Ashley Lowrey
Watershed Coordinator
Ashley is the Watershed Coordinator for the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Group (UYWG) and Shields River Watershed Group. She has a Masters degree from the University of Montana in Environmental Science and Water Resources. Ashley has worked in land and water conservation and collaborative natural resource management in rural Oregon and Montana for over fifteen years. With the UYWG she works to bring together landowners, agencies and conservation groups on collaborative landscape-scale watershed planning. She is passionate about the role of community-based conservation in Montana’s agricultural and working landscapes, and works to help protect and improve the land, water, and resources of the Upper Yellowstone and Shields Rivers for future generations.
Bailey Servais
Big Sky Watershed Corps Member
Bailey Servais is a member of the Big Sky Watershed Corps serving with the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Group and the Park Conservation District. She originally is from Minnesota but came to Bozeman for college at Montana State University. She graduated in November 2020 with a degree in Environmental Science and minored in Statistics. She is also a coach for the Bridger Ski Foundation, and has a passion for skiing, climbing, kayaking, and running.
Druska Kinkie
Co-Chair - Rancher
Druska and her family are livestock producers in Paradise Valley. They are third generation ranchers with a commercial cow calf operation. Druska has served as a co-chair for the UYWG for 3 years. Druska has a firm belief that you must have a seat at the table to be involved in solutions for the complex problems affecting agriculture. She has served on many statewide elk committees and has worked with other livestock producers addressing brucellosis, diseased wildlife, designated surveillance areas, and elk management plans. Druska also serves as a school board trustee for the Livingston School District.
Jacquie Nelson
Co-Chair - Fly Fishing Guide and Rancher
Jacquie Nelson is a 2007 graduate of MSU in the Department of Agriculture. Shortly after graduation, she worked for the Park Conservation District as their administrator and as the coordinator of the Shields Valley and Upper Yellowstone Watershed Groups. Jacquie married Tucker Nelson of Nelson's Spring Creek Ranch and after the birth of their daughter Morgan in 2012 she left her job with the Park CD. She is now a full time mother of two kids and a seasonal fly fishing guide for their company called Nelson's Guides & Flies. If Jacquie is not out on the water guiding fishermen, you can typically find her helping around the family owned cattle ranch, chasing kids outdoors or working at her fly shop located on the ranch.
Alan Redfield
Advisory Member - Rancher
Alan grew up on a dry land farm in eastern Montana. He attended Montana State University received a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education. He moved to the Paradise valley in 1977 and taught at Park high school for 11 years. He served on the Arrowhead School board and the Mill Creel Water district board and 4 terms in the Montana House of representatives. He is currently serving on the Montana Board of Livestock.
Jeff Reed
Advisory Member - Software Engineer, Hops Farming & Hospitality
Jeff grew up in Billings and Paradise Valley. His various career roles blend together software product development, people and product management, strategy formulation and execution, business development, and technical marketing. Most recently he served as VP of Arrow's Microsoft Global Alliance, a $3B business, focused on Sustainability Services, Vision AI, and Supply Chain Services. He and his wife own Reedfly Farm (www.reedflyfarm.com), where they grow commercial hops and run a boutique lodge. They enjoy supporting local efforts to promote the appreciation and conservation of open spaces and wild places in the Greater Yellowstone region. Jeff is also an author of 5 books and over 20 articles on Greco-Roman history and linguistics.
Rick Wollum
Advisory Member - Flyfishing Industry
Rick Wollum has lived and worked in the area since 1986 working as a fishing guide and flyshop manager. He has worked in the flyfishing industry for 36 years in many aspects of the business from hosting a program "Flyfishing America" which aired on ESPN to guiding in Colorado, Montana, Utah & Wyoming.
Rick is the Co-Chair of our Fish, Wildlife and Recreation Committee.
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Whitney Tilt
Advisory Member - Exec Director of American Fly FishingTrade Association Fisheries Fund
Whitney has spent a career working in fisheries and wildlife conservation, private lands management, and addressing a wide range of challenges from Colorado River water allocations and black-footed ferret recovery to Asian tiger conservation and evaluation of federal fisheries programs. He earned a Masters of Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and began his introduction to the Greater Yellowstone Region ranching in the Tetons of Idaho. Whitney is author of the Flora of the Yellowstone, a founder of High Country Apps LLC, developing interactive field guides for smart phones and tablets, and principal at Conservation Benchmarks, LLC.
Max Hjortsberg
Advisory Member - Park County Environmental Council
Max grew up in Paradise Valley and now lives in Livingston with his family. He sits on the Advisory Committee, the Tourism and Recreation Committee and the Drought Focus Group for the UYWG. He lends his experience in water resource management and community advocacy and organizing to the group, bringing a commitment to investing in the health and wellbeing of the people and the natural resources of the upper Yellowstone watershed.
Charles Wolf Drimal
Advisory Member - Water Conservation Coordinator Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Charles manages issues related to river protection, stream stewardship, climate change and tribal conservation throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. He has led efforts to procure Wild and Scenic River designations in Montana and administrative protections for public lands and waters in Wyoming. He began participating as a stakeholder of the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Group in 2014.
Wendy Weaver
Advisory Member - Exec Director of Montana Aquatic Resources Services
Wendy Weaver is the Executive Director of Montana Freshwater Partners (formerly known as MARS), a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Livingston, Montana. MFP operates the statewide In-Lieu Fee Program for wetland and stream compensatory mitigation and works with partners to implement wetland and river restoration and conservation projects across Montana. She is a licensed professional civil engineer with over 25 years in land development, water, wastewater infrastructure, water resource design, and aquatic resource conservation. Wendy is a member of the Montana State University (MSU) Civil Engineering Advisory Board, Director on the Four Corners Foundation, Director on Invasive Species Action Network (ISAN) and serves as a Professional Mentor of MSU Engineers without Borders. She strongly believes in protecting and enhancing Montana’s valuable river and riparian resources, and promoting landscape resiliency.
Sara Meloy
Advisor - Regional Water Planner in Yellowstone Basin Montana DNRC
Sara helps communities address their unique, local water supply priorities through collaborative, science-based work. Before joining DNRC, Sara worked across the West collecting wildlife and botany field data, running a river restoration program on the Missouri, teaching field and classroom courses for university students and leading volunteer trips to monitor wilderness. She holds a master’s degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Idaho, Moscow. Sara grew up on a horse farm outside Helena and now lives in town with her family.
John Lunzer
Advisor - Surface Water Hydrologist Montana DNRC
John has been a hydrologist with the Montana DNRC since June 2020. He received his Masters degree from Montana Tech in May 2019 and has spent the last three years working on water resource management and drought related issues throughout Montana. Previously he has worked on hydrology studies in eastern Oregon, New Mexico and western Colorado. John has been involved with the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Group since July 2020.
Dave Molebash
Advisor - NRCS Livingston Office
Dave Molebash is a graduate of Oregon State University with degrees in Agricultural Business Management and Wildlife Management. In the past he has been a Vice President of a Forest Products Manufacturing Corporation that was a major employer in Park County, a Commercial Fisherman, Developer, and for the last 11 years has worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. He has lived in Livingston and the Paradise Valley 28 years. Dave is a strong supporter of Conservation and Agriculture.