Board Members
Sandy Haigh - Board President
Dr. Sandy Haigh was born and raised in Seattle, WA. She earned a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from Washington State University, an M.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her research interests are the effects of invasive plants on vertebrate and native plant communities. She has worked for the USFWS and recently retired from Clark College in Vancouver, WA where she taught Biology for 20 years. She and her husband live in the Columbia River Gorge where she spends time removing invasive plants on their private property. Sandy contributes her time and expertise to our projects in the Gorge. When she isn’t working on rehabilitating native plant communities, she enjoys horseback riding, hiking, sailing, biking, traveling, and skiing
Kathleen Perillo - Executive Director
Kathleen was born in the Philadelphia area and moved to PNW in 1999 from New England where she had been the director at a Nature Center in Granby, Connecticut. She teaches at Clark College in Washington in the Earth and Environmental Science Department and is the Director of the Clark College Native Plant Center. She has a Master’s degree in Environmental Science with a concentration in wildlife ecology. Her passions include wildlife watching, green building, kayaking and conserving land. Making and drinking good wine is also something she takes great pleasure in. Combining all the above-mentioned endeavors makes her the happiest.
Robin Dobson - Treasurer
Robin grew up in Switzerland where his interest in all things wild captured him. His parents took him camping throughout Europe and traveling around the World in early 1960’s. After graduating from UC Davis with a bachelors in biochemistry and completing graduate work in plant pathology at WA State University, Robin did a post doc in Nigeria for two years. Upon returning to the US he began work with the US Forest Service as a botanist/ecologist where he worked for 25 years before retiring in 2018. He developed a small, organic winery/vineyard near Lyle, WA in 1995 where he fostered his own idea of restorative agriculture by planting native forbs and grasses within the vineyard.This concept birthed the idea for a non-profit, the Center for Ecodynamic Agriculture, to promote this approach. The non-profit was then expanded to include all types of restoration and became the Center for Ecodynamic Restoration (CEDR).Shortly after his retirement, he embarked upon a new voyage in creating the Guys Gulch Ecological Reserve near Yreka, CA in the Siskiyou Mts., which serves as headquarters for the newest CEDR program, GROWL.
Rachel Irvin - Student Board Member
Rachel is a student at Portland State University, working to complete her B.S. in Biology with a focus on plants and ecology. In her free time Rachel likes to volunteer at the GROWL headquarters in Yreka, CA, as well as hiking, camping, birding, and just enjoying the great outdoors. Rachel wants to work on native plant conservation, ecology, and increase community knowledge and involvement in restoration efforts around the Pacific Northwest when she graduates. Rachel currently works at the Clark College Native Plant Center in Vancouver Washington.
Tori Wood - GROWL Technical Advisory Committee Board Member
Tori was born and raised in Washington state where she spent her time exploring and learning about the habitats west of the Cascades. She earned her degree in Environmental Studies from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. While there, she interned for a local nonprofit teaching community members about salmonids, local ecology, and responsible recreation and helped lead volunteers at restoration work parties. She then spent a year as an AmeriCorps for a local land trust where she organized, lead, and helped design restoration projects and work parties for volunteers. She is has recently completed the Master of Science in Environmental Education at Southern Oregon University. In her free time, Tori enjoys hiking, birding, traveling the world, and spending as much time outdoors as possible.