonies and is a dancer with The Round Valley Feather Dancers. She also participates in the Nome Cult walk, a 100-mile trek that commemorates the tragic march of Indigenous survivors who were forcibly removed from their homelands in 1863. Her interests include advocating for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIW/MMIP), supporting restoration of the practice of cultural burning to prevent devastating wildfires, standing up for Mother Earth, saving sacred cultural sites, and learning all she can.
Perry Eugene Lincoln
Member, Native Health in Native Hands
Perry is a Tribal Member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, and the Executive Director and Project Leader of Native Health in Native Hands (NHNH), a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Perry is a father and grandfather, and a descendant of Wailaki, Yuki, and Pomo Peoples. Perry was raised surrounded by native elders, listening to stories, singing songs, talking about native culture, and attending many ceremonies, dances, and gatherings. He has been instrumental in revitalizing the Wailaki language, and tribal arts and crafts. He strives for collaborative bridges between different communities, and creating opportunities for native youth—such as accessing lands, building traditional redwood canoes, and learning ancestral languages. He believes that overall, it’s not about any one person, but the act of building and supporting teamwork.