Principal Consultants to Sierra Forest Legacy
Our Consultants are experts in their fields and have a passionate belief in the mission of Sierra Forest Legacy. We depend on their extensive knowledge, expertise and unyielding support as we navigate the challenges of securing lasting protection for Sierra Nevada Forests and Communities.
Science and Policy
Susan Britting
Susan received her doctorate in biology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1992. After working with the Forest Service for four years in forest planning, Susan left to become a science and policy consultant to non-profit organizations. Her primary area of interest is habitat planning in the Sierra Nevada, although her interests in policy development extend statewide. Her consulting services include advising on implementation of federal and state environmental policies, analysis of management plans, habitat analysis using a geographic information system (GIS), and database development for natural resource management. She has been an active volunteer with the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) serving as a board member at the chapter and state level since 1993. Susan also has been an active volunteer and board member for a local land trust in the Sierra Nevada foothills previously serving since 1995. Susan served as a Public Member of the California State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection from 2002 to 2004 and served as chair of the Forest Practices Committee of that board. Susan has been with Sierra Forest Legacy since 1998 as the primary science and policy consultant.
Media
Julie Dixon – Resource Media
Julie has been Sierra Forest Legacy’s media consultant since 2003, and provides daily and long-term strategic media consulting to the organization. Resource Media is a communications shop dedicated to making the environment matter. They provide media strategy and services to non-profits, foundations and others who are working to protect communities and the environment in the West. Their staff of 25, located in offices throughout the region, includes communications professionals with decades of experience in journalism, public relations, issue advocacy, organizing and non-profit management.
Legal
David Edelson
David received his BA from Dartmouth College in 1978 and his JD from Harvard University in 1981. After clerking for Chief Judge Frank Coffin of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, David joined the Natural Resources Defense Council from 1982 to 1997, where he served as a senior attorney and director of NRDC’s forestry project. At NRDC, David played a lead role in shaping management of national forests in the Sierra Nevada through litigation, administrative appeals of forest plans, administrative petitions to the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies, and participating in the land management process. Since leaving NRDC, David has continued to be closely involved in Sierra Nevada forest management issues as the primary legal consultant to Sierra Forest Legacy.
Michael Graf
Michael received his BA degree in German language and civilization from UC Santa Barbara in 1983 and his law degree from Georgetown University in 1988. He has worked for various non-profit organizations and private law firms for the past 18 years and established his private practice in 2003. Michael has been a legal consultant to Sierra Forest Legacy since June of 2004. Since that time, Mr. Graf has worked on comment letters, appeals and litigation on behalf of Sierra Forest Legacy challenging a number of Forest Service projects implementing the amended 2004 Framework. Mr. Graf was co-counsel on Sierra Forest Legacy’s successful legal challenge to the Forest Service's attempt to eliminate the comment period for environmental assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act. (See SNFPC et. al. v. Weingardt, U.S. Eastern District Court Case No. 04-cv-02727 DFL DAD (2005). Mr. Graf continues this important work while maintaining his private practice on behalf of other public interest organizations in the environmental field. Mr. Graf is an avid botanist and author of Plants of the Tahoe Basin, A Photographic Guide to Trees, Ferns, and Flowering Plants published by California Native Plant Society/UC Press in 1999.