Brent Fenty, Executive Director

Matt Little, Conservation Director

Allison Crotty, Development Director

Barksdale Brown, General Manager

Devon Comstock, Hart-Sheldon Conservation Coordinator

Aaron Killgore, John Day Coordinator

Gena Goodman-Campbell, Central Oregon Wilderness Coordinator

Jefferson Jacobs, Wilderness Stewardship Coordinator

Liz Nysson, Energy Policy Coordinator

Chris Hansen, Owyhee Wilderness Coordinator

Mac Lacy, Senior Attorney

Brent Fenty

Executive Director
bfenty@onda.org

Brent is a native Central Oregonian who first worked for ONDA as a Wildlands Coordinator from 2000-2003 and returned in 2007 to serve as the organization’s Executive Director. During his time with ONDA, Brent has worked on a number of projects including the implementation of the Steens Mountain Wilderness, a citizen’s wilderness inventory of millions of acres of unprotected wilderness, and efforts to designate the Badlands and Spring Basin as Oregon's newest desert Wilderness areas.

His life and work experiences have included working as a research assistant at the United Nations, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, working as a community development coordinator at Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, and volunteering for the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa.  Prior to returning to ONDA in 2007, Brent worked as an Environmental Scientist on various water quality, fisheries, and aquatic restoration projects.

Brent received his undergraduate degree in International Studies and Environmental Science from Willamette University and a Master’s of Environmental Science from Alaska Pacific University.

Matt Little

Conservation Director
mlittle@onda.org

Matt joined the ONDA team in August 2010 as Conservation Director.  As a native Minnesotan, Matt grew up fishing, hunting, and being way too cold.  His passion for the outdoors led to a long career in conservation that included being advisor to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York and a bipartisan coalition of congressional members, a wetlands specialist at EPA and for the International Ramsar Treaty in Switzerland, a clean air and clean water campaign director for various grassroots conservation groups, and most recently the Pacific Region's Representative for the National Wildlife Federation, based in Seattle.  In Oregon, Matt has served as a park ranger at Crater Lake National Park, a program leader for Multnomah County Outdoor School, and helped build program and capacity at the Association of Northwest Steelheaders.

Matt has a biology degree from Dartmouth College and a Master's of Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

Matt enjoys seeing the big picture of conservation and meeting people where they are to find solutions to complex and hairy issues.  Because the public lands of Oregon's high desert country have no shortage of these issues, Matt convinced his wife Paula to leave Seattle and move with him to Bend.  Fortunately, Paula likes the sun and Matt has new country to fish, hunt, and explore, so it's a good deal.  Matt is looking forward to working with ONDA's dedicated volunteers, donors, staff and partners to keep Oregon's high desert big and wild.

Allison Crotty

Development Director
allison@onda.org

When Allison, a Massachusetts native, decided to take a trip to explore the National Parks in several Western States, she had no idea it would lead to a new direction in her life. It wasn’t long before she left her nonprofit career in Boston behind to start a new one in Colorado. And when the opportunity to relocate to Bend presented itself in 2005, Allison jumped at the chance to explore a new part of the country.

Allison holds a B.A. in Political Science from Fairfield University. Her diverse nonprofit background includes traveling nationwide managing logistics for multi-day breast cancer walks, work in the development office of a Massachusetts university and a 5-year stint in Vail, CO organizing international athletic events. Since moving to Bend, Allison has managed a capital fundraising campaign for a local human service nonprofit organization and worked in health care. 

For Allison, joining ONDA in November of 2010 and having the opportunity to focus her efforts on preserving Oregon’s native deserts is the culmination of a life-long love of the outdoors, a new-found passion for Oregon’s natural wonders and a career dedicated to helping connect people to the causes they care about.

Barksdale Brown

General Manager
hbbrown@onda.org

Bark joined ONDA shortly after moving with his family to Bend from Bologna Italy.  While Bark was born in Ohio, he grew up in Albuquerque New Mexico.  His time in New Mexico was interrupted by a four year stint in Haiti where his parents worked at a local hospital.

He holds a B.A. in communications from the University of Colorado and a law degree from the San Francisco Law School.  He also holds a Masters in Taxation from Golden Gate University.  After practicing law in the Bay Area for seven years, he moved with his family to Perth Australia where he worked for an Internet service company for four years.

After a short stint back in Albuquerque, the Brown family moved to Italy for two years where they attempted to master Italian.  While living in Italy, Bark took a job as a trustee with a Pittsburgh based family trust.

The Browns enjoy hiking, biking and skiing, thus making Bend the ideal spot to settle down in the U.S. 
 

Devon Comstock

devon@onda.org

 
Devon was born in Northern California before migrating to Oregon with her dad in 1990. She lived in Bend before moving to London. Devon stayed in England for 10 years where she completed high school and received a BSc in Biology from Liverpool JM University. After graduation she traveled the world and volunteered at wildlife sanctuaries in Thailand and Bolivia. From there she returned to the US where she became enamored with raptors and other winged creatures. Devon worked for Hawkwatch International for many seasons as an educator and a bander. Her favorite hawk is the desert dwelling Ferruginous hawk.  Besides bird watching Devon loves to fish, though she is not very good at it, hike and enjoy the fresh air.
Devon is currently pursuing her Masters of Natural Resources with the University of Idaho.

