Board of Directors

 

Dave Rightley, Board Chair: Dave has been on the Board of Southwest Colorado Canyons Alliance since 2018. He is one of the owners of Cross Canyon Engineering located in Cortez.  He has technical understanding of the Empire Electric and Kinder-Morgan systems within and adjacent to CANM. Dave has hiked around Canyons of the Ancients National Monument for over 30 years and desires to maintain the cultural and scenic values of the outstanding National Monument here through public education and outreach.

Don Hoffheins, Board Vice-Chair: After 42 years of land management experience; over 25 years with USDA Forest Service and over 16 years with USDI Bureau of Land Management, Don retired in 2018. He began his career in 1976 for the Forest Service and worked on Forests in New Mexico, Arizona, three in Colorado and one in Oregon. Don started as a soil scientist and gradually moved into natural resource planning focused on recreation, lands and timber management. In 1996 he moved to Oregon as Ski Area Planner, and in 2001, transferred to the Bureau of Land Management as an Environmental Coordinator/Planner. After many years of supervision and management with the BLM in Oregon, his last move brought him to southeast Utah as a Field Manager which included working on the newly designated Bears Ears National Monument. Besides SCCA, Don has served on the Board or completed support projects with the Kremmling Chamber of Commerce, San Juan Mountains Association, Klamath Trails Committee, and Mancos Trails Group.

Caroline Brown, Board Secretary: Caroline retired in 2010 as a contractor with the Forest Service and National Park Service. She was the founder and director of Friends of Native Cultures, a volunteer non-profit organization that sponsored Native American events at archaeological sites, primarily Chaco Culture National Historic Park and Chimney Rock National Monument. She also worked with Utah State Parks at Edge of Cedars State Park and Anasazi State Park. For several years Caroline was a seasonal Environmental Educator and Volunteer Coordinator at Navajo State Park in Colorado. Additionally, Caroline previously served as the PAAC Coordinator for the Hisatsinom Chapter of Colorado Archaeological Society. In addition to serving on the SCCA Board of Directors, Caroline volunteers as a site steward for SCCA. She is married to fellow SCCA board member Tom Ferrell.

Marcie Ryan, Board Treasurer: Marcie previously served as Treasurer when SCCA was originally formed, and has an in-depth understanding of the mission and Treasurer’s duties. Marcie is recently retired from a variety of occupations. With a formal education in geology, she discovered the “archaeology community” when she moved here in 2005. She worked for over 10 years at Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants in Cortez as their bookkeeper, office manager, and geologist/paleontologist, doing archaeological survey and field work as well. Most recently, she was the co-owner of Ryans’ Custom Products Engraving and Awards, as successful business for over 28 years. She served as an educator and front desk volunteer at Canyons of the Ancients Museum and Visitors’ Center for seven years, and currently volunteers on the Hisatsinom Survey crew, enthusiastically helping to record new archaeological sites on private land. She looks forward to helping SCCA achieve their goals and increase their membership. Marcie loves to travel, camping, dogs, and making jewelry. She has been married to husband Jerry for almost 30 years.

Tom Ferrell, Board Member: Tom worked as a Park Ranger for the National Park Service in national monuments in Arizona that are archaeological sites such as Walnut Canyon, Wupatki and Montezuma Well.  Based in Flagstaff he was active in the Arizona Archaeological Society and served as the president of the Northern Arizona Chapter. After retiring from the NPS he moved to SW Colorado and became the Interpretive Program Director for Chimney Rock National Monument. In these positions he worked closely with volunteers on numerous natural and cultural resource projects and long term monitoring. He believes these volunteer organizations are vital to the land managers of these special places.  Tom currently works part time at Dolores Public Lands as a contractor for the Forest Service and is also a site steward for SCCA. He is married to fellow SCCA board member Caroline Brown.

Susan Montgomery, Board Member: In the fall of 2014, Susan moved to Montezuma County from Washington State and a 30 year career in the field of Education (teacher training, curriculum, program and professional development). After participating in three programs, Passport in Time at Edge of the Cedars, Earthwatch at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, (CCAC) and Road Scholar service program at the Anasazi Heritage Center- she realized that this is where the archaeology is! She moved here for the archaeology, not the weather. She currently works part-time in the CCAC laboratory as an assistant. She also volunteers at CCAC. She volunteers at Canyon of the Ancients National Monument in Curation and the garden. She is a site steward in the CANM program and in San Juan County in Utah. Volunteering has been a rewarding and valuable experience for her. It has provided life long learning opportunities, a way to do something productive and a way to give back. She is interested in finding opportunities for others in the local avocational archaeology community.