Meet our wonderful team
Karen Walsh - Executive Director
Karen has lived in Central Oregon for 13 years, and has been volunteering for and working at Discover Your Forest ever since. She has served in nearly every capacity possible at the organization, and is now at the helm. Her respect and appreciation for our unique National Forests and Grassland come from a deep and life-long love of the natural world. She hikes our trails, standup paddle boards our rivers, gardens with our native plants, excitedly admires our wildlife, and gives back to the land with consistency and determination. Her ability to unite others for a common cause, creatively dream up new offerings, and her passion for creating space for all people on our shared lands ushers in a new and exciting era for our growing nonprofit.
Davey Pearson - Volunteer & Career Pathways Program Manager
Davey brings a wide variety of experience to the organization, including time working for nonprofits and experience working for and with the U.S. Forest Service. While our volunteer and career pathways programs have been an integral part of our service for the last decade, Davey brings new and exciting approaches to connecting with volunteers, streamlining protocols and procedures, enhancing current programs, and developing beneficial relationships with students and school groups. Davey is a wildlife watching, plant identifying, adventure enthusiast and we are thrilled to have his skillset added to our organization.
Gail Whelan - Retail Operations Coordinator & Business Manager
Gail joined the Discover Your Forest team in 2012. She is responsible for managing 13 sites in Central Oregon, including 6 Ranger Stations, 2 Welcome Stations and 5 Visitors Centers across the region. Gail coordinates and oversees recreation pass sales, chooses and stocks all our retail items, and oversees several seasonal staff members. Gail also does HR and bookkeeping for us. Extremely knowledgeable, organized and helpful, Gail ensures that we reach our goal of improving visitor experiences across the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests and the Crooked River National Grassland. When Gail is not at work, she enjoys spending time with her daughter, son-in-law and 4 grandchildren.
Emily Curtis - Wildland Fire Education Coordinator
Emily coordinates public outreach and education programs on fire science associated with forest restoration and wildland fire risk reduction on the Deschutes National Forest. She’s keenly interested in natural and social systems and their relationships to communities. Having previously worked for state and federal forestry agencies, Emily brings her forest management, community engagement, and partner collaboration skills to this program. She's known to "crave the flame" supports the Forest Service during prescribed burns and wildfire incidents as a public information officer. When she’s not out adventuring by foot, ski, or paddleboard on public lands, you can typically find her curled up with a good book and her kitties.
Laken Bosé - Director of Education & Interpretation
Laken joined our team in 2022 to provide kindergarten through 12th-grade conservation education and interpretive programming at land sites across the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests. She holds an elementary teaching credential and taught kindergarten and 5th grade before transitioning to outdoor education. Laken fell in love with the outdoors as a young girl, exploring the deserts and forests of the West Coast. She enjoys sharing that sense of curiosity and adventure with her students while exploring Lava River Cave or guiding snowshoe hikes at Mt. Bachelor. When she's not working, you can spot her in her preferred habitat—backpacking, kayaking, and climbing—with a corgi by her side.
Sarah "Eddie" Edwards - Outreach Coordinator
Sarah, "Eddie" is our shared outreach coordinator position with Deschutes Collaborative Forest and Deschutes Trails coalition and she has been cranking away at outreach for us ever since! Sarah coordinates our social media, newsletters, community outreach, events and more. Before coming to Discover Your Forest Sarah was a bike travel guide and cycling trip designer for many years, a counselor for a wilderness therapy program in Utah and most recently doing events and community outreach for a bike shop in Bend. Sarah holds degrees in Environmental Science and Anthropology from the University of Arizona and has a passion for the natural world and the interpersonal connections it creates. When she's not creating outreach materials and opportunities for us, she can be found coaching youth mountain bike programs, leading women's group mountain bike rides, running local trails, riding her bike, skiing or doing pretty much anything that gets her outside.
Christin Shapiro - Forest Stewards Coordinator
Christin Shapiro joined our team at Discover Your Forest in 2023. She coordinates our volunteer opportunity, the Forest Stewards. The focus of the Forest Stewards program is to engage visitors in the forest, to make them feel welcome and provide opportunities for education on topics such as forest stewardship, alternative recreation opportunities and our fire dependent ecosystem. She comes to us with years of experience working with volunteers and program development. Growing up in Bend, Oregon and spending most of her time in the forest she believes as a community we can be the best forest stewards. You will often find her at one of the cascade lakes with her family and dogs.
Sophia Zoll - Conservation Education Specialist
Sophia started with Discover Your Forest last year, serving through AmeriCorps as a Conservation Educator and later joining the team as a Conservation Education Specialist. She received her undergraduate degree from Oregon State University in Environmental Science, focusing in Conservation, Resources, and Sustainability. Since graduating, Sophia has enjoyed sharing her love and passion for the outdoors and conservation with students and visitors, and is passionate about fostering personal connections to nature to ensure that our natural areas can remain beautiful and wild while still being accessible. Sophia will find any excuse to play outside, so if she's not knitting at home, look for her snowboarding, hiking, backpacking, and paddleboarding out in the Three Sisters Wilderness .
Christina Edwards - Care For The Land Coordinator
Christina came on board with the Discover Your Forest team in 2024 as our Care for The Land Coordinator. In this new role, she will be working closely with the Forest Service, Public Land Stewards, and other stakeholders to create community clean-ups and develop systems to further land stewardship efforts in Central Oregon. Christina holds a master’s degree in School Counseling as well as bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Spanish Linguistics, respectively. As a Bend, Oregon native, lifelong athlete, committed advocate, and lover of the outdoors, she is thrilled to combine her passions and give back to the community that has given her so much.
Skyler Cristelli - Wildland Fire Youth Educator
Skyler joined Discover Your Forest in December 2024 as the Wildland Fire Youth Educator. She
holds a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources and is currently pursuing a master’s in Public
Land Management. Her love for the outdoors began at a young age, exploring the North
Cascades and the West Coast with her family. Skyler is passionate about ecology and looks
forward to sharing her knowledge of wildland fire and fire ecology with the youth of Central
Oregon.
When she’s not working, Skyler enjoys riding dirt bikes, backpacking, mountain biking, and
exploring new places with her partner and their dogs.
Looking to join our team?
We do not have any current openings available.