Our Team
The Earth Discovery Institute is a collaboration of a small but dedicated team of volunteers and a number of important partners. Please come meet our Board, and our volunteers, at one of our monthly neighborhood meetings, at a work party (see News and Events), or at one of our student field trip days.
Earth Discovery Institute Board of Directors
The Earth Discovery Institute recently incorporated as a California nonprofit, and has applied for 501c3 tax-exempt status. Our Board:
Leslie Reynolds worked for the California Legislature for 6 years. She served as Vice President of San Diego State University's Office of University Relations and Development for 18 years. She has managed her own consulting firm since that time, assisting educational and conservation organizations in program development, strategic management, and grantwriting. She is a founding director of Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek, managing restoration and education projects and programs throughout Southeastern San Diego.
Cathy Chadwick has spent her career coordinating organizations and managing a diverse range of projects, all reflecting her focus on health and well-being of the community and the environment. She has thirty years of experience with coalition building, program development, design and coordination of training programs and curriculum, volunteer recruitment and coordination, grant-writing, and community development and organization. Over the last 6 years, she has developed her knowledge of habitat restoration and management.
Jeff Pasek is a native San Diegan and is a lifelong resident of the San Diego area. He attended local public schools and graduated from San Diego State University where he studied geology and aquatic biology. His professional interests are limnology (the study of lakes and reservoirs) and watershed management. He is currently the Watershed Manager for the City of San Diego Water Department where he oversees management of water resources and natural resources. Jeff Pasek served on the Crest Community Planning Group, and his home directly neighbours the Crestridge Ecological Preserve.
Michael Beck was appointed to the County of San Diego Planning Commission in 1993 and continues in that role. As a founding board member (1991) and San Diego Director of the Endangered Habitats League, he is engaged in the planning and implementation of the Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP), intended to preserve the biodiversity of San Diego County through land use planning, land acquisition, species monitoring, and resource management. Michael played a key role in the negotiation and passage of the TransNet, a local transportation tax that included $850 million for MSCP implementation; founded Lakeside’s River Park Conservancy; is co-founder and Chairman of the San Diego River Park Foundation. He serves on the board of the Volcan Mountain Preserve Foundation, the California Oak Foundation, and is President of the Endangered Habitats Conservancy, an EHL sister organization working on MSCP land acquisition and stewardship.
Linda Chase became the director of the Crest Coordinating Committee for Fire Recovery in response to the 2003 San Diego Wildfires that destroyed 197 homes and displaced over 1000 households in the community of Crest. She remained in this post for 3 ½ years while her team helped the community recover and rebuild. Linda has 15 years experience as a project manager in art and interior design, facilitating groups and implementing projects for medical campus design projects and religious institutions nation wide. The San Diego Foundation, through a generous grant issued by the Disaster Board, has requested that Linda Chase, along with the CRT Team, serve as advisors to the 2007 Wildfire Long Term Recovery Teams ( LTRT). This new group of community leaders will be facilitating and guiding the recovery of their communities affected by the 2007 Wildfires.
California Wildlife Foundation
The California Wildlife Foundation, in collaboration with with the Department of Fish and Game, administers the Earth Discovery Institute's education endowment. Since 1990, the California Wildlife Foundation (CWF) has worked to protect the state's wildlife species. Collaborating with its many partners CWF:
- Supports programs of the California Department of Fish and Game and its agency and resources partners
- Manages funds designated to strengthen the stewardship efforts and long-term management of publicly-held wildlife areas and reserves
- Facilitates the development of regional land management plans
- Practices sound land use and science in its conservation and restoration projects
- Promotes the judicious and ethical use of California's wild resources through educational and recreational activities that encourage people to appreciate, respect and perpetuate the state's rich diversity of plant and animal life.
California Department of Fish and Game
The Mission of the Department of Fish and Game is to manage California's diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.
Endangered Habitats Conservancy
The mission of the Endangered Habitats Conservancy is to acquire, manage and monitor land in Southern California for habitat protection and restoration, agricultural preservation, and other conservation purposes. The management of Crestridge Ecological Reserve is supported by the California Department of Fish and Game, the California Wildlife Foundation, and the Endangered Habitats Conservancy, which administer the Reserve's management endowment. The Earth Discovery Institute is collaborating with the Endangered Habitats Conservancy (EHC) in the management and stewardship of the Crestridge Ecological Reserve.
