Meet the Team
Interested in learning more about how you can help conserve your land and water? We can’t wait to help! Our team here at Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust is excited about making the San Luis Valley a better place to live.
Staff Members
Susan Pierce-Platais
Executive Director susan@rightslv.org
Coming back to the San Luis Valley as the Executive Director of the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust is full circle for Susan. Along with Cathy McNeil, Christine Canaly, and Karen Henderson, Susan is one of the original founders and first Conservation Director of RiGHT. The vision the four founders had back in 1997 of keeping The Valley’s working lands working, protecting our water quality and biodiversity with river/stream corridor and wetlands conservation, and preserving our unique historical and cultural heritage, still serves today. Having spent 22 years in The Valley, Susan knows the SLV’s challenges, cultures, history, and ecosystems. Her favorite job title ever held is that of, “Mom”, and her three children, now in their 20s, are among the fifth generation of a Del Norte ranching family.
Susan herself is a multi-generational Coloradoan, originally from Greeley, who has been passionate about nature, her horses, and the out-of-doors since her earliest memories. Her time outside of work is spent hiking, backpacking, camping, biking and just being in nature alone or with loved ones.
Susan holds an M.S. in Natural Resource Management and a B.S. in Conservation Education & Biology with a secondary science teaching certification come from Colorado State University. She has been an active Associate with CSU’s Center for Protected Area Management for nearly 10 years where she has been designing and instructing online and in the field capacity training courses. Susan’s career in nature and land conservation, field biology, community outreach and education spans over 30 years, 6 of which were in Africa and Latin America. This enabled Susan to learn French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Susan is excited to be working with the team at RiGHT, current and future easement holders, and all the amazing partner organizations and people in the San Luis Valley once again. She and her husband, Gunars, are looking forward to being among their friends, family, and community in Del Norte.
Laura Cusick
Land Protection Director laura@rightslv.org
Laura joined us in March of 2023 to direct our Land Protection Program. Laura grew up in the Pacific Northwest and has lived in Maine, Wyoming, Oregon and New Zealand. She loves to travel and experience new places, cultures and food. She holds a B.S. in environmental education, a graduate diploma in viticulture and enology, and her previous career as a winemaker in the Willamette Valley led her full circle to pursuing her true passion of conservation. Working with wine growers and vineyards across the state gave Laura plenty of experience with agriculture and relationship building, and tending her own small acreage motivated her to help others conserve their land.
Laura loves the outdoors and enjoys skiing, hiking, camping, cooking and also curling up with a good book and glass of wine by the fire. She is excited to embark on a new career focusing on land and water conservation and collaboration in the San Luis Valley!
Matthew Peterson
Stewardship Director matthew@rightslv.org
Matt joined us in August of 2023 as our Stewardship 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 Juans 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 enjoys traveling and experiencing new places, cultures, and food. He is so excited to start this new journey working alongside valley residents in the stewardship of our natural spaces and precious waterways!
Joe Sims
Restoration Director joe@rightslv.org
Joe spent his early years exploring and recreating in the watersheds of the Delaware River, creating an early bond with the natural landscape and the people that inhabit it. After gaining his BS in Environmental Science from Temple University, he launched his conservation career working with Philadelphia's Fairmount Park Commission and other non-profits on native plant restoration projects throughout the region. Following that, he ventured west to the Sonoran desert to work with the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona, where he supported the Tribal community in preserving the vital riparian habitat of the Lower Colorado River. After almost a decade on the Colorado River, Joe migrated to the high desert of San Bernardino National Forest, where he worked cooperatively with the United States Forest Service and the local community on native plant restoration projects in efforts to restore wildfire-ravaged areas. Most recently Joe worked in Northeast Oregon supporting Federal, Tribal and local community members with noxious weed control programs that lead to successful land stewardship practices of working lands.
With over a 12 years and thousands of acres of riparian and wetland restoration efforts Joe has been able to connect landowners to funding resources to help improve their working lands with native species plantings and infrastructure projects.
In his free time, you can find Joe with a set of binoculars out hiking or mountain biking local trails. He also enjoys exploring new fishing spots with his dog Reilly and learning about the different ecosystems and cultures that surround them.
Board Members
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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.
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Treasurer
A retired CPA, Lyle was a shareholder with Wall, Smith, Bateman and Associates, Inc. Certified Public Accountants in Alamosa Colorado. He received his BS in Accounting from Belhaven University in 1973, and Master of Taxation from University of Denver in 1983. He practiced and consulted with individuals and entities regarding taxation, estate planning and conservation easements. He has presented at numerous seminars on these topics. He also taught taxation at Adams State University. He has provided accounting services, consultation, and compliance on over 40 conservation easements in Colorado since 2001. Lyle lives on a ranch which he placed under conservation easement in 2011 that is held by RiGHT.
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Steve retired from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in July 2005. The last 16 years of his career were spent as district conservationist in Monte Vista serving Rio Grande, Mineral, and Hinsdale counties. He has worked extensively with all aspects of water, from snow sampling to irrigation system design with an emphasis on irrigation water management. He has training in Holistic Resource Management and has had significant involvement in range management, grazing systems, and spring developments. Steve is particularly interested in stream bank restoration and has been involved in approximately 100 projects for this purpose. Steve has been involved in several Wetland Reserve Program easements and one Grassland Reserve Program easement. He is a Co-chairman of the Rio Grande Headwaters Restoration Project (RGHRP) and President of the Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation. They are working with a group to do a study on the Rio Grande from the Alamosa Refuge downstream and a second group studying the Rio Grande from South Fork to the headwaters. He played a key role in starting the Willow Creek Reclamation Committee. Steve currently is member of the Rio Grande Watershed Emergency Action Team (RWEACT). He is working with Trout Unlimited on a project to enhance conditions in for the Rio Grande Cutthroat. Steve has been involved with RiGHT since its inception. Description text goes here
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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.
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Doug grew up in Monte Vista and has spent most of his personal and professional careers pursuing his interests in wildland and wildlife conservation. He recently retired from a 32-year career as a physical scientist with the USGS. Doug believes that the success moving forward for wildlife conservation is tied directly to larger tracts of private land. For this to be realized, it is of paramount importance that key conservation easements are established for the future benefit of wildlife habitat and natural beauty available across the San Luis Valley today. He has maintained a close relationship to the San Luis Valley’s conservation concerns as well as maintaining connections and friendships with folks throughout the valley from Creede to Magote, some of which are lifelong and others that are more recent.
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President
Guy has lived in western Colorado for the last 40 years. During his 36 year career as a wildland firefighter he served as a Helitack Foreman, Fire Management Officer, and Aviation Manager. Guy also served on Incident Management Teams for 15 years as an Aviation Operations Director.
Guy studied Forestry and Outdoor Recreation at Oregon State University and has worked as a river guide, ski patroller, and Outdoor Skills Instructor. He also volunteered for many years as a Rescue Member for Corvallis Mountain Rescue in Oregon. Guy was co-owner of a ski shop in Pagosa Springs.
Guy retired in 2015 to Del Norte to enjoy the good fishing, boating, open spaces and community we share here in the Valley.
