Peter Welsh, President
Peter is the Associate Professor of Anthropology at Arizona State University and the Director of the Deer Valley Rock Center. He has been at Arizona State University since 1993. Prior to serving at ASU, he was the Chief Curator at the Heard Museum in Phoenix for seven years. He has led the development of a multi-year rock art research program on the Agua Fria National Monument. With his wife, Elizabeth, he co-authored Rock Art of the Southwest: A Visitor’s Companion. He had also written other articles and conference papers on rock art interpretation, management, and methodology.
Tim Flood, Vice-President
Tim joined the FAFNM as a representative from the Friends of Arizona Rivers, and is particularly interested in the protection of riparian resources. He also serves on the board of the Arizona Riparian Council as the co-chair of its Conservation committee. He has lived in Arizona since 1964, rafted many of its streams, and explored and photographed many more on foot. Tim lives in Phoenix and works as a public health physician at a health department.
Trudy Mertens, Treasurer
Scott Jones, Secretary
Scott has been working for the Sierra Club as a conservation organizer for Arizona’s five BLM-managed national monuments since December 2005. He is intimately involved in the Friends of the Agua Fria National Monument and the Friends of Ironwood Forest, and is currently working to establish a friends group for Sonoran Desert National Monument. He is also involved in the Agua Fria Open Space Alliance and serves as a volunteer site steward for the Agua Fria and Ironwood Forest National Monuments.
Prior to joining the Sierra Club, Scott worked for the Arizona League of Conservation Voters. He worked to organize students on behalf of the environment, coordinating state operations for both the Campus Greens and the Sierra Student Coalition.
Scott also operates the Arizona Activist Center which provides free web design, hosting and consulting for progressive organizations. He lives in Phoenix, with his fiancee, Kim; together they enjoy hiking, ASU football, and collecting NPS passport stamps.
Shelley Rasmussen
Shelley is a member of The Arizona Archaeological Society, The Deer Valley Rock Art Center, Maricopa County Parks, and The State Historical Preservation Office. She has been a docent at the Deer Valley Rock Art Center since it opened to the public in 1994. She was also a docent for Pueblo Grande Museum for many years before moving to Wickenburg in 1998. Shelley was a volunteer for Maricopa County Parks, leading interpretive hikes for ten years at the White Tank Mountain Park. Currently she is an educator at the Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant, teaching desert related classes and continues to lead interpretive hikes at the White Tank Mountain Park, Spur Cross Ranch and the Cave Creek Recreational Park. In 2004, Take Pride in America recognized Shelley’s outstanding involvement in volunteer contributions to protection of the Agua Fria National Monument with a national award of excellence.
Jim Vaaler
Jim became involved in FAFNM nearly three years ago when the group was first formed. He led the service effort which cleared the Tamarisk trees from Badger Springs Wash. Jim has attended two Antelope service projects on the Monument, and led our highway cleanup efforts. Jim also developed a wilderness proposal for the Monument.
Jim has been Sierra Club member since 1973 and has used his leadership background in the Sierra Club to help further the efforts of the FAFNM.
Thom Hulen
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Staff
Wanda Kolomyjec, Outreach Coordinator
Wanda graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Eastern Washington University. After graduation she taught high school biology for several years where she led students to initiate recycling programs for their schools. In 1995 she left teaching to start a multi-media company with her husband, which continues to thrive today. She has been involved with the Sierra Club, and is a board member for the Arizona Wildlife Foundation.