Steve has worked in parks and natural areas for nearly 15 years, around San Francisco, Milwaukee, WI, and Portland – connecting people to nature was integral to his passion. Prior to TKO, he served 10 years with Oregon State Parks, spending his last 2 years with the Gorge State Parks management team.

A life long Cascadian, Natalie grew up hiking, camping, and climbing trees in Southwest Washington. She earned her degree in Environmental Science from Washington State University and has worked in outdoor recreation and education since 2012. Natalie joined Trailkeepers of Oregon as a staff person in 2018 and in addition to helping out with all of TKO’s volunteer and fundraising programs, she also manages the Trail Ambassador Network.

Susan comes to TKO having been inspired to trail work during her graduate work in ecological landscape design. Having grown up camping and hiking in the midwest, she has fallen in love with the varied and lush terrain of the Pacific NW. Leading trail crews, being a neighborhood tree steward, volunteering as a master naturalist, or helping kick off local open space conservation efforts, Susan takes every chance she can get to help maintain and preserve our outdoor spaces. She is excited to help expand TKO’s stewardship efforts across Oregon.

Amariah is a Florida native who fell in love with the Pacific Northwest after seeing the beauty of its trails. She has spent the last 4 years gaining experience in the marketing industry and is in the final year of obtaining her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Relations and Communications from Florida International University. Growing up with few trails in her region she has developed a passion for educating the public on the importance of connecting with nature. She is excited to be able to spread this message through TKO!

Brandon is an Ohio native who found his place in the Pacific Northwest. His passion for trails and stewardship was sparked while volunteering with the Main Appalachian Trail Club, then as an assistant crew leader. Volunteering on an organic farm brought him to the coast and he has since worked in landscaping, construction and fisheries. Brandon has spent the last two seasons as a Trail Crew Leader with Washington Trails Association.

An Oregon native, Josh cut his teeth on the woods of Mt. Hood and the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge.  He has spent the last four years engaged with TKO in various capacities including a season as the Gorge FS Trails Intern, and a season on the Forest Service Trail Crew in the Willamette National Forest and spearheading stewardship on the southern reaches of the Oregon Coast.

Sailee has lived nearly her entire life in Oregon. She grew up and now resides in the Coastal Mountains just east of Coos Bay. It was in those native forests that she grew to love Oregon’s natural wildness and has now made a career of stewarding forests for future generations. She is looking forward to getting back to trailwork after nearly a decade break, her original work being with the Student Conservation Association (Americorps) in the Adirondack Park of New York. During her hiatus from trailwork, Sailee worked as a wildlife biologist monitoring two endangered avian species and built her own Yoga Studio business. She is excited to combine all of these skills to care, maintain, and build trail systems from Reedsport to Brookings!

Paul joined the board in 2014. He is a freelance writer, author, publisher, and tour guide. He has written for The Oregonian and Willamette Week, and more than 300 travel and food articles for the Memphis Flyer before moving to Oregon in 1996. Paul became board president in 2018.

Jaime joined up with the TKO board to further help in parks and natural areas planning and development, much of which she has first hand knowledge of leading in the Columbia River Gorge when she worked for Oregon State Parks. She also has planning and development of nature play areas, looking to engage youth in the outdoors.

Terry comes to us with many years hiking and climbing in the Pacific Northwest and is eager to continue his passion by joining TKO’s board. Terry has given time and energy through extensive volunteer work for the Mazamas, Albertina Kerr, the Stanford Alumni Association and OPB. Bringing an undergrad degree in Economics and masters degrees in Financial Services and Management, he’s also a Certified Financial Planner and wealth manager for a small firm in Portland.

Claudio joined the board in January 2020. He’s a native Venezuelan where he spent his free time hiking and bushwhacking in the surrounding mountains of Caracas. After a 6 year hiking hiatus while he lived in Chicago, he moved to Portland and quickly fell in love with all the outdoor opportunities the state has to offer. He’s an avid hiker, backpacker and  photographer who’s lead hundreds of hikes with one of Portland’s social hiking group.

Elaine Keavney joined the board in December 2016.  She is a registered nurse who spent her clinical years primarily in the emergency department.  Later, she became a nurse educator and worked both in clinical and online academic education, where she still works part time.

Vicente rose from part-time, park ranger to his appointment in 2018 to lead the program as Portland Parks & Recreation’s Security and Emergency Manager. He holds a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies-psychology from Concordia University and is an accomplished author of a children’s book called My Nature Exploration. When he’s not working, he enjoys exploring Oregon with his wife Rachel, son Vicente II, and daughter Harper – on a trail or with a pair of binoculars as an avid hiker and bird watcher.

Megan joined the board in 2017. After growing up in Minnesota and attending college in Wisconsin, she headed west in 2005 and quickly fell in love with Oregon’s wild places. Megan is an avid hiker, photographer and forager who’s dreaming up ways to cultivate a love of the outdoors in her toddler daughter.

Ben joined the board in 2018. He is trained as a landscape architect and has worked for public agencies planning and constructing public recreation areas and trails in Oregon since 2012. He is currently a park planner in the Portland area.

Schuyler joined the board in 2016 shortly after returning to Oregon from Kentucky, where he worked for an environmental education non-profit and served on the board of an urban trails organization. An urban planner and landscape architect by training, he currently works as a planner. Schuyler became board treasurer in 2017 and board vice president in 2018.

Kendra Manton joined the TKO board at the end of 2019. Kendra is a Portland native and grew up enjoying the wonders of the PNW.  She spent 10 years teaching experiential education across the West and abroad.  She happily returned to Portland 10 years ago to once again explore and now teach her own children what makes this part of the world so special.  She spent the last 5 years working in communications for Oregon land trusts.

Tom is a founding member and past board president and has served in a variety of other board positions over the years in helping get TKO established. Tom grew up in Oregon and has been hiking since he learned to walk, thanks to an outdoors-oriented family life. He’s passionate about giving today’s young families the same amazing experiences he had growing up.