Welcome Lynne Westerfield, Our New Landscape Resilience Project Manager

The Yuba Watershed Institute is delighted to welcome Lynne Westerfield as our new Landscape Resilience Project Manager. Lynne joined the team on July 1, 2026, and will help plan, implement, monitor, and report on our forest and watershed resilience projects, working closely with landowners, contractors, agency partners, and YWI staff.

A homecoming to the San Juan Ridge

Lynne comes to the role as a new resident of the San Juan Ridge, having recently settled with her husband as a member of the Wepa land partnership, where their neighbors include YWI co-founder Bob Erickson. Though the move is recent, her ties to this community run deep, and it was those connections that drew her to Nevada County. The chance to care for forests and waterways close to home is a natural fit for her decades of conservation work. She first came to know YWI through its people and its work, including the Inimim Forest Restoration Project, and was struck by the organization's history and its approach to forest health.

She also arrives by way of the Colorado River. For much of the past decade Lynne has guided expeditions through the Grand Canyon, cultivating in others an appreciation for the river and its landscape, an ethic of place that carries directly into her stewardship work.

More than two decades in conservation

Most recently, Lynne directed stewardship and restoration for Wild Arizona, where she managed year-round professional field crews and coordinated watershed and riparian restoration, fuels reduction, trail work, and invasive plant projects across the state, partnering with federal and state agencies, tribes, and private landowners. In her final stretch there she also stepped up to serve as the organization's Executive Director, steering it through a demanding transition. In 2025 alone, volunteers contributed more than 7,000 service hours to the stewardship projects she oversaw.

Earlier in her career, Lynne founded and led the Cloud City Conservation Center in Leadville, Colorado, building its board, programs, farm, and living classroom from scratch to meet a community need. Across every role, the through-line has been the same: building and sustaining the partnerships that make landscape-scale work possible, and navigating the compliance and grant reporting that keep projects on track.

What she'll be working on

At YWI, Lynne will focus primarily on the South Yuba Rim Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project, supporting its planning, field implementation, and monitoring, while also contributing to other active efforts such as the 'Inimim Forest Restoration Project and the Little Deer Creek and Round Mountain Landscape Resilience Projects. Her work will span project layout and mapping, contractor coordination, effectiveness monitoring, regulatory compliance, community outreach, and helping develop the grant proposals that fund the next round of work.

Please join us in welcoming Lynne to the Yuba Watershed Institute.