Meet the Team

Laura Cusick

Executive Director laura@rightslv.org

Laura joined us in March 2023 to direct our Land Protection Program and stepped into the Executive Director role in summer 2024. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she has lived in Maine, Wyoming, Oregon, and New Zealand. Laura holds a B.S. in environmental education, a graduate diploma in viticulture and enology, and a certificate in equitable community change. Her previous career as a winemaker in Oregon’s Willamette Valley led her full circle to her true passion: conservation. Working with wine growers across Oregon and Washington gave her hands-on experience with agriculture and small business operations, and managing her own small acreage inspired her to help others conserve their land. Laura brings leadership, project management skills, humor, and a knack for creative problem-solving. She loves a good spreadsheet and is dedicated to supporting landowners and partners.

When not working, Laura enjoys skiing, hiking, camping, cooking, and curling up with a sci-fi novel and a glass of wine. She’s excited to build on RiGHT’s success and advance land and water conservation in the San Luis Valley.

Matthew Peterson

Conservation Director matthew@rightslv.org

Matt joined us in August of 2023 as our Conservation Director. Matt grew up in Sanford and is a 7th generation San Luis Valley resident. He attended the University of Denver and graduated with honors with a B.S. in Biology and minors in Chemistry and Leadership Studies. His research was focused on secondary invasion of invasive species along riparian zones. Following his time at the University of Denver, Matt has spent the last seven years working at Longwood Gardens, a large public garden outside of Philadelphia. While there he spent most of his time working in the indoor greenhouses and was most recently involved in a $350 million dollar greenhouse construction and restoration project.

Matt is an avid outdoorsman. He loves spending summers with his family fishing and hiking in the San Juan and other surrounding mountains. His passion for gardening follows him back from the east coast as well, as his plant collection is always growing. Matt is so excited to start this new journey working alongside valley residents in the stewardship of our natural spaces and precious waterways!

Sandi Heiner

GIS and Land Management Specialist ‍sandi@rightslv.org

Sandi spent most of her adult life in Wyoming before meeting her husband and now-grown step-son in Laramie. They have since moved to North Dakota, then Taos, New Mexico, and have now been in the San Luis Valley for about five years.

Sandi has an education in Zoology and Restoration Ecology, and she spent 14 years working in natural resources before taking a second career in the IT sector. Now that her family is settled, she's excited to be able to return to conservation work, especially supporting agriculture in the SLV. Her passions are agroforestry and regenerative agriculture.

When not at work, she enjoys spending time with family, tending their small farm and orchard, and training their two dogs. 

Jocelyn Catterson

Community Engagement Director jocelyn@rightslv.org

Jocelyn recently joined RiGHT as our Community Engagement Director in October 2024. Jocelyn grew up in Colorado and fell in love with the San Luis Valley at an early age. She graduated from the University of Montana with a B.S. in Resource Conservation and a Certificate in Nonprofit Administration. Prior to working for RiGHT, Jocelyn spent the past decade working for various environmental education and conservation nonprofits in Montana and New Mexico, including the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust here in Del Norte. She was also the Colorado Art, Science + Environment Fellow in 2023 and works as an artist at the intersection of art, science, and community to educate the public surrounding important water and environmental issues here in the San Luis Valley.

In her free time, Jocelyn loves hiking, camping, learning more about the natural and cultural history of the area, reading poetry, and painting/drawing. She is honored to be working with such a community-focused land trust and looks forward to helping further the mission of this organization.

Board Members

  • Secretary

    Since the age of seven, Doug started to study and collect insects in my home town of Elizabeth, Colorado.  This helped nurture his deep connection between the land that provides food for the insects and for the people of his hometown . At home, his family grew a garden and raised chickens, sheep, and cattle, providing him with an education in the biotic and abiotic interrelationships we all share.

    While growing up along the front range of Colorado, Doug saw the nearby town of Parker grow from 300 people in 1980 to 45,000 in 2010, resulting in the loss of agricultural land, prairie and highly productive riparian systems. He saw flood prone areas develop into large scale subdivisions and malls. These experiences led him to the RiGHT Board and his commitment to be part of the growing conservation movement of agriculture lands and open landscapes.

  • Board Member

    Michael grew up in upstate New York and lived throughout the West before settling in South Fork. He received a masters degree in environmental history from the University of Montana and has worked in wildlife conservation since 2012. Michael currently serves as the Western program director for Wildlands Network where he oversees a range of policy and research initiatives focused on restoring and maintaining habitat connectivity and wildlife migration.


