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Staff
ONDA Staff
Brent Fenty, Executive Director
Barksdale Brown, General Manager
WendyKay Gewiss, Development Director
Devon Comstock, Development Assistant
Aaron Killgore, John Day Coordinator
Gena Goodman-Campbell, Wilderness Coordinator
Jefferson Jacobs, Outreach Coordinator
Liz Nysson, Climate Change Coordinator
Chris Hansen, Owyhee Wilderness Coordinator
Alexa Bontrager, Restoration Coordinator
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.
WendyKay Gewiss
Development Director
wendykay@onda.org
In January 2008 WendyKay joined ONDA
as the Development Director.
WendyKay grew up in Corbett Oregon and spent many years vacationing in and around Bend. After moving to Central Oregon in 1995, she fell in love with the high desert. Working as an account manager for a local company gave her the opportunity to travel to all corners of Central Oregon. Community participation has always been a priority, whether participating in the Pole Pedal Paddle or volunteering for trail restoration projects.
In 2003 she and her husband moved to the San Juan Islands where she managed the Vacation Rental Department for Windermere. Being immersed in the tourism industry gave her the opportunity to see both sides of the debate over growth and conservation. After enjoying two years of the quiet and secluded island lifestyle and occasional ferry delay (breakdown), they decided to make their way back to Bend.
She and her husband are very excited to be back “home”. They look forward to skiing, camping, fishing and hiking in all of their favorite places. In her opinion, Central Oregon is simply the most special place on earth.
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
Development Assistant 
Devon joined ONDA in September 2007.
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.
Gena Goodman-Campbell
Central Oregon Wilderness Coordinator
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
Outreach Coordinator
.orgJeff joined ONDA as the new Outreach Coordinator 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 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 where he worked on projects developing and implementing, monitoring and the management plans for 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 
Climate Change Coordinator
liznysson@onda.org
Liz joined ONDA in August 2009 as the Climate Change 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.
Liz loves spending time outdoors and is excited to explore all
of Oregon’s high desert!
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.
Alexa Bontrager
Restoration Coordinator
alexa@onda.org
Alexa joined ONDA in September 2009 as our new Restoration Coordinator. Having spent far too much
time living in large metropolitan areas, Alexa was drawn to Central Oregon for
its beauty, open spaces, and wild lands. Alexa recently worked as the Managing
Editor of The Condor, the journal of the Cooper Ornithological Society.
She holds a PhD in Biology, focusing on Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution, from
the University of California, San Diego. She has conducted research on a
variety of projects including her thesis on the color-pattern evolution and breeding
ecology of Asian warblers in India. Science, education and outreach are among Alexa’s priorities; her experiences include developing hands-on
biology activities for high school students at a public high school in Chicago
and work as a field instructor at Outdoor Science School on the Oregon Coast.
She is enthusiastic about applying her energies to ONDA’s environmental
efforts.
Mac Lacy
Senior Attorney
Academic Credentials
J.D., cum laude, 2001, Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College
M.S., 1998, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Geography)
B.A., 1996, Washington and Lee University (Geology and Anthropology)
Professional Background
Mac joined ONDA in the fall of 2001 as staff attorney. His cases focus on wilderness, grazing, and OHV issues on eastern Oregon's public lands, and generally involve claims under the National Environmental Policy Act, Federal Land Policy and Management Act, National Forest Management Act, Taylor Grazing Act, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and others. 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 NWSL for his J.D., graduating in May 2001.
David Becker
Staff Attorney
Dave joined ONDA in January 2008 as staff attorney. He earned an LL.M. summa cum laude from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College in 2006, becoming the first LL.M. student inducted into the Cornelius Honor Society and sharing the Bernard O’Rourke Award for his article on the upcoming removal of Condit Dam and the restoration of the White Salmon River. During his year at Lewis & Clark, Dave worked with ONDA on an appeal of two district court cases involving grazing in the Malheur National Forest, successfully arguing ONDA’s case before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He resumes work on behalf of Oregon’s high desert after a year in Utah as staff attorney for Western Resource Advocates.
Dave grew up exploring the forests and gorges of Western New York and received his J.D. summa cum laude from Cornell Law School in 1999. While at Cornell he served on the Board of Directors of the Finger Lakes Land Trust and volunteered with a variety of local non-profit groups. Dave has clerked for federal judges on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and in the District of Oregon, and, before moving west, he practiced environmental law for five years in the private sector with Sidley & Austin and Latham & Watkins. He has published articles on the Roadless Rule and other administrative law topics, tribal reserved water rights, and the pedagogic history of natural resources law. Dave also holds an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, an M.A. in international relations from the Australian National University, and an A.B. in international affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
Aaron Killgore
John Day Coordinator
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.
