Board Members

Walter Henze

Walter is one of the founding board members of OVLC, serving since November 2002. He is the board treasurer and heads the Finance and Planning Committee. Walter is recently retired from a family medical practice in Tonasket. He became involved with the OVLC because of a desire to help preserve the wide open spaces. He and his wife, Sarah, were able to help move that vision forward by placing a conservation easement on their 160 acres. He would like to see the Okanogan thriving again with an agricultural economy that returns a good living to those who work the land. This means in part preserving the family farms and ranches undivided, something that the OVLC strives to do.

Christine Olson

Christine became involved with the work of OVLC in 2004 and joined the Board of Directors in 2009. She has always enjoyed outdorr recreation opportunities during all seasons and appreciates the rural nature of the Okanogan. As an educator, she believes in the importance of offering children positive outdoor experiences and knowledge about the natural world. She recognizes the unique opportunities offered in the Okanogan: a rich source of agricultural production and folks interested in local food sources, a mix of both private and public land, and a diverse community that is still small enough for face to face communication and sharing.

Kris Ray

Kris became a board member in 2010 because of his long standing respect for ecological systems and enjoyment of the Okanogan.  Kris was raised in Omak and after returning from college landed a job with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation as a range conservationist.  Over his twenty year career he has functioned in several positions as a wildlife biologist and presently the air resource specialist.  Because of this varied background Kris has many skills that will enhance OVLC’s capability to promote open space preservation.  Kris enjoys all the aspects of outdoor recreation opportunities that the area provides including cross country skiing, mountain biking, bird watching and a scenes of community. 

Lee Root

Lee was active in the North Okanogan Sportsmen's Council, out of which the OVLC grew in November 2002. He has been a founding OVLC board member since that time. He is chair of the Board Development Committee. Lee is retiring from the Oroville School District, where he has taught for 34 years. He is active in outdoor recreation and raises and trains versatile hunting dogs. The loss of wildlife habitat, viable farm land, and large tracks of land in Okanogan County are some of his major concerns as a board member.

Fernne Rosenblatt

Fernne became a founding member of OVLC in November 2002. She is the board secretary and leads the Outreach and Education Committee. Fernne presently has a small family mediation practice and continues to work in victim and offender mediation. She and her husband, Roger, have sponsored a field day on their forested property near Okanogan for 7th grade Omak Middle School students for over seven years. She believes that connecting people to the land is a great way to nurture good land stewardship. She is an avid hiker and cross country skier, an amateur birder and botanist, and a devotee of local land products.

Dale Swedberg

Dale joined OVLC as a founding member in November 2002 after having been a member of its predecessor, the North Okanogan Sportsmen’s Council. He serves on the Land Protection Committee. Dale is the manager of the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area. His work with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife has taken him all over the county, where he’s seen large ranches being chopped into 20 and 40 acre parcels that would never be ranch or rangeland again and certainly would not support the wildlife they did previously. He would like to see a higher emphasis on open space and retaining ranch and farm land for future food and fiber production.

Todd Thorn

Todd became an OVLC board member in February 2005. He serves as board president and chairs the Land Protection Committee. Todd is a forester, working for the Colville Confederated Tribes Environmental Trust Program. His work focuses on watershed health and is strongly connected to the land and landscape of the Okanogan. Todd enjoys working both with resource managers and landowners, often finding they are one in the same person, who share his goal of an Okanogan full of healthy streams, range, and forests, along with vibrant communities of people, plants, and animals. He believes the Okanogan needs its own land trust, understanding and responding to local conservation priorities.

Staff

Berent Culp

Ber became the OVLC's first Executive Director in 2009. Ber comes to the Land Council with a long history of experience in ranching, natural resource management, collaborative problem solving and community paritcipation. He has been a longtime member of the North Cascades Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The fundraising activities of this chapter have contributed significantly to the success of elk and other wildlife habitat conservation in teh state of Washington. Ber brings a unique set of skills and experience that will foster sustainable growth in Okanogan County, strengthen community ties to the land, and unite residents around the local preservation of the Okanogan Valley way of life.