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Watershed Management Group Staff

lisa@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x2
Lisa Shipek
Lisa Shipek
Executive Director
She/her

Lisa Shipek is a founding member of Watershed Management Group and has served as the Executive Director since 2006. Lisa directs fundraising, strategic development, financial planning, community engagement, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion activities for WMG. She co-directs the River Run Network program and manages the development of the Living Lab & Learning Center. Her specialized skills include developing experiential education programs; building community coalitions; and adapting technical information for public consumption. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and an M.A. in Latin American Studies. Lisa gives back to the community through serving on advisory boards, which has included: Tucson’s Environmental Services Advisory Committee, Tucson’s Transit Task Force, Tucson Conserve to Enhance, and the Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative. Lisa was honored to be invited to join Women at the Top in 2020, a Tucson-based business networking group. She fills her free time with playing ultimate frisbee and dancing and enjoys gardening, bike touring, and camping with her husband Catlow.

calcorn@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x3
Charles Alcorn
Charles Alcorn
Program Manager and Educator
He/him/él

Charlie graduated from Dickinson College in 2012 with a B.S. in Physics and has worked in environmental education and non-profit communications. He ventured from Pennsylvania to Tucson in early 2016 and has become enchanted by the Sonoran Desert and Tucson community. Charlie is passionate about using community education to help drive sustainable decision-making on an individual basis and in city decision-making. In his role at WMG he designs and installs community green infrasturcture projects and oversees WMG's Phoenix Valley based programs. When he isn't talking about water harvesting Charlie likes playing soccer, cooking, and dancing with his two left feet.

abuttrick@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x15
Andrea Buttrick
Development & Events Manager
She/her

Andrea Buttrick grew up hiking the mountains of New Hampshire, now hikes the deserts and mountains of Arizona; and runs wherever she is. She is excited to lend her skills and experience to building a vibrant and engaged stewardship community for WMG; one that both serves and is served by the regeneration of our shared desert watershed. Andrea graduated from Earlham College in Indiana with a degree in Human Development and Social Relations. She moved to the Southwest in 2002, embarking on a path of seemingly disparate careers including Early Childhood Education, bike mechanics, cabinetry; and most recently, Communications at Food Conspiracy Co-op. Each of these, however engaged her gifts for reflective storytelling, and curating vibrant and just community culture. Outside of work, Andrea is the Manager for several music projects. She thoroughly enjoys a good repair, organizational, or archival project; the antics of her husky; hiking and running and reading and swinging in hammocks; exploring gin and gin cocktails; and soaking in time alone and with family.

mcooley@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x12
Melanie Cooley
Melanie Cooley
Admin & Operations Assistant
She/they

Melanie Cooley arrived in Tucson from the Midwest over 30 years ago and fell immediately in love with the Sonoran Desert. Their passions are desert-friendly gardening, habitat restoration, water harvesting, critters, and dance. When not at WMG, she can most likely be found with hands in dirt, tending plants, tracing the path of water across her yard, dancing, or hanging out with her three dogs, five chickens, and desert tortoise named Mr. T. Melanie has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Michigan and is a certified 5Rhythms (movement/dance meditation) teacher. She is deeply interested in the connections between the body of earth and human bodies. She speaks English, basic French and Spanish--and just enough Arabic to have a conversation with a four-year-old. 

rfitzpatrick@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x7
Rebecca Fitzpatrick
Rebecca Fitzpatrick
Restoration Ecologist Project Manager
She/they

