Mission

The Santa Fe Conservation Trust is dedicated to preserving the spirit of place among the communities of northern New Mexico by protecting open spaces and critical wildlife habitat, by creating trails, and by protecting the traditional landscapes of our diverse cultures.

Vision

This mission aims to protect and enhance key natural areas, ranch and agricultural lands, river and stream corridors, trails, and the natural open lands that define and sustain our rich and memorable landscape.

We accomplish our mission by working with people in culturally diverse communities in ways that enhance community values, create meaningful connections between people and the land, preserve heritage and encourage collaborative action.

Westerners are shaped by the land, held by its distances, fed by its grasses and grains, protected by its ridges and ranges. We obtain water in the arroyos, shelter beneath cottonwoods and pinons, and derive our cultures from the trails that have linked us to the Aztecs, Chaco, Mexico, and Missouri. This is our past and we hold it in trust for our future.

The Santa Fe Conservation Trust (The Trust) was founded in 1993 and received its 501(c) (3) status in December of 1993. The 501(c) (3) designation is a Federal IRS designation which means that people may donate to The Conservation Trust and receive a tax deduction.

Future

The Trust has now been in existence for over 15 years. The foremost purpose of any land trust is to protect its easements in perpetuity. While attaining that goal, we are also working hard for recognition of the SFCT name as your local land trust. The long term continuation of the trust is dependent upon community support. Please click here for ways you can contribute to the Trust.

History

For a history of our organization click here.

SFCT Staff

 

Charlie O’Leary, Executive Director

Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Charlie O’Leary has lived in Santa Fe with his wife Lily for the last ten years.  He earned a B.A. in Environmental Sciences from Prescott College and a M.S. in Resource Management from Antioch new England Graduate School in Keene, New Hampshire.  After graduating from Prescott College, Charlie spent almost three years living and working full time in the Pacific islands of Micronesia.   First in Saipan and then later in Chuuk, he helped establish a marine biology program for high school aged students as a layman at a prominent Jesuit school.

Before accepting the Executive Director position at the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, Charlie was employed for 8 years with The Trust for Public Land.  Based out of Santa Fe, he worked on a variety of conservation transaction throughout the southwest including Arizona, Utah and Colorado.  After consulting with the Santa Fe Conservation Trust for eighteen months on their conservation easement program, Charlie became Executive Director in March, 2010.

In his spare time he enjoys building custom bicycle frames and exploring trails throughout the state.

 

Melissa Pardeahton Houser, Conservation & Development Coordinator

Born and raised in Santa Fe, Melissa Houser brings a wealth of administrative skills and an academic research background to the Trust. Melissa and her husband, Will Pardeahton Houser returned in 2008, to the United States from Ireland, where Melissa earned a Masters of Philosophy in Irish Theatre and Film. Melissa’s previous work includes Office Manager, Database Administrator, Marketing Coordinator and Website Administrator. Melissa is dedicated to helping to protect the planet that we all share.

 

McAllister Scott Yeomans, Office Administrator

A native Santa Fean, McAllister grew up in Galisteo where he learned to love the land; he went on to graduate from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, where he learned to love old books. Previous to his employment at SFCT, he spent eight years involved in printing, editing, research and graphic design.  McAllister looks forward to working in land conservation and occasionally being allowed to play in the dirt.

 

Mary Pat Butler, Part-time Executive Assistant

Mary Pat Butler has been involved in the non-profit world for over 25 years, most recently as Director of Development at St. Michael’s High School.  Her experience includes fundraising, special events and public relations.  She also works part time as a legal assistant with the law firm of Timothy L. Butler and is an active member of the Rotary Club of Santa Fe.

SFCT Board of Directors

 

Executive Committee

 

Jim Jenkins, Board Chair

Jim Jenkins has served in private and public sectors with experience in education, training and customer service, and volunteered on non-profit boards, focusing on major donor fundraising. During his years in Pennsylvania, Jim served as chair of a municipal planning commission with responsibility for land use planning and policy formulation. At that time, he became interested in land preservation and worked at the local and regional level with property owners to preserve rural farmland. He is currently President of the board of the Eldorado Area Water and Sanitation District, which serves a community of over 7,000 residents.

Jim has been active with the Trust over the past three years, volunteering to help with monitoring easements. He has served as chair of the Trust’s Land Committee since 2008.

