Board of Directors
President
Owen Wozniak
Longtime Portland resident Owen Wozniak (he/him) is a program manager at the Land Trust Alliance, where he supports nonprofit land trusts protecting climate-resilient natural places across the Pacific Northwest. He's a founding partner in The Intertwine Alliance, former board treasurer, and board president since spring 2021. Owen is the author of several hiking and biking guidebooks, including "Biking Portland," and loves to ski, bike and explore the Portland region’s parks and open spaces with his 9-year-old son.
Vice President
Eva Valadrian, Valadrian Creative & Consulting
Eva Valadrian (she/her) is a Pacific Northwest native who grew up in the old-growth forests along the Oregon Coast. For over a decade she has worked as a multicultural marketing and communications strategist in Portland. She co-founded Valadrian Creative and Consulting, a DEI consulting firm and media production house, where she works on actionable strategies for building partnerships across difference for private, non-profit and governmental agencies in the public lands sphere. Eva is a GIS Specialist focused on using spatial data to illuminate inequities in access to outdoor spaces, allowing the data to inform strategy development to create a more equitable, diverse and inclusive outdoor community. As the content and communications manager for Northwest Family Daycation, a community-based program that The Intertwine Alliance created in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she enjoys creating fun and engaging ways for kids (and their parents!) to connect with the nature near them. Eva is a mother of four living in a mixed-race partnership, a traveler, a dancer, and a passionate naturalist.
Treasurer
Nicole Blizzard, Moda Health
A native Oregonian, Nicole Blizzard (she/her) is a Certified Public Accountant who currently serves as a Financial Accounting Supervisor at Moda Health. Nicole has an extensive accounting background, with experience in both public and private accounting, particularly in the healthcare industry. Nicole graduated with a bachelor’s degree from George Fox University, where she was an integral member of the women’s basketball team for four years, helping lead the team to a national championship matchup. Nicole’s experience in sports has helped shape her professional experience and leadership. In addition to her work with The Intertwine Alliance, Nicole serves as the treasurer of the board of directors for Nursingale, a nonprofit that provides in-home, family-centered care for medically fragile children and young adults, a cause that she is very passionate about. Outside of her professional responsibilities, Nicole enjoys spending time outdoors, enjoying the many lakes, rivers, mountains and beaches that Oregon has to offer. She looks forward to combining her passion for the outdoors with her work for The Intertwine Alliance.
Karen Foster, KFCurates
Karen Foster (she/her), founder of KF Curates, is an Experience Curator, Community Connector, and Diversity Equity Inclusion Facilitator. She creates strategies and events that bring people together, to create meaningful transcultural experiences to influence systemic change. Karen believes in creating spaces that inspire, educate and empower others to take bold action and create change within themselves, their communities, and corporate spaces.
Ted Labbe, Urban Greenspaces Institute
Ted Labbe (he/him) is the Executive Director of the Urban Greenspaces Institute. He is a conservation biologist with 25 years professional experience in the public, private and nonprofit sectors delivering conservation planning, geospatial habitat mapping and assessment, community organizing, water conservation, as well as policy analysis and advocacy. Ted has worked with Tribes, state and local agencies. He is a former member of the Portland Utility Board, and has served on numerous other public advisory bodies, as well as being the founding board member and an active volunteer with Depave. Ted is a greywater-gardening-native plant enthusiast and enjoys trail running, bike packing, river running, and exploring wild and urban nature with his wife Kelly and daughter Maia.
Jackie Lang, Waste Management
Jackie Lang (she/her) leads Waste Management’s strategic engagement and public affairs in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. She started her career as a journalist before transitioning to community engagement, issue management and media relations in Washington, DC, Washington and Oregon. Raised in a farming community in rural Montana, Jackie learned early the power of nature and stewardship as a pathway for healthy, resilient communities. She chairs The Intertwine Alliance's Development Committee.
Georgena Moran, Access Recreation and Access for All, LLC
Georgena Moran (she/her) is an ICC-certified Accessibility Specialist with over 20 years of experience, and an outdoor enthusiast. She is well versed in ADA and ABA Accessibility Standards, applying them to facilities and parks, and specializing in hiking trail assessments. Georgena is the founder and Project Manager of Access Recreation (AR) and the co-owner of Access for All, LLC, consulting, training and advocating for the rights and empowerment of people with disabilities. As a person living with a mobility disability, she led the effort to bring more recreational opportunities to people of all abilities in the Portland region through the AR projects Guidelines for Providing Trail Information to People with Disabilities for trail managers and AccessTrails for information on trails for users of all abilities.