Becky fell in love with the landscapes and organisms of the western United States when she studied Natural History and Ecology at Prescott College in Arizona. After attaining her bachelors degree, Becky worked as a wildlife technician on a bear nutritional study in Yellowstone National Park, a trophic cascade study in Waterton Lakes Park, and a bison management study in Montana. She then began teaching wildlife science programs to high school students in the Yellowstone area, which grew into a love of teaching and place-based outdoor education. Becky returned to the southwest and worked for a conservation corps building trail and working on invasive species projects. Becky does her best to balance indoor and outdoor work and to include the use of both her brain and her body. This balance has led her to work as an outdoor educator with Outward Bound, a Wilderness Ranger in the southern Rockies, and in the classroom with the High Mountain Institute and the Alzar School. Having lived in an arid environment for over 15 years, she is inspired by and passionate about water and its use. From the Colorado River to the tops of the San Francisco Peaks, to the Santa Fe Mountains, to the Rio Grande, Becky has adventured, studied, and worked within watersheds of the southwest. She spent time at the United World College in New Mexico with her hands in the dirt at the school farm and her intellect advancing the school’s sustainability goals. Her love for wild places began young, and has continued to grow the more time she spends outdoors near water. She has found no better teacher.

vgaddy@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x18
Valerisa Gaddy
Community Conservation Program Director
sjacobs@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x8
Sky Jacobs
Sky Jacobs
Senior Administrator and IT Manager
He/him/él

Sky is a southwest native who loves our region's diverse biology, culture, and landscapes. He has worked primarily as a nonprofit administrator, naturalist/biologist, IT specialist, and website developer for organizations including Sky Island Alliance, The University of Arizona, SWCA Biological Consultants, National Park Service, among others. Sky is dedicated to protecting the region’s biodiversity through conservation action and lifestyle choices. In his free time, Sky enjoys exploring remote and wild parts of Arizona, Sonora and the greater Southwest, attempting photography, studying birds and plants, and growing native plants in his yard.

pkowalik@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x6
Paul Kowalik
Paul Kowalik
Living Lab Operations Manager
He/him

Paul and his wife Michelle have recently moved to the Tucson area from Cleveland, Ohio. Paul just wrapped up a 32-year career with a fortune 500 company where he had worked in Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Human Resources. He spent part of this career living and working in Europe, and in Asia. As part of what he calls his “retirement plan”, Paul started attending The University of Arizona seeking a degree in Sustainable Build Environments. He is passionate about water reclamation and helping to find ways for people living in the Southwest to better utilize this valuable resource. He began in 2022 as a Docent for WMG and then became part of the staff as Operation Manager at the Living Lab and Learning Center. Paul enjoys traveling, hiking and is a certified rescue SCUBA Diver.

lmonheim@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x9
Lauren Monheim
Lauren Monheim
River Run Network Program Manager
She/her

Lauren has a B.S. in Watershed Hydrology and Management from the University of Arizona. As a Tucson native, Lauren has a passion for the environment and the community in this area and wants to continue spreading this excitement for nature, water and people through her work with the River Run Network. Lauren enjoys hiking, drinking coffee, and reading in her spare time.

jmurrieta@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x13
Joaquin Murrieta-Saldivar
Joaquin Murrieta-Saldivar
Cultural Ecologist Director
He/Him

Joaquin specializes in building resilience in diverse communities by enhancing the connections between people, culture, and natural resources. Joaquin brings vast experience on the multicultural border region between the US and Mexico, where he has implemented community-based approaches to watershed management, river restoration, geo-tourism, conservation of native peoples, and best practices for the ranching community. His past work has been with the Sonoran Institute and as a consultant for National Geographic Society and other organizations. Joaquin is a graduate of the University of Arizona with MSc in Natural Resources and Agricultural Economics and a PhD in Renewable Natural Resources Studies with an emphasis on management, policy and economics of natural resources. A native of Sonora, Mexico and resident of Arizona, Joaquin is fluent in both Spanish and English.

jregalado@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x5
Julie Regalado
Julie Regalado
Education Program Director
She/they