 

David Chase, Treasurer

David Chase is a managing member of Vestor Associates, LLC. Mr. Chase has led Vestor since its founding and has been active in private equity investing since the late 1960′s. Mr. Chase is involved with Vestor’s acquisition strategy, equity investing, financing, and investor relations. He serves on or advises the Boards of the portfolio companies of Vestor Partners, LP. In addition, Mr. Chase is a Trustee of Thornburg Investment Trust, the governing board of the Thornburg Mutual Funds, former Chair of the Board of Trustees – the College of Santa Fe, and has served on the Board for the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe. He holds degrees from Principia College (BA), The Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College (MBA), and Arizona State University (PhD). Mr. Chase was a professor at Northern Arizona University from 1966 to 1978, teaching corporate fiance, securities and banking courses. He serves various community and charitable organizations, including National Dance Institute – New Mexico, INC., the School of Advanced Research, and the BF Foundation. He is also Chairman and Director of the BF Foundation, a private foundation.

 

Connie Bright, Vice Chair

Connie divides her time between Oklahoma City and Santa Fe. For many years she was a board member, teacher and girls’ basketball coach at Westminster School and a teacher of ESL at a refugee center, both located in Oklahoma City. Connie and her husband, Bob, bought their home in Santa Fe in 1980. They have three children and four grandchildren.

Connie currently serves on the board of the Oklahoma City Myriad Gardens Foundation and has been an active SFCT volunteer, including serving as co-chair of the Stewart Udall Environmental Award Dinner since 2004. Her other interests including hiking, gardening, cooking and travel.

 

Tom Simons, Secretary

Tom Simons, trial lawyer, is a well-known and highly respected trial attorney and founder of The Simons Firm in Santa Fe. He formed Friends of Atalaya in 1986, helping to create and preserve trails on that mountain. He has served on the board of Santa Fe Prep and is currently serving as Chairman of the Board of Las Golondrinas. Says Tom, “The myth of the limitless West is coming to an end. Idle criticism of the disappearance of trails and open space will no longer suffice. We must, by our actions, work to preserve the natural heritage with which we all have been blessed.”

 

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Andy Ault

Andy Ault recently returned to Santa Fe in 2005, trading his East Coast Wall Street job for a long-term stint in Santa Fe’s dynamic and different real estate market. While working at Santa Fe Properties, Andy’s broader background and interest in community conservation steered him to the Trust. He co-chaired the Lewisboro, NY Open Space Committee from 2001-2005, when watershed preservation efforts were a top priority throughout the State. With his wide business interests, Andy is also a member of Wells Fargo Bank Community Board.

Andy brings high energy and a passion for the work. He hopes to focus on improving our mapping of local greenbelt properties, setting more visible land priorities to help broaden community participation in our programs, and helping to protect more of New Mexico’s strategic and unique open space under conservation easements. Andy is an active participant on the Trust’s land committee.

 

Murray Brott

Murray Brott has been in the real estate investment and development business since 1972, specializing in commercial property. He is in the process of converting a large chain of self storage facilities throughout New Mexico to solar energy. Murray and his wife Cindy moved to Santa Fe in 1979 to create an ideal life for themselves and their three children. “Ideal” to the Brott family means wide open spaces, clean air, mountains, blue sky and diversity. Says Murray, “I want to do anything I can to preserve the wonderful environment we have here in New Mexico.”

Murray has served previously on the boards of the Santa Fe Mountain Center and the Santa Fe Ski Team. His other interests include photography, adventure travel, tennis, skiing, golf and hiking.

 

Bill Cowles

Bill Cowles joined the Board in the fall of 2001. Raised in Connecticut, London, and New York, he graduated from Yale (BA) and MIT (B. Arch) and practiced architecture from his firm in Shelburne, VT. He has also served as Secretary of Vermont’s Agency of Human Services, Chairman of the Vermont Environmental Board, Chairman of the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, and founding Director of Sugarbush Valley Ski Area.

In 1975, Bill bought Pine Cay and the Meridian Club in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where he planned, built, developed and managed the island as an environmentally and socially responsible resort until 1983. In Santa Fe since 1984, Bill owns Los Trigos Ranch in Rowe, NM.

Former board participation includes the Santa Fe Community Foundation, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and the Santa Fe Mountain Center. Current boards include the School of Advanced Research, and a founding director and chair of EGIS (Elders Getting Information and Services).

