Our program will run from 7:00pm until approximately 8:15pm. You’ll hear from Land Trust senior leadership and a representative from our Board of Directors about their personal connections to our work and what is on the horizon for conservation in our region.
Meg Rutledge, Executive Director
Meg joined Columbia Land Trust in January of 2023 as its second Executive Director. She holds a doctorate in Environmental Management and, most recently, served as the Director of Biodiversity Threats at the New Zealand Department of Conservation, where she led a large team and worked across complex, multi-use landscapes to protect a third of New Zealand’s land mass. Meg’s key interests are advancing our understanding of the impacts of protected areas on access to endemic resources, endangered species, and forestry. At the Land Trust, Meg is focused on organizational leadership, advancing our Conservation Agenda, and engaging with our partners and supporters.
Elaine Harvey, Vice President of the Board of Directors
Elaine, Wanuxni’, is a Yakama Tribal citizen from the Kamiltpah and Willawitiz Bands of the Columbia River. Wanuxni’, is her traditional name and she dedicates her career to protecting and enhancing First Foods and medicines for future generations. Elaine is the Watershed Department Manager for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and previously worked for the Yakama Nation Fisheries and Resource Management Department for nearly 20 years.
Elaine joined the Land Trust Board of Directors in 2019. She believes in the conservation mission that Columbia Land Trust pursues and believes that it is essential to conserve lands, especially during this time of climate change. She enjoys serving as a board member and spreading the ‘good’ word of how the Columbia Land Trust is benefiting all in the region it serves.
Elaine also serves on other environmentally focused boards to promote tribal access, habitat restoration, and conservation for the future. She brings an Indigenous perspective and provides Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Land Trust staff and fellow board members.
Lindsay Cornelius, East Cascades Oak Partnership (ECOP) Manager
Lindsay has worked at Columbia Land Trust since Year. She spent two decades as a Natural Area Manager, stewarding more than 11,000 acres of conserved lands in the East Cascades, before transitioning into her current role in 2022. She has extensive experience in oak woodland restoration, monitoring, and enhancement projects, and managed a decades-long collaboration with the Yakama Nation to remove eight miles of paved road from the Klickitat River floodplain. Lindsay also has deep conservation planning experience, and in response to partner interest and need in 2015, led the formation of the East Cascades Oak Partnership —a regional collaboration between tribal, federal, state, and local organizations to strategically conserve and restore Oregon white oak habitats in the East Cascades.
Susanna Summers, Individual Giving Officer
Susanna Summers loves connecting great people with great causes to create . An integral part of Columbia Land Trust’s advancement team, she works to build connections between our donors and the lands and waters their gifts help conserve and care for. Susanna also enjoys gallivanting in nature—in the city and beyond—with her husband and two young sons.
Kelly Russel, Artisan Auctions
Kelly Russell is an expert auction strategist, benefit auctioneer and fundraising host who has helped organizations raise over $200 Million. Kelly produces auctions that consistently exceed client goals, and her remarkable results keep clients coming back year after year. With 19 years of profitable auctions behind her, Kelly’s passion is coaching nonprofit organizations and schools on how to maximize their revenue while eliminating wasted time and effort. Kelly and her team are dedicated to one mission: powerful fundraising for positive change.