Julie has over 30 years of experience teaching in experiential, place-based, embodied education both in the US and in Australia, where she lived for fifteen years. Julie made her way to Tucson in 2023, reconnecting to the Sonoran Desert near where she grew up (in San Bernardino, Ca), and the land of her father's family across the border in Sonora and Chihuahua. Early university studies in the sciences and work in a soils science lab evolved into a performing arts focus and Regalado was active in California in the modern dance world. Often working in non-formal settings, Julie brings a perspective encompassing a social-ecological and relational approach towards building more constructive relationships - human and more-than-human. She holds a BA in Liberal Studies from UC Riverside, a MFA in Dance from Mills College, and a MEd in Social Ecology from Western Sydney University, where she also recently completed a M.Res researching how a place-based embodied awareness practice might foster ecological consciousness. In her free time, she explores her new town of Tucson on foot and scrambles over boulders in the Dragoon Mountains. She loves cooking, eating, reading, gardening and speaks passable French and Spanish.

lsalgado@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x20
Luis Salgado
Luis Salgado
Green Infrastructure Project Manager
He/him

Born and raised in the Colorado River Delta region, Luis always wondered why his native hometown of San Luis Río Colorado was named after a river that seldom flowed through there. As a result, Luis completed a B.S. degree in Environmental Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Arizona in 2017. During his time at the university, Luis began to understand the complex relationship between rivers and their users, and decided to pursue a career that emphasizes community-centric, ecological approaches to educating the public about environmental issues of the Southwest and natural resource conservation. Luis is fluent in both Spanish and English, and you can find him reading, writing, cooking, or playing drums at home when he’s not digging through crates at record stores or looking for a good place to set up a hammock on top of a nearby mountain.

catlow@watershedmg.org
520-396-3266 x4
Catlow Shipek
Catlow Shipek
Sr. Program Director
He/him

Catlow Shipek is a founding member of Watershed Management Group. He received a MSc in Watershed Management from the University of Arizona. Catlow has over 15 years of experience in applied watershed management, planning and policy specializing in urban applications like water harvesting, green infrastructure, stream restoration, and eco-sanitation. Catlow has worked on several successful local policy initiatives including Tucson's Green Streets Active Practice Guidelines, Tucson Water's residential rainwater rebate program, Tucson's residential greywater ordinance revision process, and through the Complete Streets Taskforce the adoption of Tucson's Complete Streets Policy. Catlow has served on the Citizens’ Water Advisory Committee for Tucson Water including Chair of the Conservation & Education subcommittee, Tucson's Complete Streets Coordinating Council, and on the University of Arizona's School of Natural Resource and the Environment's advisory board. Catlow enjoys growing and foraging for food, long mountain trail runs, and finding swimming holes. 

jwashburne@watershedmg.org
James Washburne
James Washburne
Sr. Project Specialist
He/him

Jim currently teaches geography and physics at Pima Community college. He has also studied geology, geophysics and hydrology. Growing up in Colorado, he got his start as a ranch hand chasing cattle, repairing irrigation ditches and building fence. In 2007, he initiated and coordinated a successful 10 year effort to remove Arundo or Giant Cane from the Sabino Creek watershed. He is excited to help manage and lead WMG’s effort to remove Arundo from Tanque Verde Creek, a part of WMG’s River Run Initiative. Jim finds working outdoors extremely satisfying and takes great pleasure in working with others to restore our unique southwestern riparian corridors by removing these invasive and non-native plants. Jim has traveled widely and enjoys swimming, hiking and reading.

mwingert@watershedmg.org
Max Wingert
Max Wingert
Communication and Outreach Manager
He/Him

Max Wingert was born in Texas but grew up in Tokyo. He spent the formative years thereafter right here in Arizona, however, and graduated with a degree in Communication from the U of A. And that, ultimately, is his greatest strength – communication, in all of its myriad forms. Reading, writing, speaking, acting, interacting… ultimately it all comes down to storytelling. Max joined WMG in the hopes of shaping and sharing a better story – one of hope and triumph, of overcoming obstacles and surmounting odds, of connection and community. When not endeavoring to change the world for the better, Max also crafts cocktails, makes mocktails, plays music, practices yoga, and wanders the wilderness with his incorrigible pup Dani.

