Meet the Cloud City Conservation Center team:
Ash Warner
Sustainability Manager
Ash believes that small actions can lead to impactful changes. An educator at heart, she finds joy in sharing knowledge and empowering others to embrace actions that benefit our planet. Her passion lies at the intersection of sustainability, community, and education. Ash holds a BA in Environmental Studies, specializing in botany and alpine ecology, as well as a MS in Natural Science Education. Her commitment to sustainability was influenced by her upbringing, as she was raised in a household that strictly adhered to zero waste protocols. Through composting, recycling, and reusing everything more than once, Ash’s mom instilled in her a propensity for waste diversion and responsible resource management. After work (and sometimes before) she can be found skiing, running, and reading. Email Ash.
Christian Luna-Leal
Energy Program Manager
Christian is an active member of the community who was born and raised in Lake County. His parents are both immigrants from Mexico and he is the first generation in his family to both graduate from high school and go to college. Having grown up in Mountain View and gone to our school as an initially monolingual Spanish speaker, he has an intense passion for advocating for the Latino community and other marginalized communities around Lake County. He has worked in our community to help connect all community members to resources initially through Full Circle. More recently he has worked in housing and has put his focus on addressing the housing crisis in Lake County both through City Council and through being the president of the Leadville Lake County Regional Housing Authority. Christian believes that C4 gives him the opportunity to grow his expertise in both peoples lived experiences with our dilapidated housing as well as a climate and energy efficiency perspective in housing. He believes this helps him be more capable of being as equitable as possible. Email Christian.
*Si, habla español*
Emily Olsen
Executive Director
Emily believes in supporting community led solutions to the challenges we face. She is passionate about supporting the health of people, communities and our planet. With a background in health equity and food justice she has worked with communities across the country to create their own healthier futures. She has previously worked with organizations such as Lake County Build A Generation, Denver Food Rescue, Fresh Food Connect, and FoodCorps. She currently serves on the Parkville Water Board, the Fresh Food Connect Board and the Kitchen Committee for St George Community Meals. Emily believes that our own individual health is not separate from the health of our communities or our planet. When she is not working to support her community Emily can be found running or skiing in the mountains surrounding Leadville. Email Emily.
Makayla Garza
Healthy Futures AmeriCorps Service Member: Youth Engagement Coordinator
Makayla is a Mestiza, her ancestry is Mexican, Japanese, Dine, Dutch, and Spaniard. They are passionate about water protection, nature as teacher, and food justice and Sovereignty. "Our youth are our future and cultivating community and sovereignty is our lifeline to the future". Email Makayla.
Sarah Hamilton
Cloud City Farm Manager
Sarah's passion is growing healthy food for her community. This passion was fostered by her childhood spent on her family's small vegetable farm in Canon City, Colorado followed by a larger, community-oriented urban farm south of Colorado Springs. After graduating from college with a degree in biology, Sarah realized that regenerative agriculture was the nexus of her passions for the health of the planet and the health of the human community. She pursued her farming dream by starting New Roots Farm, a small organic vegetable farm, first on leased land in Pueblo, CO and then moving back to family land in Canon City. She ran New Roots farm with her parents for 5 years, striving to work with nature and use regenerative farming practices to grow good food. Sarah moved up the Arkansas River Valley to Leadville in early 2022 and fell in love with everything about it, except for the lack of gardening opportunities. She is thrilled to now be filling that hole in her life by joining the C4 team as Cloud City Farm Manager. She believes that the garden and the kitchen table are the best places to build community, and is dedicated to building on the grassroots history of Cloud City Farm, ensuring that it is a place where every Lake County resident can come experience the joys of growing and sharing healthy food. Email Sarah.
Meet the Cloud City Conservation Center Board of Directors:
Erin Allaman
Board Chair
Erin grew up in the Denver-metro area and moved to Lake County in 2005. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and International Studies from Amherst College and a PhD in Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Erin has worked as an educator in public, international, wilderness, community, and college settings. She is passionate about environmental education and bringing youth voices to the table as we work together to care for our environment, our community, and each other. When she’s not teaching, you can find Erin exploring Lake County’s amazing trails by ski and bike - or on the ultimate adventure (parenting) with her partner and two kids. Erin is honored to serve on the C4 board and support sustainability in Lake County.
