Board of Directors

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  Elise has a deep passion for free-flowing rivers, and wild salmon populations. She has spent a career in the protection of riparian and watershed lands, working to improve instream flows for fish, restoring impaired habitats for native plants and wildlife, managing land for multiple benefits, advocating for endangered species protections, and engaging and negotiating with stakeholders from a wide array of interest groups to promote more ecologically sustainable water resource management practices. She has worked across the State of California, in all major watersheds and the Bay-Delta, as well as in the Columbia River Basin, as a key strategist, policy advisor, and technical expert. She has worked on behalf of The Bay Institute, The Trust for Public Land, The CALFED Bay-Delta Program, The Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council, The Marin County Open Space District, The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the California Department of Natural Resources. She has served on many boards and spoken at many conferences and symposia. She holds a BS in Biochemistry and an MS in Natural Resource Management.

During the pandemic, Elise returned to school in pursuit of a teaching credential and an MA in Education. Last year she traded Sacramento for the fourth grade, where she intends to instill a sense of curiosity and wonder about the world in each of her students. Elise loves trail running and cycling, backpacking in the Sierra, kayaking in the Bay, cooking, and travelling.

  René Voss is a natural resources attorney who works to protect our National Forests, wildlife, and wild lands from harmful development. Although he has a degree in Electrical Engineering, he switched to working on environmental issues in 1994 as the Campaign Director for Georgia ForestWatch. There, he helped protect the remaining roadless wildlands of the Chattahoochee National Forest and helped stop most new logging on that forest. He then moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute to advocate for ending commercial logging of our National Forest.

He is a life member and long-time Sierra Club leader, and was elected to the Sierra Club Board of Directors in 1999, serving one term. In D.C. while continuing his work he studied law, and in 2008 passed the California Bar Exam. In 2009, he and his wife Linda and their son Nathanael moved to San Anselmo. From there, René runs his solo public interest natural resources law practice to help various non-profit clients, although he spends most of his time working to defend the Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument from government mismanagement. He loves backpacking in the Sierras and has hiked most of the trails in the vast public lands in Marin where he tries to lose himself as often as he can. He serves on the board of the Wilderness Watch and is a member of the Town of San Anselmo’s Open Space Commission.

  Jason Deschler is a TAMALKO (Coast Miwok of Marin) of the HUKUIKO band from the villages of ETCHA-KOLUM (Tomales Bay) and ETCHA TAMAL (Nicasio) with ancestral ties to Bodega Bay and Petaluma. He is an active member in cultural traditions as well as an ally for neighboring tribes as a preservation officer and project advisor spanning cultural preservation and environmentally sensitive areas (ESA boundaries) with the help from the departments of anthropology of University of California, Berkeley and California State University, Fresno.

  Mel Wright grew up in the foothills of the Sierras next to the Kings and San Joaquin River watersheds, early on developing a love and sensitivity towards the natural environment. He is a longtime Woodacre resident, moving there in 1972. Upon retiring from teaching and civil service in 2006, he immediately went to work for the Salmon Protection And Watershed Network (SPAWN), a project of the Turtle Island Restoration Network. For nearly a decade he served as the SPAWN Native Plant Nursery volunteer manager, assisting interns and other volunteers in propagating and growing native plants purposed to protect and restore riparian forests throughout the Lagunitas and nearby watersheds.

He is also co-founder of Broom Service, a local group of volunteers dedicated to clearing invasive plants that threaten biodiversity and increased fire danger. He has been active with the San Geronimo Planning Group and occasionally testifies at public hearings on issues of environmental protection and equity. Along the way, Mel has earned some public recognition as the SPAWN volunteer of the year (2007), The Edie Robinson Community Service Award (2016), and along with his partners at Broom Service, the Marin County Parks Integrated Pest Management Commission Annual Award for 2018.

  Michelle is from California and has lived in Marin County since 1980. She is a member of Marin Association of Realtors, California Association of Realtors, and the National Association of Realtors. Michelle was Charter President of the Rotary Club of West Marin (2002 – 2007) and served again 2016 – 2017, believing that “Rotary makes a difference in the community and the world through volunteer projects.”

Michelle is also a member of a local planning group’s steering committee, the Healthy Community Collaborative, and a local Valley Emergency Readiness Group as shelter manager.

When not busy working or volunteering, she loves enjoying all of the beauty, healthy lifestyle and opportunities offered in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Scott Webb is the Director of Advocacy & Engagement with the Resource Renewal Institute (RRI), where he focuses on ocean and river protection-based campaigns. He also serves as the vice chair of the Sierra Club Bay Chapter and is a member of the Water Education Foundation's 2024 Water Leaders Program. Before RRI, Scott gained diverse experiences in multiple facets of the environmental space, leading successful campaigns that created stronger protections for oceans and watersheds, directing electoral organizing efforts in Arizona, working internationally towards greater access to clean drinking water, and as an environmental educator focused on youth empowerment, and wilderness connection. Scott was also a raft guide on the Kern River, a naturalist and backpacking instructor at Point Reyes National Seahsore, and cleaned fish at a sustainably sourced community fishery in Santa Cruz. Scott started his education at Santa Rosa Junior College and completed his degree at UC Santa Barbara, earning a B.S. in Hydrologic Sciences and Policy.