Board of Directors

President, Susan Moranda is a Humboldt County native, she was raised on a small, family farm south of Eureka. Susan was active in 4-H and FFA during her school years, raising numerous livestock projects.  She spent many summers helping on her grandparent’s dairy, working in the family garden, and at the local fairs with her calf projects. Susan attended College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She has been a member of Humboldt County Cattlewomen since 1992, served as President in 1999-2000, and is still active on the board, currently serving as Treasurer. Susan has been with local accounting firm, Hunter, Hunter & Hunt, LLP, since 2006, where she currently manages the bookkeeping department and prepares income tax returns.  In her spare time, she enjoys home and yard improvement projects, being outdoors, and hanging out with her dogs.

 

1st Vice President, Ann King Smith retired from Redwood National and State Parks where she was responsible for managing archeological sites, historic structures and contemporary Native American sites - she also acted as the liaison between the parks and local Native American tribal governments. Ann served on the executive committee of the local Sierra Club, and was a Arcata Planning Commissioner for a number of years. She spends time at her cabin located in a historic walnut orchard on the Dailey Ranch above the New River in Trinity County. One of her greatest pleasures is sculling on Humboldt Bay.

 

2nd Vice President, Mike Miles is a registered professional forester employed by Humboldt and Mendocino Redwood Companies where he has worked in several roles since 2008 including currently as Forest Manager for Humboldt Redwood’s northern operations.  Mike has worked in forestry and natural resource management, primarily along the north coast, throughout his career and served as a Governor appointee to the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection from 2011 to 2018. He was drawn to the NRLT Board by its mission and the energy it puts towards the conservation of local working farms, ranches, forests, restoration, and education.  He is a 1993 UC Santa Cruz graduate with a degree in environmental studies who enjoys spending his free time outdoors with family and friends as well as reading and writing. 
 
 
Secretary, Thomas Hjerpe is a attorney at the Law Offices of Hjerpe & Collins LLC with offices in Eureka and Arcata.  He practices Estate Planning, Bankruptcy and Social Security Disability. Thomas came to Humboldt County in 1986 to attend Humboldt State University, graduating with a BA in English and a BA in Art. He went to law school at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, returning to Humboldt immediately after. He has been practicing law in our community since 1994. In the late 1990s, Thomas served as a board member with North Coast Advocacy Services in Eureka which ran Senior Legal Services and the Ombudsman program. Since then, Thomas has served as a board member with Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Arcata, including 3 years as President of the Board.
 

Treasurer, Peter Jermyn was born in rural Pennsylvania and raised in a farming community. During his childhood he watched the conversion of farmland to shopping centers and housing and witnessed the destruction of a way of life in the process. After getting a university education, Peter moved to Humboldt County where he has been developing small businesses ever since. He has been a longtime  member of the Arcata Economic Development Corporation and has served on numerous boards over the decades. Peter believes that a strong agricultural community is a value to all the residents of our region.
 

Joseph Alexandre is a current resident of Ferndale, CA, but he was raised working on his family’s dairy in Crescent City. He graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with an MBA; also earning a BS in Agricultural Business and a Minor in Dairy Science. He met his wife, Alexa, while at school. She is now an Ag Teacher at Ferndale High School. He is kept busy helping the Alexandre Family Farm, assisting in accounting, pricing, milk logistics and management reporting. Though these take a good portion of his time today, he is most proud of the team of 16 that he leads in the management of two Humboldt County dairies in Ferndale and Elk River. Joseph and Alexa are the 5th generation dairying on Sage Road in Ferndale. In 2021 Joseph became President of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau and a member of both the Salt River Watershed Council and Eel River Groundwater Working Group. He hopes to ensure the productivity of working lands with a perspective of working with nature, down to the microbiology of the soil, which has played such an integral part of his family businesses and upbringing.

 

Clare Bugenig was born in Eureka and was raised in Ferndale on a beef and sheep ranch.  He received an AA from College of the Redwoods in Agriculture Business and proceeded to Cal Poly to graduate with a BA in Agriculture Management. His work experience includes working in the Agriculture lending business for Farm Credit and Bank of Loleta from 1979-2002. Clare returned to his family beef business in 1989 and currently runs 200 cows and 200 yearlings. He also manages his family’s timber operation in Blocksburg, where they work on a sustained yield program. His volunteer work includes being on the Humboldt County Fair Board (for 30 years), Humboldt County Cattlemen’s Association Board, Humboldt County Farm Bureau Board, and College of the Redwoods’ Agriculture Advisory Council.

 
Julia Cavalli was first involved with NRLT as a member of the projects staff team, supporting the development of conservation easements and stewarding Freshwater Farms Reserve. This experience served to deepen her growing love of the north coast and appreciation of the Land Trust’s role in conserving it. Julia now serves as a Senior Environmental Analyst with the County of Humboldt as staff to the Humboldt County Fire Safe Council and the North Coast Resource Partnership. There, she implements projects and programs that increase community wildfire resilience within the county and region. She continues to build on her B.S. degree in Conservation & Resource Studies from UC Berkeley by striving to keep up with the evolving field of fire science, wildfire prevention, and prescribed fire. Touring the back roads and exploring new-to-her corners of Humboldt County are among her favorite pastimes.
 
