EPIC’s Staff New Year Resolutions

Happy New Year! The dawning of a new year offers a chance to start fresh and recommit ourselves. At our last staff meeting, EPIC’s staff went around and gave their resolutions for 2018. What’s your resolution?

In 2018, I resolve to get out of the office more and engage with our members and allies! My highlight of 2017 was Base Camp, our weekend-long field examination of a proposed timber sale. Base Camp yielded tons of good on-the-ground information that helped us reform the project.

– Tom Wheeler, Executive Director

My New Year’s Resolution is to defend the wildlife and wild places in the Pacific Northwest forests of California! I will do this by working with the Western Klamath Restoration Partnership, FireScape Mendocino, the Smith River Collaborative, the Pacific Wolf Coalition and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on Strategic Habitat Conservation planning. Connecting Wild Places is key to species survival and climate adaption. It also includes challenging and changing ecologically damaging projects on our national forests. I also strive to work closer with small communities to attain fire-readiness in order to restore fire to our watersheds and change the practices of the fire industrial complex.

– Kimberly Baker, Public Lands Advocate

For the New Year, I resolve to help save more wild places by venturing out into the field and training people to monitor logging projects and other industrial activities. In my experience, I have found that site visit documentation of a project has proven to be the most effective way to protect clean water, old growth forests and wildlife habitat. If we don’t pay attention to our wild back yards, who will?

– Amber Shelton, Conservation Advocate

In 2018, I resolve to do more teaching, workshops, slide-shows, and skill sharing. Private forestlands make up a huge part of California’s iconic natural landscapes, and it is my goal to empower more people and more communities to understand and effectively navigate the critical decision-making processes.

– Rob DiPerna, California Forest and Wildlife Advocate

My New Year resolution is to continue advancing EPIC’s dialogue on environmental justice and to create more opportunities for underrepresented communities to connect with nature. By partnering with local groups, I hope to create more volunteer and leadership roles for our community to be involved in forest advocacy. A movement is powered by the people, and together we can make a difference!

– Briana Villalobos, Director of Communications and Development