Board

Wendy joined the Board of Directors for New Mexico Wild in 2015 after retiring from the  Southwest Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Her professional experience started with field research and reintroduction efforts for whooping cranes and Mexican wolves. Later, as a manager, Wendy’s focus remained on the conservation and recovery of vulnerable species. Experience gained in voluntary leadership positions in the North American Crane Working Group, the Whooping Crane Conservation Association, and the Southwest International Folk Dance Institute has given her appreciation for the unique contributions of non-profits. Wendy has been a member of New Mexico Wild for over 20 years and watched this organization grow and develop into an astonishingly effective force for conservation. She is honored to serve with New Mexico Wild and hope to continue the work to protect the wild landscapes of New Mexico for its many inhabitants – plant, animal, and human.

Todd is a co-founder and senior staff member of the Center for Biological Diversity. He holds an environmental studies degree from the Evergreen State College. He has been working to protect and restore forests and rivers in the Southwest for over 20 years. He has been on the board of directors of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance since its inception and is also on the board of the Center for Biological Diversity, the Gila Conservation Coalition – dedicated to protecting the Gila River and Gila WoodNet, a community-based forestry group advocating ecologically sound forest restoration. He sits on the Western Governor’s Forest Health Advisory Committee and the Arizona Governor’s Forest Health Council. He also served on the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee, the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program federal advisory committee, the Western Governor’s Forest Health Advisory Committee, Senator Bingaman’s Collaborative Forest Restoration Program Advisory Panel, the New Mexico Forest & Watershed Health Planning Committee and the Arizona Governor’s Forest Health Council.

Ken Jones is a retired commercial banker and has lived in New Mexico since 1994. Ken is a past board member, treasurer and board president for Heading Home, an Albuquerque based non- profit organization providing services to thousands of persons experiencing homelessness in New Mexico. Ken’s passions have always included wild places. He is an avid hunter, fisherman, hiker, birder and cyclist. Ken currently serves at La Mesa Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque as finance chair and leads their Environmental Stewardship initiative. Ken believes that wild places must exist and be protected. One of his core beliefs is that access to diverse and pristine public lands are among our Nation’s most valuable freedoms.

Joe is the director of the emergency department at the VA in Albuquerque and is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the UNM Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Alcock received his MD from UCLA and moved to Albuquerque in 1997 to complete his residency at the University of New Mexico. Besides practicing medicine, Joe’s passions include exploring and protecting wildlands and teaching. He combines both in his role as co-director of the UNM School of Medicine’s Wilderness Medicine Program. Joe also is an adjunct professor of Biology and teaches undergraduates about evolution in health and disease.

Ernie Atencio is a cultural anthropologist, conservationist, and writer with deep Indo-Hispano roots in northern New Mexico. He is the New Mexico Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association and works on other projects through his Land & Culture Consulting business from his home near Taos. He previously spent nine years as executive director of the Taos Land Trust, where he worked on the public acquisition of Ute Mountain, and returned a sacred site to the legal ownership of the Taos Pueblo Tribe. Ernie has also been executive director of a national association of cabin owners, coordinated the Valles Caldera Coalition, and worked for other environmental organizations. Growing up in inner-city Denver, he discovered the larger world—and the land—through an Outward Bound “hoods-in-the-woods” program, in what would later become the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area, and has worked throughout the West ever since as a wilderness instructor, national park ranger, environmental educator, journalist, and activist.

Sam is a recent federal agency retiree, having worked as a steward for public land resources with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for 36 years. Over this time he held several positions with the BLM, principally within the Range, Lands, Fire and Wildlife programs. For the last 11 years he was the BLM Taos Field Manager which included the recently designated Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, the Sabinoso Wilderness and the Galisteo Basin Archaeological Sites Protection Act lands. As a former manager with responsibilities for managing designated wilderness, national monuments and wild and scenic rivers he brings an understanding of laws and policies that apply to wilderness, wild and scenic rivers and other specially designated areas.

Nature and wild places have influenced Carol all her life. She has hiked and backpacked throughout the Southwest for 40+ years, developing a love of quiet, wild places, watersheds and wildlife.  Carol’s relationship with NM Wild began in 2009, when we began working to further protect the Pecos Wilderness by incorporating adjacent Inventoried Roadless Acres.  She is also a board member of the Upper Pecos Watershed Association. NM Wild continues to inspire her with its dedication to protecting wilderness, wildlife and water.

Keegan King is from the Pueblo of Acoma and has over 15 years of experience in political and public policy work. He has managed dozens of candidate and issue campaigns beginning with his time at the Albuquerque based Soltari Inc. Keegan continued as the Executive Director of the League of Young Voters New Mexico and New Mexico Youth Organized. In 2009, Keegan founded Atsaya Consulting a Native-owned political consulting company. Since then he has worked as Political Director of the NM Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, national Field Director to the Pushback Network and Data Director for United We Dream. He has been instrumental in protection campaigns such as Chaco, particularly in his work with the All Pueblo Council of Governors and the National Congress of American Indians. Keegan was most recently the Policy, Legislative Affairs, and Communications Bureau Chief for the NM Department of Indian Affairs.

Debbie is the current and past president of the Santa Fe Chapter of Back Country Horsemen and is also a board member of the NM State Chapter of Back Country Horsemen. As a member of BCHSF, she organizes work rides to clear trails in both the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests. The chapter works closely with other volunteer groups such as TRAMPS, a National Smokejumper Assoc. of retired smokejumpers.

She is a conservationist, angler, hunter, and outdoor enthusiast. Besides horseback riding, she enjoys whitewater rafting, rock collecting, geology, and exploring. She is a member of the Los Alamos Geological Society.

She worked in the past with the New Mexico Wildlife Center helping rehab injured and orphaned wildlife.

As a resident of NM for over 33 years, Debbie has come to love and appreciate all this state has to offer in its diversity of ecosystems, landscapes, wildlife, and especially wilderness areas.

As a native New Mexican, conservationist, sportsman and, outdoor enthusiast, I know firsthand the importance of working with partners and the need to engage in various initiatives to better protect our lands, waters, wildlife and culture in New Mexico. I also understand the need to build capacity and support organizations and partners that do exceptional work toward conserving our most precious resources and values. New Mexico is a special place so, I take a great deal of pride in working to ensure future generations will be able to experience the New Mexico I’ve always loved.