Watershed Management Group Interns

Raymond Lance Antone
Raymond Lance Antone
He/him
Urban Sustainable Living Intern

Currently a Junior at the University of Arizona pursuing a degree in Agricultural Technology Management with a Pre-Law Thematic Minor. Born and raised in Tucson, AZ. A member of the Tohono O’odham nation. His father is from Fresnal Village. His mother is from San Xavier. Graduated from Sentinel Peak High School & got an Associates Degree in Business Administration from Pima Community College. Volunteered in Southern Arizona Community Food Bank’s Garden Program. Interned at Native Seed S.E.A.R.C.H. At the end of the internship was hired on to work on their Conservation Farm. In 2017, hired on at the San Xavier Cooperative Association as Food Production Assistant. Current position at SXCA is Farm Operations Crew 2 Supervisor which takes care of the food crops.

Mireya Ballesteros
Mireya Ballesteros
She/her
Environmental Education Intern

Mireya is majoring in Landscape Architecture with minors in Environmental Science and Spanish at the University of Arizona. Born in Tucson yet raised in Maricopa County, she has family ties in Tucson dating back to the early 1920’s, specifically in the city of South Tucson. Mireya’s passions include sustainability, environmental justice, and design. In the future she hopes to assist marginalized communities faced with environmental hardships through landscape architectural design, and urban planning. In her free time, Mireya enjoys going to concerts, trying new foods, spending time with loved ones, and exploring the outdoors.

Lindsey Bell
Lindsey Bell
She/her
River Run Network Intern

Born and raised in Arizona, Lindsey’s passion for the diverse ecosystems this state has to offer started small with nature walks during a middle school science class and has now developed into studying natural resource science with an emphasis in ecohydrology and watershed management at the University of Arizona. Having come to the Watershed Management Group from working in mushroom, tree-ring, and climate labs and for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Lindsey is passionate about gaining a community-based perspective on the amazing natural environments around the Tucson area in order to better address the water and climate issues we face. In her free time Lindsey enjoys the natural world by hiking, pinning insects, pressing flowers, and propagating plants.

Hannah Nuest
Hannah Nuest
She/her
River Run Network Program Coordinator

Hannah recently completed a Professional Science Master's in Environmental Assessment at the University of Kansas, where she also got her B.S. in Environmental Studies and minor in Spanish. She is experiencing Tucson and the desert for the first time as a Mennonite Voluntary Service participant. While at KU, Hannah worked in ecology labs, enjoyed a wide variety of classes in everything from GIS to environmental law to marine mammal conservation, and was a graduate teaching assistant for field ecology and environmental ethics classes. During undergrad, she had the opportunity to study abroad for a semester in Costa Rica. Her master's capstone focused on prairies, and prior to arriving in Tucson she interned at an Episcopal cathedral where she tended a prairie garden and worked on diocesan conservation projects. Hannah loves running, knitting, language learning, and spending time with her cat Lulu.

Paul Strong
Paul Strong

Paul Strong is a Masters student in Water, Society, and Policy at the University of Arizona. Paul is passionate about using creative problem solving and local partnerships to address global issues. His professional interests include water, sustainable development, climate resilience, and community organization. He is a co-founder and past director of 33 Buckets, a nonprofit implementing rural water projects in Peru. 33 Buckets uses human-centered design to partner with communities and co-create sustainable water treatment solutions. Outside of work and school, Paul likes sports, travel, hiking, rock climbing, volunteering, and learning guitar.

Matt Webb
Matt Webb
He/him
Conservation Ecology Intern

My name is Matt Webb, and I am a senior majoring in hydrology and watershed management in the school of natural resources at the University of Arizona. I was born and raised in the small town of Clifton, Arizona, and grew up swimming and visiting the local rivers constantly. The community of Clifton shares a very close bond with the surrounding rivers/nature, and I would love to contribute to bringing that same sense of connection to Tucson. In the future, I aspire to work in water supply management and help raise awareness about the water crisis affecting underserved communities, such as the many reservations in Arizona. During my free time, I enjoy distance running, walking dogs, and caring for my plants.