Jamie Seiffer
Vice Chair
Jamie grew up in New England where he developed a love for skiing and the environment. A Colorado resident since 2011, he moved to Leadville in 2019 to learn how to grow broccoli at ten thousand feet. With a degree in business and a background in sales, his super power is talking to anyone about anything. He is passionate about food justice and the radical redistribution of wealth. The coolest job title he ever had was Changemaker Ignitor. In Lake County, Jamie serves on the Planning Commission and the Housing Coalition, where he helped run the YES on 2A campaign. He’s honored and excited to be a board member of C4.
Julia Johannesen
Board Treasurer
Originally from the "Natural State" of Arkansas, Julia moved west to Flagstaff, AZ over a decade ago to study sustainable communities at NAU. Having focused on nutrition and agriculture in undergrad, she then decided to research sustainable food systems. Shortly after, she moved to CO and began working in outdoor and environmental education. With an underlying passion for health and helping others, she eventually shifted gears and became a nurse, a career she has enjoyed for the last 5 years. When not working in that capacity, Julia also teaches wilderness and emergency medicine. Equally passionate about playing outside, she spends her free time biking, climbing, skiing, and running around the Arkansas River Valley. Excited about planting even deeper roots in Leadville, Julia is grateful to be on the board of C4, contributing to the mission of sustainability in Lake County.
Nathalie Eddy
Board Secretary
Nathalie is an advocated for strengthening community relations, improving transparency, and putting people before the oil and gas industry. She currently works for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment as their Air Quality Environmental Justice Liaison. She has previously worked with organizations such as Earthworks, Lake County Build a Generation, the World Resources Institute, the Global Gender and Climate Alliance, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the Amerindian People’s Association, the US Climate Action Network, the Center for International Environmental Law and the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat.
stephen mack
Board Member
Stephen moved to Colorado in 2000 and to Leadville in 2016. As a forensic engineer, Stephen focuses on the built environment by applying modern building envelope practice and current energy efficiency standards to historic structures in Lake County. With over 20 years of progressive experience in building sciences, Stephen has developed a holistic approach to moisture, air, and vapor mechanics. When he’s not working, he enjoys cycling, skiing, and hiking with his wife and son. He is passionate about developing, executing and perfecting sustainable energy efficient building practices in Lake County.
Luz escalera
Board Member
Luz is an immigrant from Mexico. She came to the United States at the age of 15 and has been in Leadville since 2003. She is the mama of four, a Latino community leader, and a certified interpreter in language justice. Since 2010, she has been working for St. George’s Episcopal Church, another non-profit organization in Leadville focused on food justice and food security. Her passion has always been to help her community and she is honored to serve on the C4 board.
Tony Barlage
Board Member
Tony has 20 years of experience working in the environmental, energy, and sustainability fields; as a consultant, operations manager for a bio-energy start-up, and in Director/VP operations roles with my primary technical expertise being in sustainability services and air quality. I was most recently the lone Vice President of Spirit, leading the Rocky Mountain Region (RMR), co-leading the development of our company-wide Sustainability services program, overseeing all Denver office operations, recruiting, and our company-wide Employee Development Program. I also both led and assisted in internal process improvement and procedural development efforts, was heavily involved in companywide marketing and business development, and worked on organizational strategy, growth/talent acquisition, and strategic program development. I also served as acting Program Director for the Natural and Cultural Resources Program and assisted with oversight and strategy of the RMR Air Program.
Melissa Kirr
Board Chair Emeritus
Melissa moved to Colorado in 2002 and has lived in Lake County for the past 14 years with her husband and two daughters. She holds degrees in Forest Resource Management from Penn State University and the University of Montana. Her entire professional career has existed in the nonprofit sector, specifically the environmental and sustainability realms. She currently works at a local, regional and global level on sustainability initiatives. Melissa knows that meaningful relationships with stakeholders and partnership collaboration are key to sustaining any organization and is proud to serve on the C4 board.