Staff
She went on to earn a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in public advocacy from the University of South Florida, grounding her in the art of amplifying voices and advancing justice. Before entering the conservation field, she contributed her skills to more than a dozen political campaigns across the country.
Since joining the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center (MSBEC) in 2017, Bianca has led the team with a deep commitment to social equity, environmental justice, and community resilience. Now serving as Executive Director, and with DEIAJ guiding principles, she most enjoys steering organizational strategy, weaving strong partnerships, and supporting a talented team. She is passionate about inspiring youth to engage with the outdoors and strengthening the bioregion’s collective voice for environmental protection.
Her non-profit work includes supporting a global animal compassion organization, a global social-change grant giving non-profit organization as the original grant-giving system developer and subsequently as a grant advisor. More recently, in addition to volunteering at MSBEC, Tara has volunteered in Mount Shasta with School CAFE helping to provide healthy nutritional guidance and organic, non-gmo plant food to school children, and also the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. She currently support MSBEC’s website and their Salesforce CRM and Volunteer Management system.
Tara enjoys her work with MSBEC because she knows that everything she does supports the protection and restoration of the forests, watersheds, the wildlife, and the human communities surrounding the natural landscapes.
C.J.’s background includes a wide range of experience, having worked as a farmer, geological technician, political organizer, fundraiser, and activist. These roles have given him a deep understanding of systems—both natural and human—and a strong commitment to building resilience within communities.
He has volunteered with MSBEC for years in many capacities and officially joins the team as the Community Garden and Fire Resilience Coordinator. With a passion for plants, gardening, and mutual aid, he’s excited to support community members in cultivating deeper relationships with the land and each other.
Alisa will be handling the finance and accounting functions for our organization, monitoring grant funds, donations, and processing payroll. In addition, she will prepare monthly reports and analyses for our board.
A former resident of Siskiyou County, Alisa lived in Lake Shastina for 7 years with her husband and 3 children. Their boys participated in a variety of activities that helped them to enjoy and appreciate Siskiyou County and all it has to offer.
Growing up, he was always encouraged to ask questions to develop a deeper understanding of forest and watershed issues. He has worked in road decommissioning, stream channel restoration, and environmental consulting. Recently, he worked as an agricultural consultant in cannabis, hemp, and strawberries.
Nick is equally comfortable having meetings on the tailgate of a truck or at the courthouse. In his role, Nick will frame issues using science and understands the collaborative nature of complex problem solving. He is currently on the boards of the Friends of the Shasta River.
KM has a B.A. in American Studies with a focus on California Natural History, a Masters in Library Science, and a certification from UC Santa Cruz as a California Naturalist. She has worked as a naturalist for Exploring New Horizons Outdoor Schools at Pigeon Point Lighthouse, where she led groups of students on field trips to visit the redwoods, the marsh, and the tidepools. In addition to her experience as a naturalist, she is also a librarian and led many nature-related programs including cultivating a library garden run by teen volunteers, leading teens in habitat restoration projects, and running nature-themed storytimes and science experiments. KM also volunteers with Volunteer for Outdoor California (VoCal) to help build trails all over the Bay Area.
Kayla Marie comes to Mt. Shasta from a cabin in the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains where she spent much of her time foraging, hiking, backpacking, writing, and homesteading such as gardening, growing mushrooms, making medicine from what she grows and forages, and experimenting with ferments! She looks forward to bringing her experience in lifelong education and is most excited about helping community members make connections between the natural world and their own lives.
During her time as an Ecological Restoration and Monitoring Intern, she supported more than 20 invasive-species removal events, mapped hotspot areas using ArcGIS and Survey123, assisted with community bat-night educational talks, led a native seed-library project, and helped educate the public on the importance of healthy marsh ecosystems.
She is an avid hiker, skier, backpacker, and surfer, and absolutely loves spending time outside!
Our Founder
During her tenure the Center’s programs expanded to include the H.O.M.E. (Honor Our Mountain Environment) Stewardship Project, the Mount Shasta Community Garden, many educational events and celebrations, and other projects fostering a culture in harmony with nature. She was instrumental in gaining Historic District designations for Mount Shasta and the Medicine Lake Highlands and developed strong working relationships with Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, agencies at the local and federal levels, environmental groups and Native American Tribes.
She worked as Environmental Director for the Pit River Tribe for ten years, and as Executive Secretary of the Native Coalition for over a decade. She is now serving the Ecology Center as Senior Conservation Consultant, leading our work to save Medicine Lake Highlands and advising on the creation of a Regional Conservation Strategy.
Please take a moment to read Michelle’s life story, “Listening to the Mountain” here.
Board Members
Our board meets monthly to discuss and decide on policy issues affecting our organization (or via email/remotely as needed for time-sensitive items). We are currently seeking new board members interested in serving our mission. Board meetings are generally open to our supporters; please contact us to learn more.
He has owned a local business, Shasta Visions and played music with SoundFarm Band and many others since 1987. His son grew up running in the wilderness around Mount Shasta.
Davis also volunteers with the Mount Shasta Trail Association maintaining the Gateway Trail System. He sees outdoor recreation as a valuable asset and wildfire safety as a critical concern for communities, while related projects need to carefully consider potential environmental impacts. “The environment needs to be the number one priority and recreation activities secondary.”
After witnessing the damage to the water sources, forests, and wildlife he began fighting to save the remaining wild landscapes. For over 40 years he has been working in volunteer capacities with various environmental organizations. He joined the MSBEC Board in 2023.
Currently living in McCloud (and loving it is no longer a working mill town) he enjoys, hiking, gardening, skiing and swimming.
Being an avid snowboarder and outdoor enthusiast, Greg has fallen in love with the bioregion and is committed to preserving the quality of water, air, and land the area offers all its inhabitants. Greg firmly believes the Ecology Center can continue to protect the bioregion while still supporting the region’s economy.
John has spent a lot of time traveling and reading, still his favorite things to do. He is a fiscal and environmental conservative and a political progressive, and doesn’t think population growth solves anything. An electrician and contractor for 44 years. John has two daughters and 5 grandsons. The Mount Shasta area inspired John to live here for 26 years and he is wary of unplanned growth which is unlikely to make things better.
In 2018, Laura and her partner moved to Weed to be closer to the Klamath River dam removal project, which her husband is leading. Since then, she has fallen in love with the bioregion and spends as much time as possible swimming in lakes and rivers and exploring its trails. Laura is excited to join the MSBEC Board and support the mission to protect and restore this precious place.
Advisory Board
The Advisory Board is a new facet of the organization. These people use their expertise to guide the staff and help the organization be more productive through goal oriented terms.
