Board of Directors

Gwen is a wetland ecologist and the Director of Ecology & Regulatory for the Western Region of RES. Gwen is the lead ecologist for the restoration scope of the Klamath River Renewal Project supporting the regulatory, design, and implementation planning effort over the last four years. Gwen manages the revegetation program and the terrestrial resource protection measures during implementation. Gwen specializes in wetland, riparian, and floodplain habitat restoration, benefitting salmonid restoration.

Carla is the Climate Action Program Manager for the Surfrider Foundation where she leads their new naturebased solutions program. Carla has worked on the large scale restoration project called Redwoods Rising with Save the Redwoods League and many other Salmonid restoration projects throughout Humboldt County as a planner for Redwood Community Action Agency. Carla has attended SRF’s conferences, field schools, and Coho Confabs where she has enjoyed getting to meet other people passionate about Salmonid restoration work. She graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt with a B.S.

Alison O’Dowd is a professor in the Environmental Science and Management Department at Cal Poly Humboldt. Alison received her doctorate in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management with a focus on Aquatic Ecology from the University of California, Berkeley. Alison’s teaching and research interests include environmental science, ecological restoration and aquatic ecology.

Michael Belchik is a senior water policy analyst for the Yurok Tribe, for whom he has worked for 25 years. He served as the Yurok Tribe’s Klamath and Trinity River leads as senior fisheries biologist in the late 1990s before turning his attention solely toward Klamath River restoration, including dam removal. He helps integrate Western science and Yurok values as part of his work, serving as advisor to the Yurok Tribal Council in complicated water and dam removal issues.

A northern CA native, Mike Dixon currently manages the Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP). The TRRP is a partnership of eight federal, tribal, state, and local entities applying process-based techniques to restore the anadromous fisheries of the Trinity River. Mike previously worked as a conservation planner and later as a national wildlife refuge manager, both for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Colorado, where he became involved in stream restoration and endangered species recovery efforts. Mike also serves as a commissioned officer in the U.S.

Alison Willy recently retired as the Watershed Planning Division Chief at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Bay Delta Fish and Wildlife Office in Sacramento. She has spent over 40 years working in wildlife and fisheries habitat restoration, endangered species and water policy, data collection, and multi-party collaboration. Her interest is in restoration of riparian floodplain activation, including analyses of hydropower and water infrastructure effects on riparian ecosystems, salmonids, ESA-listed species, and other sensitive species.

Sarah has over ten years of experience in the field of restoration and natural resource management with a focus on riparian systems and salmonid habitat enhancement covering a variety of sectors; non-profit (both international and national), private consulting, and state government. She received a degree in Environmental Studies & Planning: Restoration & Conservation with a minor in Biology (focused on vertebrate biology) from Sonoma State University in 2009. Since 2014, she has worked for the Marin Resource Conservation District (RCD) as their Urban Streams Program Manager.

Eli is an aquatic ecologist/hydrologist at Eureka-based consulting firm Riverbend Sciences. He has worked in California and Oregon watersheds for over 20 years, specializing in statistical analysis of large, complex datasets and has authored many technical analyses on streamflow, water temperature, water quality, and algae in the Klamath and Eel River watersheds. He also assisted with development and implementation of salmon and steelhead recovery plans throughout California.