 

Harlan M. Flint

Harlan is a native Santa Fean with fond memories of playing in the Santa Fe River and the mountains near his childhood home on upper Cerro Gordo Road. A graduate of Cornell University, Harlan has had a 25+ year career in financial markets, investments and risk management. He is currently a Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and previously held executive positions with Instinet Corporation, which pioneered the development of electronic trading in global securities markets.

While living and working in New York, London, Hong Kong and Stockholm, Harlan never lost his love for northern New Mexico and in 2007 moved back to Santa Fe with his wife, Nicole Rassmuson, and their children, Selma and Jasper. Today, he enjoys skiing and fly fishing on local mountains and streams, hiking and biking on our great local trail system, and exploring the diverse communities and open landscapes unique to northern New Mexico. Harlan served on the Santa Fe Conservation Trust’s Development and Communications Committee in 2010 before joining the Board in 2011.

 

Brad Holian

Brad Lee Holian, a New Mexican since 1972, is a semi-retired theoretical physicist with Los Alamos Lab. A native of Wyoming, Brad knew, after finishing at Caltech and UC Berkeley, that he wanted to plant himself and his scientific career in the Rocky Mountain West. Since arriving here he’s spent every spare minute fishing northern New Mexico’s tiny streams, hiking with his two sons in the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo ranges, cross-country skiing, and, in his dotage, taking up horseback riding in the Rio Pojoaque and the badlands of the Barrancas. He and his wife Kathy (who currently holds office as a Santa Fe County Commissioner) also enjoy riding their horses along Seton Arroyo and into Sunlit Hills, accompanied by their four dogs.

Over the past decade, Brad and Kathy have placed two properties on Glorieta Mesa under conservation easement to the Trust. Though they first regarded their land as a recreational preserve for riding and hiking, it soon dawned on them that ownership requires an investment beyond the purchase price and that stewardship is the first calling of a landowner (or, as Brad says, “one whose heart is owned by the land”). First repairing the erosion caused by a poorly designed road, the Holian’s land stewardship now consists of annual remediation to restore overgrazed grasslands and overcrowded forests. Brad brings these lessons—along with his commitment to help the Trust broaden its outreach to agricultural landowners—to the Board of the Trust.

 

Richard Hughes

Richard Hughes is a partner in the Santa Fe office of the Rothstein Law Firm. As a specialist in federal Indian law, he represents several Indian tribes in New Mexico.  Together with a group of friends who share an affinity for the Pecos River Canyon, Richard has helped acquire and place under conservation easement several tracts along the Pecos River near the town of Ilfeld, and has become a true believer in the power of such devices as a means of protecting what little open space we have left.

 

Bill Johnson

Bill Johnson is back on the Board after a 5yr hiatus; he previously served from 1998-2007, including 2 terms as board chairman.  He is a local family psychiatrist dedicated to serving lower income families through his work at Teambuilders-Zia Behavioral Health.  His interests include trails advocacy, perennial & vegetable gardening & mountain biking.

 

Jim Leonard

Jim Leonard serves as head of school at Santa Fe Prep, a position he has held since 1999. Jim and his wife Story have three daughters: Kelsey, Molly, and Campbell. In his 20 years in the field of education, Jim has taught English, served as director of development, been a dean of faculty, and coached soccer and squash. He and Story lived and worked for seven years at The Mountain School of Milton Academy, a semester program for high school juniors in central Vermont focused on ecology, community, and personal identity.

A longtime mountain biker, trail runner, and skier, Jim is interested in preserving beautiful spaces as well as sustainable use practices. Santa Fe Prep’s new library, opened in 2006, is the first gold-level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building in New Mexico. He has served on the boards of The Santa Fe Children’s Museum and The Yellowstone Association, and was recently elected to the Board of The United World College in Montezuma, New Mexico.

 

Kent Little

Kent Little moved to Santa Fe to create a life in the mountains and to pursue a passionate lust for climbing and back country skiing. A passionate skier, climber, paddler and fisherman, Little has skied and climbed all over North America, including the summit of Mt. Rainier; Aconcogua, the highest mountain in the Americas; and 4000 foot back country ski runs in the Canadian Rockies. Kent graduated from Loyola University of Chicago and The College of Wooster along with the National Outdoor Leadership School and Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.

