Megan Sweeney

Wild Places Intern

Megan is a rising 3L at the University of Oregon School of Law. Originally from Jupiter, Florida, she grew up scuba diving, snorkeling, and hiking in a state with unique ecosystems such as everglades and coral reefs, shaping her into the environmentally conscious individual she is today. Working at a sea turtle hospital and watching toxic algae blooms negatively affect both coral reefs and endangered species inspired her to drive positive change and pursue a career in environmental law.

She attended the University of Florida and graduated in 2018 with a BS in Marine Science with minors in Mathematics and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. After graduation, she worked as an intern at JLA Geosciences, a hydrogeological contracting firm where she learned the importance of sustainable water and land management. Megan is very involved with the environmental law community through her leadership roles in the Land Air Water Environmental Law Society. Megan helped organize both the 2020 and 2021 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) through her positions as a 1L Representative and a Conference Co-Director. During her 3L year she will serve as a Land Air Water Co-Director. She has also been involved with the University Oregon’s Environmental and Natural Resources Center as a Fellow on the Oceans, Coasts, and Watersheds Project.

Her research is focused on Biocriteria and reforming the CWA to better protect coral reefs and better address agricultural runoff. During her 2L year she also competed in the Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. During the summer of 2020 she worked for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. In the fall of 2020, she had a judicial externship at the U.S. District Court District of Oregon working for the Honorable Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai. Megan is very excited to gain further litigation skills by working in the Wildlife Program at the Portland Office of WildEarth Guardians.

Tessa Archibald

WIldlife Program Intern

Tessa Archibald is a passionate animal lover with a desire to preserve our natural world and increase respect for all species. She obtained a BS in Biopsychology from Tufts University and is currently working towards a Masters in Animals and Public Policy at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. She hopes that an understanding of complex human animal interactions and policy will promote more empathetic management of wildlife across all lands!

Joe Bushyhead

Endangered Species Policy Advocate

Joe Bushyhead joined Guardians in May 2021 as our Endangered Species Policy Advocate. Based in Denver, he works to protect imperiled Western species as well as the integrity of the Endangered Species Act itself.

Prior to Guardians, Joe spent seven years as a staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and clerked for the Honorable Tena Campbell at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. He holds a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law. Before law school, he worked for the Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resource Management on, among other projects, a study of Chinook salmon in Idaho’s South Fork of the Salmon River watershed.

Hailey Zimber

Research Intern

My name is Hailey Zimber and I am a rising senior majoring in Politics at Whitman College. I am thrilled to be joining WildEarth Guardians as a research and community organizing intern for the Greater Gila Campaign. As a born and raised New Mexican, the Greater Gila is one of the silos of wilderness that have shaped who I know myself to be. Protecting the Gila means protecting myself, my state, and my community, and for this reason, this position is especially meaningful to me.

Dustin Martin

Member, Board of Directors

Dustin grew up hiking, camping, riding, skiing and running the vast outdoor sanctuaries surrounding Gallup, NM. Distance running led him to New York City, where he earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology from Columbia University. In 2011, Dustin returned to the southwest to serve as program director for Wings of America- a not for profit that empowers Tribal youth and their families by introducing them to the cultural, spiritual and competitive legacy of Native runners. Under his leadership, the organization has continued to provide elite-level opportunities for talented Native runners while making a concerted effort to create new programs for fledgling harriers of all abilities. Moving forward, Dustin hopes to continue promoting the positive achievements of Native runners while helping foster and test new models for acquainting Native youth with their ancestral homelands.

Francine D. Spang-Willis

Member, Board of Directors

Francine D. Spang-Willis is of Cheyenne, Pawnee, and settler descent. She is a descendant of Chief Dull Knife, also known as Morning Star, and Pawnee Woman. She is also a descendant of a pioneer family who settled in Montana during the late 1800s. Francine received a Master of Arts in Oral History from Columbia University and a Master of Arts in Native American Studies from Montana State University. Her graduate studies have focused on settler colonialism processes and bison and land restoration. Her work has primarily focused on helping others learn about these processes and to evolve them for the benefit of the greater whole. She enjoys hiking, skiing, ice climbing, and spending time with her husband and beagle near Bozeman and their off-grid cabin near the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Tricia Snyder

Rio Grande Campaigner

Tricia, as a child of military parents, spent much of her childhood moving frequently in the U.S. and abroad, but calls El Paso, TX home. Growing up on the banks of the (often dry) Rio Grande and the water scarcity of the Southwest sparked a life-long interest in finding solutions for water conflicts in the arid and semi-arid American West. Tricia received a B.S. in Geography with a focus on human-environment connection from New Mexico State University. Her research while there centered on water management across borders. She spent 5 years working with the Southwest Environmental Center working to protect and restore the wildlife and wild places of the Southwest borderlands, particularly focused on the recovery of the Mexican gray wolf. In 2015, Tricia moved to Washington state to pursue a graduate degree, receiving an M.S. in Cultural and Environmental Resource Management from Central Washington University. Her thesis, which conducted an adaptive capacity assessment of the Upper Klamath Basin, utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methods. She worked for nearly four years on salmon recovery as the Lead Entity Coordinator for the Yakima Basin in central Washington, bringing together a diverse group of interests and perspectives. Tricia joined WildEarth Guardians as the Rio Grande Campaigner in 2021.

Kate Merlin

Climate & Energy Program Colorado Attorney

Katherine Lynn Toan Merlin is WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Colorado Attorney. She earned her J.D. from Vermont Law School in 2008, and an LLM in Natural Resources Law from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2013. Prior to joining Guardians she worked as a solo attorney in public interest environmental litigation and administrative law to protect Colorado’s people and places from the numerous harms imposed by the oil and gas industry. Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Kate began her career to protect the environment after a three-month trek through the southwest with the National Outdoor Leadership School. She earned a B.S. in environmental science from Northern Arizona University before beginning her career in law.

Matt Nykiel

Climate & Energy Program Attorney

Matt is a Climate & Energy program attorney for WildEarth Guardians. Matt’s work focuses on protecting New Mexico and communities across the West from the impacts of oil and gas extraction and use. He became concerned about fossil fuels after witnessing the effects of climate change as a wildland firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service. Seeking opportunities to protect public lands and the environment generally, Matt went to law school at the University of Colorado. After graduating, he clerked for a state district court judge in Colorado and then relocated an hour south of the Canadian Border, in Idaho, to work on energy and water quality issues with the Idaho Conservation League. Matt, his partner, Ruth, and their pup, Frisbee, love being back in Southwest and spending time in the mountains and on the water.

Betsy Gaines Quammen

Member, Board of Directors

Betsy Gaines Quammen is a historian and conservationist. She received a doctorate in Environmental History from Montana State University in 2017, her dissertation focusing on Mormon settlement and public land conflicts. She has studied various religious traditions over the years, with particular attention to how cultures view landscape and wildlife. The rural American West, pastoral communities of northern Mongolia, and the grasslands of East Africa have been her main areas of interest. After college in Colorado, caretaking for a bed and breakfast in Mosier, Oregon, and serving breakfasts at a cafe in Kanab, Utah, Betsy settled in Bozeman, Montana, where she now lives with her husband, writer David Quammen, two huge dogs, an overweight cat, and a pretty big python named Boots. She is the author of American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God, and Public Lands in the West.