 

Nancy Diamond has practiced law locally for over 30 years, representing local governments, nonprofits, small businesses and advising in real estate transactions. Her practice in the area of land conservation began in the 1990's when she started working with the Jacoby Creek Land Trust to acquire the Mill Creek site as mitigation for the McKinleyville shopping center development (now, Chah Gah Cho, held by the McKinleyville LandTrust). In the early 2000’s, she helped the NorthCoast Regional Land Trust lay the ground work for its McNamara and Freshwater Farms acquisitions. She studied biology at UC Berkeley, and obtained a Master’s of Science in Fisheries Biology from HSU before studying law. She holds certificates in Ocean and Coastal Law and Environmental Law from the University of Oregon where she obtained her law degree. She and her husband live in Westhaven and enjoy being outdoors as much as possible whether hiking, beach strolling, paddling, or gardening.​

 

Todd Fulton is the Security Patrol for Green Diamond Resource Company California Timberlands and has been employed with them for the last 4 years. Prior to coming to Green Diamond, he was employed by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office for 15 years. He retired from The Sheriff’s Office as a Sheriff’s Investigator for the Criminal Investigations Division. Prior to his stint in Law Enforcement, he worked for The Pacific Lumber Company (PL) for approximately 17 years. During his time at PL, he worked in the Factory then transferred out to the woods where he worked all facets of the logging industry. Upon leaving PL he was a heavy equipment operator/tree climber. Todd serves on the Fortuna Rodeo Board of Directors, Humboldt County Fair Association Junior Livestock Auction Committee, California Rural Crimes Prevention Task Force, and is a newly elected Director for the Humboldt Del Norte Cattlemen’s Association. Todd is the 4th generation of his family to call Fortuna, Humboldt County home. He and his family have a small cow-calf operation in the Kneeland area.

 

Erin Kelly is an associate professor in the Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources at Humboldt State University, teaching forestry administration, policy, and economics. She is also a registered professional forester. She grew up in The Dalles, Oregon, graduated with a psychology degree from Whitman College, and lived and worked abroad before deciding to pursue forestry as a graduate student at Oregon State University. After graduation, she held a research position at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada. She moved to Humboldt County in 2012, where she has discovered the joys of bicycling long distances on back roads through redwood forests and oak woodlands. She hopes to help protect the open space and working landscapes that thrive behind the redwood curtain. 

 

Growing up in a Navy family, Christine Manhart grew up all over the country but wound up in Humboldt County in 1981 as an incoming freshman at Humboldt State. Over the next 40 years she left a few times but always seemed to find her way back. Christine majored in Geology and Oceanography at HSU and has mainly worked for engineering firms since graduating. She is a state licensed Professional Geologist and Certified Hydrogeologist, working primarily in groundwater-related issues. She also leads the geology practice for LACO Associates throughout all of the offices, focusing on risk management on the corporate side and career growth and development on the personnel side. In her free time she weaves and spins and is active in putting on the annual Natural Fiber Fair in Arcata.

 

Martha Spencer originally moved to Humboldt County in 1976 to attend Humboldt State University and graduated with a degree in Sociology and Social Work and a Masters of Science in Natural Resource Planning. She started working for Humboldt County in 1986 in the Planning Division but then followed her wayward husband in 1990 around the states of California (including work in Glenn, Trinity and Siskiyou County planning departments), Washington and Oregon, finally returning to Humboldt County in 2002. She worked in the Resource Lands Division for the Humboldt County Planning Department including administering the Williamson Act program, the Resource Lands Conservation Program, the Local Coastal Planning program and the county wide General Plan Update. She retired from her position as Supervising Planner in 2011. During that time, she has served on numerous Boards, including 9 years on the Northcoast Regional Land Trust (where she did a minor stint as the Executive Director), Food For People, Humboldt Botanical Garden, Food Fiber and Flowers and is currently a member of the Williamson Act Advisory Committee. She has been an active 4H leader for eight years in three states and was on the school board for four years during her residency in Oregon. With her husband, Eric Nelson (newly retired from US Fish and Wildlife Service) they have two daughters, who have both graduated from college and finally found independent housing from their parents. Since her retirement from the county, she has become a certified Master Gardener and Master Food Preserver.

 
 

Robert Vogt currently works for the Humboldt County Public Works Department as a Senior Environmental Analyst, where he is involved in several projects: the Eel River Basin Groundwater Working Group, the Elk River Stewardship program, and the establishment of McKay Community Forest. He has years of local experience working for resource based companies, and with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in Montana (1987-1990). Robert has a B.S. degree in Environmental Resources Engineering (1994) and B.S. degree in Range Management (1987), both from Humboldt State University. Robert lives in McKinleyville with his wife and their three children. As an active parent he has been involved with Boy Scouts, 4-H, HBHC Horse Shows, and sports teams, including soccer, basketball, golf, and football.

 

Mike Wallace is a retired fish biologist from the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife where for the last 15 years he studied juvenile salmonids in the tidal portion of Humboldt Bay tributaries.  He was lucky enough to work with a wide variety of groups and individuals to design and monitor habitat restoration projects to improve rearing areas for juvenile Coho salmon, steelhead, tidewater goby, and many other fish and aquatic species.  Mike moved to Humboldt County in 1976 to attend Humboldt State University and earned a BS in Fisheries in 1982.  Mike has kept busy since retirement by volunteering for a number of local non-profit organizations including being out-smarted by 2nd graders while working with the Early Childhood Literacy Program.  Mike likes to take advantage of the beauty of Humboldt County by hiking, kayaking, fishing, and birding.