Staff and Board

Will is originally from Montana where he grew up hiking and foraging in the mountains. He earned his B.S. from Montana State University and went on to teach high school agriculture for four years before moving to Korea and teaching English as a second language.

Will returned to the U.S. to pursue an M.S. in agriculture economics from Purdue University and an MBA from Indiana University. While studying, he worked as a fundraiser for the National FFA Foundation in Indianapolis. He later moved to Iowa to run a non-profit and lead Agriculture in the Classroom efforts working with students, teachers, and community members.

His role with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service brought him to Oregon where he was the outreach coordinator and tribal liaison. He connected historically underserved producers with technical and financial assistance for conservation programs. He is passionate about public lands and wild spaces and helping others learn about natural systems.

Will enjoys international travel, hiking, cooking and reading. With his wife and daughter, he spends time searching for agates on the coast, foraging mushrooms in the woods, and chasing waterfalls on mountains. He is a registered parliamentarian and volunteers with National FFA Organization.

Cathy came to the Portland area from the cornfields of Illinois, bringing with her a BA in history and 20+ years of nonprofit finance and administrative experience. She has worked in a variety of sectors ranging from religious to outdoor education, but loves being able to help protect the outdoors spaces that we love and cherish. In her free time, she keeps busy cultivating a Backyard Habitat, hiking or camping with her husband and dogs, and rowing on the Willamette several times a week.

Coming from a background leading environmental programs in higher education, Jade holds a PhD in English with a specialization in environmental literature and environmental justice and brings experience in communications, program development, and community-building. She’s excited to help develop Bark’s communications strategy and community partnerships. When she’s not writing, collaborating with our community members, or dreaming up ideas for environmental justice programming for Bark, you can find her in her garden, hiking in the forest with her pup, Petal, nose deep in a good book, or riding her trusty fixie around Portland.

Gabi was born and raised in Hood River, OR surrounded by orchards, pastures, and the sound of frogs at night. After receiving her BFA in Illustration from Pacific Northwest College of Art, Gabi worked with a small and dedicated team to launch the print magazine she created for her senior thesis called RENDER: Feminist Food & Culture Quarterly, and published five issues while working as a line and production cook. After that, she worked nearly 8 years as the Marketing & Design Manager and Collective Co-Manager at People’s Food Co-op, a 50+ year old vegetarian grocery co-op driven by its social, environmental, and food justice values. Gabi is excited to build community at Bark, and to put her art and design skills to use for the good of Mt. Hood. When Gabi’s out and about, she makes sure to tell every dog and cat how good they are. 

Jordan began his time at Bark as a volunteer, participating in forest and wetland surveys and interacting with Bark staff and volunteers. He quickly fell in love with Bark’s mission and vision for the future. Jordan’s passion for forest ecology and management began as a wildlife technician for the Forest Service, studying spotted owls and fishers amongst the granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. That passion turned to conviction while earning a Master’s degree studying sustainable ecosystems management at Harvard University Extension School, where his Master’s project focused on understanding the nuances of forest thinning practices on federal lands across the Pacific Northwest. A self-proclaimed “forest nerd,” he loves talking about forests and challenging contemporary perspectives on conservation. In his free time, Jordan loves hiking, backpacking, watching baseball, staring at trees, and seeking out old forest remnants.

Contact Jordan at jordan@bark-out.org

Starting as a volunteer and now Bark’s resident beaver expert, Meg works to restore natural habitats and promote biodiversity, including by doing beaver habitat restoration in the vicinity of Mt. Hood. Her work focuses on identifying areas on Mt. Hood to conduct restoration projects aimed at enticing beavers onto new areas of the landscape. Her work also includes identifying habitat suitable for future beaver reintroduction as well as sharing that data with key players in the Oregon beaver world. Additionally, she leads Barks wetland mapping verification project which works to field verify, and thus protect, wetland areas near proposed timber projects. She co-teaches a class at Portland State University called Environmental Justice and Salmon, wherein students learn about not only the environmental impacts of beavers but the socio-cultural history and impacts as well. She also leads Barks partnership with Parrott Creek Child and Family Services Cultural Ecology Project, focused on Indigenous-led restoration on their 80-acre property. Meg moved to Portland in 2018 where she completed her bachelor’s in environmental science. She hails from Lake Beluthahatchee in North Florida, a black water swamp chock full of gators, bald cypress, venomous snakes, and birds of prey where she learned early on about the power, beauty and importance of the natural world and our place within it.