Gena Goodman-Campbell

gena@onda.org

Gena joined ONDA as the Badlands Wilderness Coordinator in spring 2007.  With the passage of the Badlands Wilderness Act in 2009, she is now focusing her time with ONDA protecting more desert wilderness in Central Oregon.

Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Gena enjoyed exploring the wetlands and rivers around her home.  She graduated with a BA in Political Science from Colorado College where she furthered her passion for all mountain-related activities, and could not resist the opportunity to return to Oregon upon graduation to work with the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) at Central Oregon Community College.  After organizing voter mobilization campaigns, petition drives and wilderness hikes with the wonderful COCC students, Gena made the move onto ONDA’s staff to focus her energy on protecting the wild deserts she has grown to love.

When she’s not playing outside, Gena enjoys working on a variety of unfinished art projects, watching and playing soccer and cooking. 

Jefferson Jacobs

Wilderness Stewardship Coordinator
jjacobs@onda.org

Jeff joined ONDA in January of 2008. Originally from Maine, Jeff graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in Wildlife Ecology, a concentration in International Conservation and a minor in Spanish.  Jeff worked through school conducting GIS research on the impacts of forestry practices, and also for four seasons as a river ranger for the BLM on a Wild and Scenic river in interior Alaska.  After earning his Masters studying caribou and Peregrine Falcons in Alaska, Jeff worked as the Biological Inventory Coordinator for the National Park Service where he helped organize and finalize the vertebrate and plant inventories of over 19 million acres of Arctic Parklands.  Most recently Jeff worked in Hawaii for two years on projects developing the monitoring and the management of native plants, Nene, Io and Hawaiian hoary bats.  Jeff and his wife were drawn to Bend by its proximity to numerous Wilderness Areas and the wide variety of outdoor activities available.

Liz Nysson

Energy Policy Coordinator
liznysson@onda.org

Liz joined ONDA in August 2009 as the Climate Change Coordinator. The title has since changed to Energy Policy Coordinator. 

Originally from Michigan, Liz migrated west in 2001 to attend the University of Wyoming in Laramie. There, she fell in love with mountain ranges, the arid climate, and sagebrush steppe ecosystems. After graduation in 2006, Liz moved north to Missoula, MT where she did an AmeriCorps term in the Office for Civic Engagement and worked as a volunteer researcher for the Wilderness Institute.  

Before coming to Bend, Liz completed her Master’s of Science in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  Her research focused on strategies used by nongovernmental organizations to conserve long distance big game migrations in Western places experiencing increased energy and residential development.

Chris Hansen

Owyhee Wilderness Coordinator
chansen@onda.org

Chris joined ONDA in September 2009 as the Owyhee Wilderness Coordinator.  A native Idahoan, Chris' childhood summers were spent sleeping in the pop-up trailer and wandering through the sagebrush with a dog.  He went on to attend (Albertson) College of Idaho, where he graduated with a B.A. in History and minors in Psychology and Latin American Studies.

Following school, Chris backpacked through Central America and toured by bicycle down the Oregon and California coasts.  He spent his summers in the Idaho backcountry building trails for the Forest Service and fighting fire with the BLM, jobs that helped to enforce his ideal that the West is defined by hard work, innovation and respect for the land. 

Chris is looking forward to working with the rural communities that have helped to nurture his perspective on the land and life.   

Mac Lacy

lacy@onda.org

 Academic Credentials

J.D., cum laude, 2001, Lewis & Clark Law School

M.S., 1998, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Geography)

B.A., 1996, Washington and Lee University (Geology and Anthropology)

Professional Background

Mac joined ONDA in September 2001 as staff attorney, having served as a student law clerk for the organization beginning in 1999. His cases focus on wilderness, grazing and ORV issues on eastern Oregon's public lands. Mac has litigated under the Wilderness Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Steens Act, National Forest Management Act, Taylor Grazing Act, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and other federal environmental laws. He also handles ONDA's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation.

Mac has published articles addressing water pollution from grazing under the Clean Water Act; advocating for a comprehensive public lands soil protection law; and controlling water spreading with Bureau of Reclamation water via the Endangered Species Act in order to protect threatened and endangered fish species. As a student at NWSL, Mac received several awards, including the Bernard O’Rourke Award for published work and induction into the Cornelius Honor Society.
 
In his Masters thesis, Mac explored the late Quaternary geomorphic and pedologic history of a region of currently stabilized sand dunes in central Wisconsin. He finally made his way west and attended Lewis & Clark Law School for his J.D., graduating in May 2001.

Aaron Killgore

John Day Coordinator

akillgore@onda.org

Aaron began working with ONDA in March 2008 as the John Day Coordinator.  He brings to this position experience working with landowners on grazing issues in Africa, South America, and the U.S.

Aaron was born and raised on the Kansas prairies, where the deer and the antelope play.  Prior to graduation from the University of Kansas (B.A. Biology), he spent two years at the Universidad de Costa Rica, concentrating on management issues in artesian fisheries, coral reef ecology, and identifying medicinal uses of tropical plants.  After several years of field projects in the Southern U.S., Chile, and Alaska, he received his M.Sc. (Fisheries and Wildlife Science) from New Mexico State University.  His thesis topic focused on how mammal disturbances influence semi-arid grassland soil heterogeneity and their implications for rangeland restoration.  After graduation, he was awarded a NSEP David L Boren graduate fellowship for research in South Africa.  As part of his work there, he formed strong relationships to previously disadvantaged landowners in the Western Cape and disseminated techniques and information about rangeland monitoring and assessment.