 

Joanna Prukop

For the first 26 years of her career she worked for the NM Department of Game and Fish, where she became their first female regional supervisor and first female division chief.  From 2003 to 2009, Joanna served as Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Minerals and Natural Resource under New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.  She led the state’s initiatives in environmental protection, land conservation, state park enhancements, restoring healthy forests, energy conservation programs and renewable energy development. Her top priorities included strengthening environmental protection, compliance and enforcement while supporting continued development of fossil fuels and other minerals; conserving natural lands and protecting critical wildlife habitats, and addressing climate change issues. Her key initiatives included promoting a clean energy economy, environmentally compatible electrical transmission development, green building measures, and energy efficiency.

In January 2010, Joanna left her Cabinet position to become a senior executive with the conservation organization Freedom To Roam, launched in 2009 by Patagonia Clothing Company.  In October 2010, Joanna implemented an 18-24 month sabbatical plan.  Joanna currently serves as one of two women appointed in July of 2010 to the Obama Administration’s new 18-member Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council.  She is also on the National Conservation Leadership Institute Board of Directors, a life time member of the Mule Deer Foundation, and a member of The Wildlife Society, the Wilderness Society, and the Boone & Crockett Club.

Joanna has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Wildlife Biology from Texas A&M University (summa cum laude) and a Master’s of Science degree in Wildlife Science from Colorado State University.

 

Janet Stoker

Janet Stoker, retired former Development Director of United World College-USA, is a long time resident of Santa Fe, NM. She was previously Institutional Development Director at the School of American Research (now, the School for Advanced Research). Janet holds a BA from Occidental College and a MA in Spanish from UCLA. She is currently serving on the board of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation and on the Fundraising and Strategic Planning committees of the League of Women Voters of Santa Fe County. She participated in the Santa Fe Conservation Trust’s Development and Communications Committee in 2010 before joining the Board in 2011. She has two sons who live locally and two wonderful grandsons.

 

Linda Tigges

Linda Tigges has been the principal for Tigges Planning Consultants, Inc., since 1982, working with residential, commercial and non profit development in Santa Fe. Mrs. Tigges is a certified historian and has served on the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Committee and the City of Santa Fe Archaeological Review committee lists and has written many archival reports and historic documents. Mrs. Tigges has worked with the City of Santa Fe Planning Division, the Historic Design Review Committee, the Archeological Review Committee and she drafted Santa Fe’s Archeological Ordinance.

 

Kim Udall

Kim grew up in the Phoenix area, and graduated from college at Arizona State University in 1968 and completed law school at Arizona State University in 1971.  Kim and his wife, Sharyn, moved to Santa Fe in 1972, where Kim started his legal career with the firm of Bigbee, Byrd, Carpenter & Crout., He has been a member of the firm that is now known as Sommer, Udall & Sutin since 1986. Kim’s legal career consisted of civil litigation until the mid-90s, and since then he has limited his practice to mediation and arbitration. He has mediated over 3,400 cases, and has been the arbitrator in more than 280 cases.

Kim is a former member of the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe, and was the president in 1991.  He was also a former member of the Sol y Lomas Homeowners Association, and was the president from 1982 to1984, and was a member of the Arroyo Chamisa-Sol y Lomas Neighborhood Association, and was the president from 1979 to 1982.

Kim admits that Sharyn is the hiker in the family and that his “hiking” is usually limited to treadmills at local gyms, but loves getting out with the family when time permits.

Kim and Sharyn have a married daughter and two wonderful granddaughters, ages two and four. Kim is looking forward to retirement in a few years, after which he hopes to return to his favorite “hobby”–teaching and tutoring reading to third and fourth graders at Carlos Gilbert Elementary School.

 

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Committee Members

 

Beth Mills – Land Review Committee

Christopher Thomson – Land Review Committee

Jane Terry – Finance Committee

Katie Arnold – Communications & Marketing Committee

Nicole Rassmuson – Communications & Marketing Committee

Susan Livermore – Communications & Marketing Committee

Frank Katz – Governance & Nominating Committee

Jim Duncan, Jr. – Governance & Nominating Committee

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Advisory Board

Janie Bingham, Advisory Board Member

Janie has served in many capacities for the Trust; staff member under Dale Ball; board member 1990-2000; Executive Director 2001-2003; board member 2004 to the present including tours as Chair and Vice Chair. Her love of Santa Fe is deeply tied to the mission of the Trust and the wonderful community it touches. She is currently on the board of KSFR public radio; she also loves to sing with the Sangre de Cristo Chorale and tend to her lovely husband George.