Meet our Team

Tahnee is a professional facilitator, mediator, and collaboration practitioner. For the past 25 years, in the U.S. and internationally, her project work has include forest planning and management, large landscape conservation, outdoor recreation planning, collaborative adaptive management, watershed management, community and regional visioning, youth engagement, coalition building, and overflight noise issues.  Previously, she was the associate director of the Program on Environment and Community at Cornell University and the Latin America coordinator for the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development. 

 

Tahnee has a Bachelor’s in Biology from Grinnell College and a Masters in Natural Resources from Cornell University. She is a member of the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution’s Roster of Environmental Conflict Resolution and Consensus Building Professionals. She is fluent in Spanish.

 

Based in: Tucson AZ

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tahnee@swdresources.com 

Colleen joined SDR in 2008 and has worked in the area of community and environment for the past 15 years in the U.S., Britain, and Africa. Her project work has included community mapping and participatory GIS, youth engagement, environmental justice, regional visioning, and scenario planning. She has a background in both GIS and Natural Resource Management and is interested in how to create effective public participation opportunities that genuinely engage local communities in decision-making. 

 

Colleen has a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona in International Development and Natural Resource Management, and an M.S. In Environment and Development from the London School of Economics.

 

Based in: Tucson AZ

 

colleen@swdresources.com

Andi is a wildlife biologist by training, whose career has primarily focused on natural resource conflict resolution. Before joining Southwest Decision Resources in 2013, she spent 15 years with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. During that period she served as the endangered California condor biologist, and the Habitat Specialist in Flagstaff, Arizona. Andi is well versed in a wide range of natural resource issues which include topics such as wind energy development, National Forest and BLM policies and directives, NEPA, ESA, transportation planning, forest and rangeland restoration, and grazing management on public lands.  

 

Andi has a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from the University of Montana and a Master’s degree in Wildlife Science from the University of Arizona.

 

Based in: Flagstaff AZ

 

andi@swdresources.com

Julia has been facilitating collaborative natural resource management efforts in the Southwest for the past seven years.  She has supported the design, facilitation, and implementation of collaborative processes including large-landscape conservation, outdoor recreation, watershed-based collaboratives, inter-agency land use planning, and various other topics.

 

Julia has a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies with a focus on Environmental Psychology from the University of Michigan, and an M.S. from the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment.  Her Master’s thesis focused on public perceptions of renewable energy facilities. Julia is passionate about designing forward-thinking, stakeholder-driven efforts that benefit both people and the land.

 

Based in: Tucson AZ

 

julia@swdresources.com

Carrie joined SDR in 2015 and works with diverse stakeholders on natural resource issues including watershed planning and restoration, public lands recreation, water conservation, and volunteerism. In addition to collaboration work in Northern Arizona over the past 11 years, she has hands-on experience in community participatory analysis, curriculum development, and youth environmental education projects both locally and in South America as a Peace Corps volunteer and coordinator.

 

Carrie holds a B.S. in Environmental Biology from Pacific University and a M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Northern Arizona University.  Her studies focused primarily on collaborative monitoring and results-focused stakeholder engagement.  She is fluent in Spanish.

 

Based in: Flagstaff AZ

 

carrie@swdresources.com

Jessica joined the SDR team in 2018 with over 12 years of experience in natural resources management and planning. Her science background and commitment to collaboration have shaped her work in the West. She has enjoyed many opportunities to partner with agencies, governments, and non-governmental organizations to accomplish forest and grassland restoration, regional planning efforts, policy development, and voluntary conservation programs. Along with SDR, she is concurrently part time senior planner for the country’s largest and most politically complex National Scenic Area in the Columbia River Gorge.  She formerly served as Habitat Specialist for the Flagstaff Region at Arizona Game & Fish Department.

 

Jessica hold a B.S. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from The University of California, Santa Cruz and M.S. in Environmental Science & Policy from Northern Arizona University.

 

Based in: Phoenix AZ

 

jessica@swdresources.com

Lisa joined the SDR team in 2019 and supports watershed restoration and outdoor recreation collaboratives in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. Prior to SDR, her work in the Southwest included utilizing and organizing volunteers, citizen science, integrating youth leadership and education into restoration and planning efforts, and building inter-agency partnerships. 

 

Lisa has a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies with a focus on the Southwest Environment from Northern Arizona University and a Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Denver. Her Master’s thesis researched the connection between the collaborations and science used by land managers and the outcomes of invasive tamarisk removal across southwest rivers.

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Based in: Flagstaff AZ

 

lisa@swdresources.com

Anna joined SDR in 2020, with five years of experience working on collaborative processes in California and across the western US. Anna is a trained facilitator with experience navigating conflict, guiding diverse coalitions, and bridging technical, political, and local actors. She assists partners in the water resources, energy, and environmental sectors through public processes, strategic planning, outreach, and communications efforts. She has organized and led public meetings, developed on-the-ground outreach strategies, designed and implemented task forces and workshops, and engaged in regulatory rulemaking.

 

Anna is currently seeking masters degrees in Water, Society, and Policy and in Public Policy at the University of Arizona. Her research examines how technology and social science can improve stakeholder engagement and public participation in Colorado River decision-making. Her undergraduate degrees are in Geology and Environmental Humanities from Whitman College. 

 

Based in: Tucson AZ

 

anna@swdresources.com

Heather joined SDR in 2020 as a Coverdell Fellow bringing eight years of experience working with communities around natural resource management, forestry, agriculture, technology, and digital storytelling. She has worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia on agroforestry and gardening projects and utilized mobile technology to improve agricultural commodities' quality and distribution with rural farmers and school feeding programs. More recently, Heather has worked in communications and digital media for NGOs and social enterprises in South Africa, Zambia, and the US merging data with storytelling. Currently, Heather is pursuing a Masters' in Development Practice through the University of Arizona's School of Geography and Development, focusing on social science in natural resource management, climate change, policy, and GIS.

 

Based in: Tucson AZ

Aaron collaborated with SDR in 2020 and joined the team in 2021 after attending an SDR training the previous year. Despite having moved far from the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts where they/he was born and raised, Aaron brings a place-based focus to their facilitation practice. Trained as an engineer, Aaron's commitment to applying the tools of technology development to move towards water justice has brought him into collaboration with NGOs, grassroots coalitions, water protectors, start-ups and universities to develop and implement regionally-specific water filtration technologies to address emerging contaminants. These projects have mainly been in collaboration with communities that have historically faced environmental injustice, which, for Aaron, means constantly explicitly navigating their own privileges including race, class, gender, ability, and nationality. Working with the NGO Caminos de Agua in central Mexico prompted Aaron to study a masters degree in Geography at the University of Arizona (in progress) where he and partners in northern Guanajuato, Mexico, collaboratively designed a research agenda. Aaron brings a commitment to environmental justice and mutual collaboration to SDR and is excited about learning from and with new partners.

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Based in: Ithaca NY