An environmental attorney, Ashley is a Marin County native and brings with her 18 years of combined experience in environmental policy, organizational management, advocacy, and litigation. While at EAC, she has grown our program capacity and launched and expanded our legal and policy internship program with a focus on climate, coastal, and freshwater issues. Ashley joined EAC in 2016 as our Conservation Director before being promoted to Legal and Policy Director in 2021, and Executive Director in 2024, after serving as the Interim Executive Director. 

Her love for the outdoors and her desire to preserve the environment prompted her to obtain a law degree. Before joining EAC, she worked as an Associate Attorney at a public interest Plaintiff’s side water quality firm, Lawyers for Clean Water, Inc., where she fought for clean water and represented nonprofits like California Coastkeeper Alliance. While she was in night law school, she juggled working at the firm during the day and various internships. Some of her additional professional experience includes working as a certified student clinician at Golden Gate’s Environmental Law and Justice Clinic and interning at the Center for Biological Diversity, as well as volunteering at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where she worked on the India Initiative, a project designed to increase United States and India’s cooperation on energy efficiency and climate change.

A graduate of Golden Gate University School of Law, she has Certificates of Specialization in both Public Interest and Environmental Law with Distinction. She also holds a B.A. in Comparative Sociology from the University of Puget Sound, with minors in French and Environmental Studies. 

A natural at building coalitions and partners, as part of her program work, she represents EAC in a number of different internal and external working and advisory groups and coalitions including spearheading and leading our Advisory Committee, a statewide aquaculture non-governmental organization coalition, and serving on the Tomales Bay Foundation Advisory Committee, the Protect the Pacific (offshore oil opposition coalition), a national Endangered Species Coalition, the Wetlands Restoration Principles Coalition, the California Blue Carbon Collaborative, and two 30x30 working groups, focused on coastal issues including involvement with Power in Nature. 

Her past participation has also included participating in the Sonoma-Marin Coastal Regional Sediment Management Working Group and acting as the vice-chair of the Marin State Parks Association from 2019 to 2023.

Passionate about climate issues, in 2019, Ashley was invited to participate in Drawdown: Marin (now MarinCAN)’s stakeholder collaborative on carbon sequestration, and she served on the Drawdown: Marin Equity Task Force from 2020 to March 2021. Her cross-sectional work helps EAC’s work be more collaborative and expanded in scope.

Besides managing the organization, Ashley's program and policy work includes: Ensuring Resilient Watersheds; Safeguarding Our Coast and Ocean by advocating for Healthy Tomales Bay, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and Opposing Offshore Oil; Protecting Public Lands; and Advocating for Environmentally Sustainable Communities addressing the threats of the Climate Crisis; and Safeguarding Coastal Biodiversity. She is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization.

May 2016 - Present

Jessica has nearly two decades of development experience and brings a deep sense of connection to the park, people, and places that make up our West Marin community as a full-time resident. She is on the Advisory Committee, heads our Development and Bird Festival Committees, and represents EAC at the West Marin Collaborative, a community group that meets to illuminate community needs, coordinate local service providers, empower organizations to work together, enhance services that participants can provide their clients, under the shared vision of reducing health disparities and increasing well-being.

Jessica’s professional career has included working at Yosemite National Park, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Point Reyes National Seashore Association. Her first love of the outdoors came as a young child in Illinois where she spent whole days playing outside, collecting fireflies, riding bikes, and tilling the soil in her grandmother’s backyard. Later, family camping trips fueled her desire to find a career in the outdoors.

Jessica holds a B.A. in Communications with a minor in Public Relations from Sonoma State University, and an A.S. in Forestry with a minor in Interpretation from Reedley College. 

Jessica's work is primarily focused on our development work, including fundraising, member, volunteer, and community relations, and communications including marketing and outreach. She currently manages our donor appreciation events, the Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival, Piper on the Ridge, and the Winter Gathering.