Bridger Cohan - Riparian and Meadow Restoration Specialist
Raised in the Pacific Northwest, and with experience as a field botanist, restoration crew leader, and wetlands manager, Bridger joined the Watershed Center in 2023. As part of the Watershed Stewardship Program, he designs, manages, and implements projects that restore and enhance local waterways, wetlands, and meadows. He also leads the Watershed Center’s meadow inventory efforts, and assists with GIS data management, salmon survey dives, and everything in between.
Bridger received his M.S. in Biology from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, where he researched water quality responses to shifts in agricultural practices. Previously, he obtained a degree in Ecology and Organismal Biology with a minor in Wilderness Studies from the University of Montana in Missoula, MT, where he also developed a serious fishing habit.
When not on the river for work or fun, Bridger enjoys backpacking, photography, and attempting to garden in the challenging Weaverville climate.
Email Bridger: bridger@thewatershedcenter.com
Cindy Buxton - Aquatic Program Manager
Cindy is an invaluable member of the Watershed Center team. A veritable Swiss Army knife, Cindy leads the organization’s water and fisheries monitoring work, manages the GIS program, leads education activities, works with development staff to write grants, and organizes reclamation efforts. She enjoys sharing her passion for nature with children, often offering her time to assist with various environmental education activities including Indian Valley Summer Camp, Bar 717 Environmental Camp, and other local education events. Cindy has over 15 years of experience working in the aquatic sciences for federal, state, private, and non-profit organizations. She earned her M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Idaho. Cindy’s affection and devotion for the natural world is undeniable. She enjoys spending her time rafting rivers, hiking mountains, gardening, camping, and enjoying the company of her husband, fur-kids, and friends.
Email Cindy Buxton: cbuxton@thewatershedcenter.com
Emily Cooper-Hertel - Klamath Meadows Partnership Coordinator
Emily was born and raised in central Arkansas, where she fostered a love for the outdoors on family fishing trips from the lake in her childhood back yard, to the White River, or on beach trips to the Gulf of Mexico. After receiving her BA in Environmental Studies at Hendrix College in her home state, Emily moved out west in 2012 to pursue a career in restoration. She has lived, studied, and worked in Northern California for over 10 years, during which she received her MS in Environmental Science at Humboldt State University and worked in a variety of instream, riparian, wetland, and uplands restoration and monitoring efforts. Her research and past work focused on fish habitat assessment; hydrogeomorphic typing; ecological response to streamflow management; native plant revegetation; and restoration planning, design, implementation, and monitoring. Much of her experience is in fisheries biology, plant ecology, and ecohydrology through both field and GIS-based applications.
As the KMP Coordinator, Emily maintains relationships among a coalition of scientists, public agencies, tribal groups, non-profits, private companies, and academics with the shared interest in better understanding, highlighting, and restoring meadow habitats of Northern California through meaningful collaboration. This is achieved through outreach, meadow inventory and assessment, and restoration planning, design, implementation, and monitoring.
Outside of work, you may find Emily adventuring around Northern California anywhere from surfing the coast, rafting the rivers, backpacking the mountains and meadows, or finding time at home in the garden and with her family.
Email Emily: ecooperhertel@thewatershedcenter.com
Emma Carlson - Cannabis Restoration Program Coordinator and Environmental Compliance Specialist
Originally from Vermont, Emma has lived in Trinity County, California for 15 years. Emma joined the WRTC team in February of 2023 as the Cannabis Restoration Coordinator and Environmental Compliance Specialist. She is excited to assist with coordinating existing and future cannabis restoration grants on both public and private lands, as well as qualified cultivator grants in the recently created Cannabis Restoration division. As an Environmental Compliance Specialist, she will be coordinating with program staff and local partners to ensure CEQA and NEPA compliance and complete permitting through state and federal agencies.
Emma has a B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and has six years of experience working as a cannabis permitting and environmental consultant in Trinity County. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, live music, and exploring the natural beauty that Trinity County has to offer.
Email Emma: emma@thewatershedcenter.com
Jack Lienhard - Recreation Program Manager
Hailing from Ventura County, CA, Jack joined the Watershed Center in November 2021. After graduating Pasadena City College as a music major, Jack moved to Alaska, where, as a backpacking guide, he discovered a passion for outdoor education and recreation. Since then, he has traveled all over the US working at various ski resorts and tourist towns, landing positions with the National Park Service and US Forest Service, before making a permanent home in Weaverville.
Jack strongly believes in increasing access to the outdoors, hoping to inspire a new generation of stewards and reawaken the zeal of adults. Jack also leads the Watershed Center's Trail Crew, assists with the Hayfork Youth Conservation Crew, and braves the winter with the Snow Survey Team. When he's not building trail, he can be found hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, snowboarding, skiing, and ferociously napping throughout Trinity County.
Email Jack: jack@thewatershedcenter.com
Josh Smith –Watershed Stewardship Program Director
While Josh brings nearly two decades of hydrology and ecology experience to his position, his extensive local knowledge is potentially his most valuable asset. Over the past decades, Josh’s work has been focused on developing plans for restoration work in the region. He started with widespread monitoring and outreach to learn about conditions in the watershed, developed assessments to treat the problems identified, and grew strong partnerships and funding for required interventions and restoration projects.
Over the last several years he’s focused on implementing local projects: restoring the Hayfork Community Wetlands, conducting road upgrade projects to reduce sediment pollution, leading riparian planting efforts and water conservation initiatives and, conducting a Spring Chinook habitat restoration project on the South Fork Trinity River. Josh also helps manage the Watershed Center’s Youth Development and Trail Stewardship programs.
He has a degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His favorite outdoor activities are backcountry skiing, backpacking, rafting and mountain biking, which also happen to be extremely valuable for learning more about the ecoregion that he loves. He also enjoys sharing his love of the outdoors with his wife and two daughters.
Email Josh: josh@thewatershedcenter.com
Lesli Mounivong - Watershed Stewardship Program Associate
Born and raised in Trinity County, CA, Lesli came back to her beloved home after graduating in Environment Science and Management – Ecological Restoration with a minor in Geospatial Analysis from Cal Poly Humboldt. With a passion for the outdoors, she began working as a Project Coordinator, botanist, and GIS analyst with a focus on salmonid fisheries and restoration of their habitats. Now she works as a Program Associate for the Watershed Stewardship Program, managing the Water Storage Tanks and Forbearance Project and ensuring environmental compliance for our restoration projects.
When not working, she continues her passion in botanical identification and searches for interesting plants. You’ll find her lounging by the Trinity River in the summer, bird watching, hiking, reading, or practicing her film photography and ceramics.
Email Lesli: lesli@thewatershedcenter.com
Zack Blanchard – Roads Program Manager
Zack is a Trinity County native. At the beginning of his career, he worked as a temporary tree planter and completed fuels reduction during the winter season for the Trinity County RCD. Over the years he advanced through the ranks and became a Project Coordinator. After 20 years of service at the TCRCD he took a job with a private consulting business in Mount Shasta working on PG&E transmission line access along roads rebuilt after the Dixie Fire. The opportunity arose for him to build a roads program and work locally so he took the position of Road Program Manager at the Watershed Center.
Zack enjoys working and spending time in nature as well as golfing, gold mining, metal detecting, fishing, rafting, and swimming. “I’m a big advocate of using natural resources but also respecting nature at the same time. Leaving something for future generations to have, use, and admire is important to me. My favorite thing to do in nature is get up before the sun rises and find a nice spot to watch the sun come up and listen to the forest come alive.”
Email Zack: zblanchard@thewatershedcenter.com