    Through the lens of large landscape conservation, Michael is passionate about the need to maintain open space, especially on private lands, to benefit wildlife, cultural, and scenic values. Michael lives with his wife, two dogs and many chickens, and in his free time enjoys to hike, fish, hunt and ski through the Upper Rio Grande landscape.

  • Vice President

    Kyler Brown grew up in the Midwest and graduated from Colorado State University with a BS in Equine Science. He has worked on ranches across the West, spanning ecosystems in Arizona, California, Nevada, Wyoming, Texas, New Mexico and Oregon. Kyler now resides in the San Luis Valley with his wonderful wife, Emily and two kids Elijah and Olivia, where he helps his in-laws on their potato and barley farm, and runs a small herd of cow/calf pairs. His passions include cowboying, soil health, politics and holistic management.

  • Board Member

    Alfred moved to the San Luis Valley in 2019 after retiring from a career in Higher Education/International Education working 20 years at Colorado State University and 10 years at the University of Colorado Boulder.  He also worked on a developing a Transnational shipboard University program funded by Royal Caribbean Cruises with semester long voyages with Faculty and Students representing over 50 nations.

    He has also served on a number of Boards and Commissions including Neighbor to the Neighbor, Fort Collins Community Development Block Grant Commission, Funding Partners for Affordable Housing and the University of Colorado Finance Board.

    Early in his career, he worked as a Soil Conservationist with the Soil Conservation Service (now called NRCS) after receiving a BS in Environmental and Resource Economics from New Mexico State University.


    While spending his formative years moving constantly throughout the USA and living 6 years in Japan and Taiwan, he has always had a love of the land in northern New Mexico/Southern Colorado.   For this reason, he chose to move near his father’s roots here in the SLV.

  • Board Member

    Courtney grew up in Denver and has lived and worked throughout the Mountain West. Spending many of her childhood vacations at her grandfather’s cattle ranch, she developed a lifelong passion for working lands, agriculture, livestock, and conservation. Her grandfather taught her the importance of taking care of the land, not only for livestock, but for all the interdependent ecological relationships that rely on a healthy working landscape.

    Courtney has spent the last fifteen years in the land management profession. This experience has ranged from conservation and working for land trusts to working on several regenerative livestock ranching operations. More recently, Courtney managed roughly 350,000 acres of State Trust Lands across southwest Colorado as the Southwest District Manager for the Colorado State Land Board. Courtney served on the Society for Range Management (Colorado Section) Board from 2018-2020 and was Board President in 2023, serving as President-Elect and Past President in 2022 and 2024, respectively. In 2006, she earned a Masters of Natural Resource Stewardship from Colorado State University.

    Currently, Courtney is establishing a livestock operation on her small ranch west of Monte Vista. When not working on her ranching business, Courtney enjoys getting her packraft out and floating the Rio Grande with friends, walking her two dogs, or getting out for a bike ride.

  • Board Member

    Jon is a third-year law student with a passion for protecting rivers and preserving landscapes. Before law school, he spent nearly a decade guiding multi-day river trips throughout the Colorado River Basin, where he developed a deep appreciation for flowing water and open spaces. Jon brings a practical, on-the-ground perspective to water law and conservation. In his free time, he enjoys gardening, cycling, and riding trails on his dirt bike.

  • Board Member

    Cat grew up in the South and moved to Colorado to pursue her education in Natural Resources Management and Hydrology. She began her career studying water and Acid Mine Drainage on superfund sites and studied and sampled PFAS’ throughout the state of Colorado. She has worked as a hydrologist and hydrographer for close to a decade and has worked in restoring and maintaining rivers and wetlands. Before settling in her water work, she spent a few years working in Patagonia Chile and grew a deep appreciation for the untouched rivers and wild lands. Cat moved to the San Luis Valley three years ago to continue her career in water work and hopes to use her experiences to support the efforts to protect and conserve vital resources and habitats in the San Luis Valley. Her free time is filled by working on the ranch with her horse, mountain biking, boating, and spending time with her family.

Join Our Board!

Are you passionate about conserving the land, water, and cultural heritage of Colorado's San Luis Valley? The Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust (RiGHT) invites you to apply for a position on our Board of Directors or join one of our committees.

As a board or committee member, you'll play a vital role in guiding our mission and supporting our conservation efforts. Your involvement will help us secure donations, recruit volunteers, and support events that celebrate our region’s unique qualities.

Join us in preserving the treasures of the San Luis Valley. Apply below and make a lasting impact!