EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jay has been working with communities and natural resource issues since 1995, including stints as a forester with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, forestry consultant, the Peace Corps in Panama and as a high school teacher in Glenwood. Jay has a master degree in forestry from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, a bachelor degree from Whitman College, and is the founding director of MARS.

jay@mtadamsstewards.org

MONITORING & OUTREACH COORDINATOR

Dave leads efforts to measure and monitor the impacts of forest restoration, stewardship and management associated with community-based forestry activities at MARS. He is also responsible for communicating those efforts to the local community and other stakeholders. Dave comes with extensive forestry experience, having worked for the US Forest Service, WA DNR, The Nature Conservancy, and the Quinault Indian Nation. He holds a B.A. in Classics from the University of AZ, a B.S. in Forestry from the University of MT, and an M.N.R.S. (Ecological Restoration) from Colorado State University. Dave enjoys photography, travel, camping, and spending time with his trusty sidekick, Hektor.

dave@mtadamsstewards.org

STEWARDSHIP CREW PROGRAM LEAD

Lucas oversees our Stewardship Crew program, leading a seasonal field crew in implementing a variety of projects that he develops in collaboration with other MARS staff and partners. He joined MARS after several years with Washington DNR as a wildland fire and forest health specialist, as well as a firefighter. Lucas grew up in Trout Lake with Mt. Adams and the surrounding forests as a playground. He is also an artisan cheesemaker!

lucas@mtadamsstewards.org

FIRE ADAPTED COMMUNITIES COORDINATOR

Sarah joined MARS in 2022 after a stint as a AmeriCorps member in the Willamette Valley working on wildfire recovery in the wake of the devastating 2020 fire season. She now works on the mitigation side of the wildfire crisis, helping our local communities prepare their homes and landscapes for fire. She is also involved in developing MARS’s prescribed fire program and managing our array of grants and agreements. Sarah grew up in northeast Ohio and holds a B.A. in biology from Carleton College. Outside of work, she can be found running trails with her dog, Jack.

sarah@mtadamsstewards.org

FUELS PROJECT MANAGER

Dalton joined MARS in 2024 as Fuels Project Manager to help manage and administer the Community Wildfire Defense Grant. He comes from a background in forestry and arboriculture within the Columbia River Gorge and brings with him experience across multiple aspects of forest management. Following the devastating 2020 wildfire season, Dalton assisted in conducting hazard tree assessments across the state. He has a bachelor's from Humboldt State in Environmental Management and Protection. When not working he can be found on the river, climbing rocks, or looking at trees.

dalton@mtadamsstewards.org

ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS & FINANCE MANAGER

Olivia joined MARS in the fall of 2024 as the Administrative Operations & Finance Manager. She grew up in the Glenwood Valley and is an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. She brings with her 10+ years of experience from Yakama Nation Credit Enterprise, where she worked in the accounting department, then as a Loan Officer and later she managed the Loan Processing Department. She has a degree in Business Administration. 

olivia@mtadamsstewards.org

BULLFROG REMOVAL ACTION TEAM (BRAT) PROGRAM LEAD

Adam joined MARS in 2022 as a field technician on the BRAT project. Since then, he has grown increasingly passionate about the project and its impacts on the ecology of the Glenwood valley, starting new research on the valley’s rapidly recovering population of state endangered Oregon spotted frogs. He works closely with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in overseeing the BRAT project and its seasonal field crew. Adam has a background in herpetology research with a B.S. in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources from Rutgers University. Outside of work he can be found looking for salamanders and other native herptiles whenever the weather conditions are right.

adam@mtadamsstewards.org

STEWARDSHIP CREW SQUAD LEAD

Craig started at MARS as a seasonal Squad Lead in 2022, becoming a full-time employee in 2024. Prior to that, he worked for the US Forest Service for 9 seasons but found himself looking for more local, ecologically-focused work. Craig appreciates that MARS gives him the chance to work closely with people and the forests he grew up with, and to participate in organizational decisions. Having grown up in the Trout Lake area and witnessed the vulnerability of the community to wildfire, this work is very important to him. In his free time, Craig enjoys backpacking in the area and traveling abroad when possible.

zulu@mtadamsstewards.org

STEWARDSHIP CREW SQUAD LEAD

Mitch found MARS, or we found him, in 2022. Mitch grew up on the lakes, rivers and woods of Northern Maine and found his way to the Columbia Gorge in 2015. After working in heavy civil construction and stream restoration, he's excited to be able to call MARS home and dive deeper into all things related to our local forests. If he's not with his squad in the field he's probably surfing or fishing.

alpha@mtadamsstewards.org

FIELD OPERATIONS, SAW PROGRAM, AND FLEET MANAGER

Hailing from the Olympic Peninsula, James moved to the Columbia River Gorge to pursue meaningful work in the confluence of fire and land management. With a background in arboriculture, heavy equipment and forestry, James works as a saw program consultant working with agencies and partners on getting new saw programs off the ground, and refining pre-existing sawyers and programs. James is also heavily involved with the Stewardship Crew, supporting operations, back-end management and repairs. In his free time, you can find James traveling, or in mechanical predicaments with things he bought on marketplace.

sawprogram@mtadamsstewards.org