Advisors

• Energy Development on Public Lands Surrounding the SLV
• The Village at Wolf Creek, Protection of Roadless Areas
• Travel Management Planning on Public Lands
• San Luis Valley Household Drinking Water Well Testing Project

Supporters

• Brown Foundation
• El Pomar Foundation
• Fund for Wild Nature
• Maki Foundation
• New Land Foundation
• Patagonia
• Peradam Foundation
• Temple Buell Foundation
• Wolcott Foundation
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Environmental Justice Program
• Many Individuals, Families, and Businesses
Thank you for making our work possible

Vision Statement

Through education, stewardship practices, community investment and public policy advocacy efforts, SLVEC fosters understanding of complex ecosystems and the constructive interplay between human cultures and the natural world. SLVEC embraces and promotes the preservation of beauty, biodiversity and the health of the San Luis Valley and upper Rio Grande region.

Currently, SLVEC helps organize over 100 volunteers involved in different working groups. The mailing list consists of over 4,000 individuals and 500 members.

Mission Statement

The mission of the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) is to protect and restore, through research, education, and advocacy, the biological diversity, ecosystems, and natural resources of the Upper Rio Grande bioregion, balancing ecological values and human needs.

Board of Directors

Richard Luckemeier
Board Chair
Richard arrived in the SLV in 1983 and is an Engineer with the City of Alamosa. He is an original SLVEC board member and rejoined the Board in 2007. Richard is an avid hiker, camper and outdoorsman. He spends his spare time roaming in the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges. He likes to track and photograph the Mexican Wolf in New Mexico.

Suzanne Shriber
Board Secretary
Suzanne arrived in the SLV in 1978. She was first a bus driver for a Migrants school and then became a guidance counselor for the Center Schools System. She did this for 23 years and recently retired. She has been in education for 30 years. She graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She is very involved with the Water Quality Project and works closely with the SLV-LEAP HIGH working group.

		Howard Cox, Del Norte, Colorado Board Treasurer Howard has lived in the San Luis Valley since 1985.  He works as a Physician’s Assistant at Valley Wide Health Services and the San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center.  Howard is an avid backcountry skier, climber, canyon-eer, and “river rat.”  He became a member of SLVEC in order to protect Wolf Creek Pass from development, and joined the Board in 1999.
		David Montgomery Board Member Dave is a nationally known landscape painter and a manager for an agribusiness company. Born in North Dakota in 1952, he has lived in Colorado since 1958. Dave has been a persistent voice for conservation and the environment in the San Luis Valley for the past 25 years.
		Rex Shepperd, Creede, Colorado Board Member Rex is a long-time resident of Creede and has actively worked to protect the wild country in the Creede area.  He is an artist, Methodist minister, and avid hunter and outdoorsman. He is SLVEC's timber and forest expert and owns Shepperd Woodworks, a small woodworking shop that creates wooden crafts and boxes from downed timber.
		Philip Madonna, Crestone, Colorado Board Member Phil is a Colorado native, retired in Crestone and enjoying the good life. Prior to retirement, he had a teaching career at the University of Colorado, Health Sciences Center, Denver, which was followed by a psychotherapy practice in Englewood, Colorado. He has two smart and dashing children, both married, and a granddaughter, Bella, who is indeed beautiful. Having been privileged to spend a lifetime at play in the Colorado mountains, he feels it is time to give something back by participating in the work of SLVEC.
		Christine Canaly, Crestone, Colorado Director Chris joined SLVEC in June 2000.  Chris mobilized key local and regional constituencies to support legislation for the Great Sand Dunes National Park and remained on their Management Plan Advisory Board thru 2006. She originally worked with the Citizens for San Luis Valley Water to protect the Baca Ranch from a trans-basin water diversion and received congressional recognition for that work. She has voluntarily developed organizational infrastructure for a number of Valley non-profit restoration and conservation organizations. Before moving to the SLV in 1988, she worked as a Engineer with CNN Headlines in Atlanta, Georgia and NBC News in New York City.
		Matie Belle Lakish Office Manager/Grant Coordinator Matie Belle joined SLVEC in the fall of 2007. She is an original Board member of SLVEC and spent years working on the Rio Grande National Forest Management Plan. She was a nutrition educator for the CSU Extension office and has lived in the San Luis Valley since 1993. She enjoys community outreach and education, writing about the SLV and it s environment. She enjoys hiking, creating herbal remedies and preparing wild rabbit. She makes her own soap too.
		Jim Turnbull Board Member Native Californian. Attended Northern Arizona University School of Forestery (Grad '80), Worked for Colorado State Forest Service (Silviculture, Timber Mgt. & Planning), Southwest Forest Ind. (Timber Cruiser, Forester, Commercial Timber Admin.), City of Scottsdale, AZ. (Water Resources Admin, Water Conservation, Policy and Impact Fees), Retired in 2000 and returned to Colorado. Presently Mineral County Coordinator, ColoradoWild (2005).