Our all-volunteer board of directors will serve their two-year terms until June 21, 2028.
Melissa Crytzer Fry, chair, is a professional writer with 501c3 administrative experience who lives between Mammoth and San Manuel. For more than 20 years she has participated in citizen science projects within the San Pedro Valley, including nectar-eating bat studies with Arizona Game and Fish and the Sky Island Alliance’s FotoFauna program. She’s active with yellow-billed cuckoo and beaver surveys, and sits on the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition’s Steering Committee and is part of a group of collaborators focused on making statewide legislative changes to mining and water laws.
Garland Speight, vice-chair and statutory agent, is a water-planning professional with Partners for Dryland Planning and a property owner in the Aravaipa Valley. Speight has worked extensively with Aravaipa Watershed Conservation Alliance, assisting the group with water-restoration planning and project implementation. A skilled facilitator, he regularly leads water-related planning and informational workshops, and has authored many successful grant proposals with watershed groups in Southeastern Arizona. A mechanical and aerospace engineer-turned-water-professional, he has created data visualization tools to help rural communities with integrated water and natural resources planning.
Steve Marlatt, secretary, is a wildlife biologist and retired educator based in Willcox, Arizona and has land ties to the St. David area. He has a particular passion for protecting the Galiuro Mountains.
Jennifer Walden, treasurer, lives near Mammoth, works in Oracle, and teaches at Pima Community College. Jennifer is a dedicated conservation advocate, with administrative experience.
Leif Abrell, director, is an academic environmental chemist with more than twenty years studying many types of environmental contamination. He is a past (and future) resident, and current property owner, in Oracle. Abrell stewards parts of the Arizona Trail between Mount Lemmon and Dudleyville.
Emily Düwel, director, is an artist and educator, with master’s degrees in design/technology and anthropology. A longtime Oracle resident, involvements include strategy planning, programming and outreach for the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, Carnegie Council, American Society of Civil Engineers, ASU Museum of Anthropology, Tucson Pima Arts Council, Apache of Aravaipa Canyon, and more.
Louann Rank, director, is a landowner and resident of Cascabel with a social science background and experience in political ecology and nonprofit administration. A retired university educator and researcher, she completed interdisciplinary doctoral studies that examined resilience and adaptation in natural resources. She has worked closely with Yup'ik communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of southwest Alaska.
The Board acknowedges the special contributions of Peter Else who, as the founder and chair of the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance, shaped the organization's vision and guided its work, from 2013 until June of 2025.