Vickie
Taton
Field
Representative
Sierra Business Council
Vickie has
lived in the Eastern
Sierra since 1980 with a few journeys outside the region for education
and work. Currently she lives in Bishop, works for Sierra Business
Council as the Eastern Sierra Representative and project manager, and
teaches as adjunct faculty for Cerro Coso Community College. Vickie is
committed to supporting local agriculture, ranching and value-added
agriculture in the region as valuable economic, cultural, and
historical resources. She also enjoys cooking and eating
good,
fresh, locally grown food.
Joel
Ellis
Simis
Ranch
Farmer Extraordinaire
Joel Ellis
has lived in the Eastern Sierra Mono Basin since 1993, and
started full-time farming in 2006. He and his wife, Kristie, raise
goats, poultry, pigs, and operate a vegetable garden at the Simis
Ranch, just northwest of Mono Lake, at elevation 6800'. Their garden
specializes in head lettuce, carrots, beets, and brassicas - crops
which thrive in the cool summer temperatures of the Mono Basin
Ron Cohen
MMSA, Director
of Government Relations and Environmental Affairs
Ron moved to
the Eastern Sierra
in 1999, and was the on-site owner/operator of Tioga Pass Resort for
eight years. Ron is an attorney, and practiced law in both Los Angeles
and Mammoth Lakes. Ron received a B.A. in Political Science from the
University of California, Santa Barbara, and a J.D. from the
Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago.
Mary
McGurke
Local Food Advocate and Master
Gardener
Mary has
over 20 years of
experience managing and directing community based,
non-profit
organizations dedicated to education, the environment and community.
Currently, Mary is working as a teacher in Inyo County. As a volunteer,
Mary teaches knitting to 4-H youth, serves as an Inyo-Mono County
Master Gardener, and is managing the installation of a Community Garden
in Bishop's City Park. In her free time, Mary enjoys getting into the
backcountry with her husband and two dogs for hiking, backpacking,
flyfishing and wandering around the high Sierra.
Megan
Mahaffey
MLTPA Operations
Director
Over 10
years of creating,
organizing and implementing systems and procedures to reach a
goal. Proven ability to improve operations, impact business
growth and maximize efficiency through management and process
improvements. Megan is a native Californian who has traveled
around the world for education and recreation. She brings
with
her a strong management background, with both experience in budgeting
and bookkeeping. Megan hopes to make Mammoth Lakes a
sustainable
community and improve the quality of life for both residents and
visitors.
Morgan
Lindsay
Project Specialist, Mono
Lake Committee
Morgan
Lindsay originally hails
from New York's Hudson Valley, but now makes her home at Mono Lake in
Lee Vining. After helping start a student farm at Mount Holyoke College
in Massachusetts where she earned an Environmental Studies degree in
Water Science and Policy, Morgan brought her twin passions for good
food and cooperative water policy out west. Morgan looks forward to
helping Sierra Bounty find solutions to the challenges of growing and
distributing affordable, fresh food in the mountains.
Advisory
Committee
Andrea Jones is
the volunteer coordinator for Sierra Bounty. She is also a
local
cafe owner who strives to bring the people of our community the
freshest local produce in Stellar Brew's menu. She has lived
in
the Eastern Sierra her whole life and is dedicated to the
sustainability of our unique area.
Scott Roberts has
spent the last four years in the Eastern Sierra working as an
aquatic ecologist. He has experience working on a small
market
farm in the high desert of New Mexico and on a community garden in
humid Tennessee. He's thrilled to contribute to bringing local food to
the Eastern Sierra.
Sandra Pearce
began visiting the Eastern Sierras at the age of 3, and has been a full
time resident since 2005. She works for the Mono County
Health
Department as the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health (MCAH)
Director, and is currently focused on combating the obesity epidemic
county-wide. She runs the Nutrition & Physical
Activity
Taskforce, and one way she strives to reduce childhood obesity is by
increasing access to, and consumption of, locally grown produce.
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