Contact Meg at Meg@Bark-Out.org

Rynn Thompson is a Western herbalist and climate justice activist who serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Bark. With a background in labor management, collective action, field botany, and ecology, Rynn brings a unique perspective to their environmental protection and social equity work. As a full-time campaigner for B-Corp focused on renewable energy, Rynn advocates for clean energy solutions and supports the company’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Business Resource Group. Before joining the board, Rynn volunteered with Bark and supported Bark’s commitment to defending critical habitats in the Pacific Northwest. Rynn believes in the transformative power of grassroots movements to address their interconnected challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, and social injustice, and works to live in alignment with these values.

Mia is an early childhood educator, and a Bark volunteer since 2017. Her volunteer work with Bark is primarily in the area of Forest Watch, including groundtruthing, writing public comments on proposed Forest Service projects (timber sales), leading outings to the forest, participation on the Forest Watch Committee, and leading trainings on comment-writing and participation in the NEPA process for other volunteers. Mia really loves scrambling around off-trail in the forest with her friends, sleeping in a hammock between swaying trees, and engaging in shared learning.

Growing up in the Southeast, Hale fell in love with the beaches and marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry, and the rivers and trails of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As a former Bark staff member, Hale developed and maintained Bark’s annual budget, and implemented its current savings and investment regimes. He is currently a student at Lewis & Clark Law School, and before moving to the Pacific Northwest, he earned his BA in History from American University, and worked as a Legislative Correspondent on Capitol Hill. As a congressional staffer, Hale managed a number of tasks, including the constituent correspondence program, and the energy and natural resources policy portfolios. As Treasurer, Hale is dedicated to supporting Bark’s mission and safeguarding its fiscal health

Jaymee brings a love for wild places and a passion for advancing impactful philanthropic investment to the Bark board. Her career spans 24 years in nonprofit development and management in academic, arts, and educational institutions, including 18 years as a frontline fundraiser, 16 years in higher education, and more than 11 years leading development teams. She currently serves as the Vice President of Development at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI). Jaymee and her spouse, two children, and their canine family member (the two cats stay home!) spend as much time as possible in nature—hiking, camping, observing wildlife—especially at the Oregon coast and in and around Mt. Hood National Forest.

Rebecca Bowe oversees a team of communications strategists at Earthjustice in the role of Public Affairs and Communications Officer for Lands, Wildlife and Oceans. At Earthjustice she has taken on communications initiatives aimed at defending the Arctic from oil and gas drilling, protecting old-growth forests across U.S. national forestlands, and more. Prior to joining the staff of Earthjustice in 2016, Rebecca spent about a decade as a reporter and editor, mainly focused on stories relating to the environment and social justice. Her reporting has appeared in The Guardian, KQED, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, and other outlets. Her work was recognized with several journalism awards. In 2023, Rebecca released a podcast, “Sandblasted at the Shipyard,” which is available on Spotify.

Born and raised in Portland, Drew has been fortunate to call Oregon home for nearly 40 years. Some of his earliest and fondest memories emanate from Mt. Hood, leading riparian revitalization crews and standing up buck-and-poll fencing to protect watershed habitat. Drew graduated from Dartmouth College with a focus on Philosophy and Native American Studies, and then returned home to complete his JD at the University of Oregon. Since then, he has spent Nearly 15 years at Nike, Inc. in leadership positions across strategy & finance, and remains committed to environmental advocacy and political activism. Drew joined the Bark Board in 2024, and enthusiastically commits his background in law, governance, and partnerships to the verdant health of the Mt. Hood National Forest