Our Staff
Craig Thomas – Executive Director
Craig Thomas, our Executive Director, co-founded Sierra Forest Legacy in 1996 as the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign. Craig oversees all of our programmatic work and coordinates our Forest Conservation Program. Craig has been intimately involved in the protection and restoration of the forests of the Sierra Nevada for over twenty-five years and continues working to find solutions to the threats facing Sierra Nevada forests and communities today.
Craig has a degree in cultural ecology, which is the study of the ecological, economic and spiritual relationship of people to their landscapes. He has led Sierra Forest Legacy’s efforts to not only defend the Sierra from excessive logging, but to also protect Sierra communities from wildfire and to find environmentally sustainable solutions to reducing wildfire hazard, such as the utilization of small diameter trees and brush removed in forest thinning efforts. Before founding Sierra Forest Legacy Craig was a small-scale organic farmer and often lectured at local universities on sustainable farming practices and holistic agriculture.
Craig is a 28-year resident of the Sierra Nevada and calls the foothills north of Placerville his home. When he is not working hard on behalf of the forests he enjoys organic gardening, playing guitar and mandolin, fly-fishing, backpacking, botanizing and canoeing with his wife Vivian.
Warren Alford – Community Forestry Program Coordinator
Warren began work with Sierra Forest Legacy in August 2005. Warren works with local communities to utilize small diameter wood- byproducts of restoration activities- to enhance local community self-reliance. Warren gets great satisfaction from helping to solve resource conflicts by promoting forest restoration and he currently serves on the board of the Grass Roots Environmental Fund.
Before joining us, Warren was a Regional Representative for the Sierra Club working on state regulated forest issues and he worked as the local chapter coordinator of the Sierra Club Mother Lode Chapter. He has helped to protect the American River from the threat of the Auburn Dam and worked to help secure the protection of the Giant Sequoia National Monument. Prior to that Warren worked on the campaign to promote the southern Utah wilderness proposal that ultimately became the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Warren attended the University of California at Davis where he spent his summers working as a backcountry guide and packer for the Yosemite Park and Curry Company in Yosemite National Park. Warren is a fourth-generation resident of the Sierra Nevada where he currently resides on his family’s historic ranch in Calaveras County near the giant sequoias of the Calaveras Big Trees State Park.
When not working to protect the forests and communities of the Sierra, Warren can be found hiking, fishing or skiing in the Sierra or at a local park coaching youth soccer and baseball.
David Jaramillo – Fire Protection Coordinator
David, a Registered Professional Forester (#2839) began working with Sierra Forest Legacy in December of 2006. He is in charge of our outreach activities with Sierra Nevada communities using Firewise Communities / USA principles and concepts. David loves working in the conservation field, and enjoys the ability to help spread conservation based fire principles to rural Sierra Nevada communities. Overall, David finds joy and satisfaction serving the environment and communities therein.
Before joining us, David worked as a graduate forester for a company based out of Grass Valley, California. Prior to that he worked as both a logger and forester for Sims Forestry in Oregon. Before beginning his professional forestry career, David attended Humboldt State University were he received degrees in Forestry Conservation, Wildlife Management, and Environmental Ethics.
Today, David lives in Grass Valley, California with his wife Christy, their newborn son Noah, two cats Felicity and Cooper, Dodger the fox terrier, and a box turtle named Strawberry. He loves hanging out with his wife, friends, and family. He also enjoys other outdoor activities such as fishing, wrestling, cycling, backpacking, gardening, and bird watching.
Darca Morgan – Conservation Biologist
Darca Morgan focuses on protecting wildlife and old forests in the Sierra Nevada. She tracks Forest Service logging activity and forest plans across 11 National Forests and she advocates for the use of best available science in making land management decisions. Darca enjoys keeping up on the latest research on Sierran wildlife and ecology. Before joining Sierra Forest Legacy in April 2007, Darca spent five years as a district wildlife biologist on the Stanislaus National Forest where she cut her teeth on the National Environmental Policy Act.
Prior to moving to the Sierra, Darca conducted ecological research on San Francisco Bay waterfowl and shorebirds with the US Geological Survey. She earned a Master’s Degree in biology from Sonoma State University 2001, and a Bachelor’s Degree in biology from Mills College. Darca worked seasonally in Oregon, Maine and California conducting wildlife surveys for marbled murrelets, spotted owls, goshawks, snowy plovers, and amphibians.
Darca lives and works near Sonora, California, and enjoys the quiet sanctuary of the Sierra foothills. She enjoys backpacking, swimming holes, and birding. Born and raised in rural Iowa, a landscape dominated by agri-business and a paucity of public land, she developed an appreciation for land conservation at an early age.
Jennifer Quashnick – Conservation & Community Protection Advocate
Jennifer began working with Sierra Forest Legacy in February of 2007. Her work includes advocating for conservation-based forest management and environmentally-responsible community wildfire protection in the Lake Tahoe Basin. She also consults for the Tahoe Area chapter of the Sierra Club (TASC). Jennifer thoroughly enjoys her work in the conservation community. With her degree in environmental science and her heart in advocacy, she is thrilled to be in a position where she can draw from her scientific background to advocate for scientifically-sound, conservation-based environmental management as well as educate others on environmental issues.
Before joining us, Jennifer worked for both the private and public sector. After obtaining her Masters in Environmental Science from the University of Nevada, Reno, she joined the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) as their Air Quality and Noise Program Manager. After almost 5 years, she decided to expand her knowledge base by moving to Denver, Colorado to work for a natural gas company where her primary focus was air quality. In 2006, missing her family as well as Lake Tahoe, she decided to return to the Basin and focus on protecting Lake Tahoe’s environment. Jennifer began assisting the Tahoe Area Sierra Club and soon went to work for both TASC and Sierra Forest Legacy.
Jennifer currently lives in South Lake Tahoe, CA, with her two dogs, Cody and Bo. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends as well as simply being in Lake Tahoe. Her hobbies include hiking, camping, skiing, sight-seeing, exploring new areas, reading, playing with her niece and nephew and making custom jewelry (a little side-hobby she picked up in Colorado).
Karina Silvas – Firewise Communities Program Coordinator
Karina began working with Sierra Forest Legacy in June 2008. Using Firewise Communities / USA principles and concepts, Karina has become a vital link to outreach activities in communities throughout the Sierra Nevada. She also loves working in the fire education field.
Before joining us, Karina attended Humboldt State University where she received a degree in Forestry emphasizing wildland fire management. While Karina was attending school, she worked as a forestry technician for Weyerhaeuser in Goshen, Oregon. After exploring the production side of forestry, Karina became a wildland firefighter for the Mendocino National Forest. While working as a firefighter, she felt the desire to educate landowners on fire prevention and conservation.
Karina has relocated to Weimar, California with her fiancée, Ryan Bellanca, and their lovable and trusty pit-bull Carmen. Karina enjoys going to the dog park, and finding swimming holes in the American River. She also enjoys other outdoor activities such as gardening, hiking, skateboarding, wakeboarding, and snowboarding.