Bob Sallinger, Portland Audubon
Bob Sallinger is the Director of Conservation at the Audubon Society of Portland, where he has worked since 1992. His current responsibilities include directing Portland Audubon’s conservation policy initiatives, wildlife research initiatives, Backyard Habitat Certification Program, and Wildlife Care Center. Bob’s passion for conservation was developed early exploring the woods of Massachusetts and later on solo hikes from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail and from Canada to Southern Colorado on the Continental Divide. Bob has a B.A. in Biology from Reed College and a J.D. from Lewis and Clark Law School. He has worked as an adjunct professor of law at Lewis and Clark Law School and as an elected director at East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District. He currently serves as board president of Humane Oregon. Bob lives in Northeast Portland with his wife Elisabeth Neely, three children and an assortment of dogs, goats, chickens, cat and other critters.
Noah Siegel, WMPA Strategies
Noah Siegel (he/him) is the Vice President of WMPA Strategies. His team offers strategic direction to public, private and non-profit organizations looking to realize significant change. Noah has direct experience in the fields of transportation, urban development, parks and natural areas, climate change and the environment, public finance, and other emerging issues. He has over 25 years of experience on stages big and small. Noah served as a Foreign Service Officer in the Middle East, Deputy Director at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, and was policy advisor to two Portland mayors and the Metro Regional Government. Noah chairs The Intertwine Alliance's Policy & Strategy Committee.
Council of Public Advisors
Dr. Erin Abernethy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Dr. Erin Foster Abernethy (she/her) works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Ecological Service's division as the Portland Area Urban Conservation Coordinator. After over a decade in academia (which included researching dam impacts on rivers in the southern U.S. and the Grand Canyon), Erin has joined the USFWS to expand its focus on urban conservation work and partnerships with historically excluded communities. Erin enjoys recreating on whitewater rivers, hunting and urban foraging.
Jon Blasher, Metro
Jonathan Blasher’s love of rugged Oregon landscapes has taken him from building shelters as a child growing up on the outskirts of Eugene to building a nonprofit dedicated to play — and now to being the director of Metro’s Parks and Nature Department. Jon (he/him) took the helm in August 2017 to guide Metro’s work to protect clean water, restore fish and wildlife habitat, and connect people with nature close to home. Jon spent most of his career prior to Metro with Playworks, a nonprofit organization that collaborates with schools to create safe, fun and inclusive opportunities for young people to play. After starting as an AmeriCorps program coordinator in California, he went on to launch the organization’s Pacific Northwest chapter in 2009. As executive director he expanded the chapter’s reach to 150 schools across Oregon, Washington and Idaho, with a focus on at-risk communities. Jon also serves on the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission.
Michael Bork, North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District
Michael Bork (he/him) is the North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District Director, and has only called Oregon home for the past year. He and his wife of 22 years, Mary, plus their nine animals, lived the past decade in Fairbanks, Alaska. Michael has spent 25 years working in parks and recreation management, in Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, twice in Alaska, and now in Oregon. He has served on many state and national boards, including serving two terms as the president of the Alaska Recreation and Park Association. While in Alaska, Michael was awarded the Parks and Recreation Professional of the Year, and the Association’s highest honor, the Bob Robertson Service Award. He is a Certified Parks and Recreation Professional (CPRP), and in 2016 earned his master’s degree in industrial & organizational psychology with a specialization in workplace wellness and leadership development. In addition to spoiling his four dogs, cat and four parrots, Michael enjoys e-biking, playing the ukulele, and making balloon animals.
Ross Hoover, City of Tualatin Parks & Recreation
Ross Hoover (he/him) has dedicated over 23 years to parks and community, including roles in park planning and development, recreation services management and as a department director, working in both the Seattle and Portland Metro areas. He is currently the Director of Parks & Recreation at the City of Tualatin. As a past member of the Oregon Recreation and Park Association Board of Directors, he led the development of Leadership Academy in partnership with Portland State University. Ross holds a degree in Environmental Studies from Western Washington University and is a graduate of the Senior Management Program at the University of Texas-LBJ School of Public Affairs. Ross enjoys hiking, backpacking and kayaking with his family.
Adena Long, Portland Parks & Recreation
A native New Yorker, Adena Long (she/her) began her NYC Parks career as a seasonal Urban Park Ranger in 1997. She steadily moved up the ranks, and in 2010 became the first woman, and youngest-ever, to serve as Parks Borough Commissioner for Staten Island. In 2018, she was recognized as manager of the year for New York City Parks. Adena has served as Deputy Commissioner for Urban Park Service and Public Programs since 2016. Adena assumed her role as Director of Portland Parks & Recreation in February 2019.
Doug Menke, Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
Doug Menke (he/him) was appointed general manager of the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District in November 2006. He has enjoyed almost 40 years of public service at THPRD since joining the district in 1984. Menke oversees delivery of high-quality park and recreation programs, services and facilities to more than 230,000 people in the greater Beaverton area. As GM, Menke manages a staff of park and recreation professionals supported by taxpayers and governed by a five-member Board of Directors.