Meet our Speakers

Learn more about the community leaders who will generously be sharing their expertise and experience.  This list is growing so be sure to check back soon!

Caleen Sisk

Tłahit of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe

Caleen Sisk is the Tłahit of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. Caleen's leadership began in 2000 after being mentored and taught by her late great aunt, Florence Jones, for over three decades. Caleen maintains the cultural and religious traditions of the Tribe, which has led to the revitalization of the Winnemem H’up Chonas (or War Dance) and Bałas Chonas (Puberty Ceremony). She advocates for California salmon restoration, healthy, undammed watersheds, and the human right to water. Caleen led the Tribe’s resistance against the proposal to raise the Shasta Dam and currently leads the Tribe’s co-stewardship agreements with state and federal agencies, as well as the Māori,to return Chinook salmon to the Winnemem Waywaket. She has received international honors as a sacred site protector, and consistently attends the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to advocate for UN studies of the plight of federally unrecognized tribes in the United States.

Photo taken by Jade Elhardt

Faith Churchill

Watershed Project Manager, Butte County Resource Conservation District

Faith has been with the Butte County Resource Conservation District for the last four years. Since 2023, she has been involved in the Butte County Collaborative Group's administrative committee, GIS working group, and monitoring working group. During the early days of the Collaborative Group, her main focus was to gather and cross-walk forest health project GIS data into one cohesive online map. With the project map now being annually updated thanks to the combined efforts of the working group, she is focused on creating a county wide monitoring plan to assess and improve our forest health treatments.

Heather Hadwick

State Assemblymember

Heather grew up in the rural town of Dorris in Siskiyou County, where she met her husband, Bryon. They married in 2003 and now reside in Modoc County with their two almost grown sons. Sam is a junior attending college in Nebraska on a shooting sports scholarship and now high school senior- Zack. She also has a bonus daughter Shayla who is a sophomore at Shasta College. Together, they operate a diversified family farm producing hay, vegetables, and pumpkins, raising Highland cattle, and run Modoc County’s only pumpkin patch each fall.

The daughter of a single mother who worked multiple jobs, Heather is a first-generation college graduate. She earned her Associate’s Degree from Shasta College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture Science from California State University, Chico. In 2016, she completed a Master’s Degree in Leadership and Management.

Heather’s professional background spans both education and public service. She taught at the elementary and high school and for the last four years created and taught as a Public Safety instructor at Modoc High School. She also previously served as the County 4-H Coordinator through the University of California, Davis.

Her experience as a small business owner as both a farm operator and former owner of a local newspaper has given her a strong understanding of the economic and regulatory challenges faced by rural entrepreneurs. She is a strong advocate for policies that support small businesses and job creation.

Heather spent the last two years working for the Modoc County Office of Education, where she oversaw school safety and emergency preparedness. The two person unit was one of the first in the state focused on school safety. There, Heather was able to help many counties and states create and stand up school safety positions and programs. Heather has presented all over the state and at the National level on school safety in rural areas. Prior to this role, she served as Deputy Director of the Office of Emergency Services for the Modoc County Sheriff’s Office. In that capacity, she managed disaster response and recovery efforts, including wildfire evacuations and interagency coordination during major incidents such as the Bootleg, Dixie, and McKinney Fires. Heather served on many CalOES committees including statewide training, warning and alert systems and mutual aid. In her management role at the Sheriff’s office, Heather supervised Dispatch, managed the Sheriff’s office budget, wrote and managed all grants and was in charge of their communications and outreach.

Heather is deeply involved in community service and civic leadership. Her volunteer roles have included serving as president of a local school board, planting and pastoring a children’s ministry, coaching youth sports, and participating in numerous organizations, including the California Youth Shooting Sports Association, PTO, Ducks Unlimited, Cub Scouts, Little League, and the Alturas Chamber of Commerce. Heather currently serves on the Assembly Budget committee, Education finance, Agriculture, Insurance, Business & Professions, special session budget and is Vice-Chair of Emergency Management and Vice-Chair of Agriculture.

Patrick Wright

Director of the California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force

Patrick Wright serves as the Director of the California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force. Established by Governor Gavin Newsom, the Task Force brings together state, federal, Tribal, local, and private partners to advance landscape-scale solutions that reduce wildfire risk, improve forest health, and create more resilient natural and human communities.

Patrick brings decades of leadership and institutional knowledge to this year's conference. Prior to his current role, he served as Acting Director of the Forest Management Task Force at the California Natural Resources Agency and as Executive Director of the Tahoe Conservancy from 2006 to 2021.

A longtime participant in SCALE, Patrick has consistently helped collaborative partners better understand the state's priorities and direction for forest and watershed resilience. We are excited to welcome him back to the conference and hear his perspective on the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Sebastian Harrison

Environmental Engineering Consultant

Sebastian joined CCLR with 7 years of experience in the Chemical Industry as a Remediation Project Manager, his past work included assisting in all facets of Sustainability such as brownfield revitalization, waste management, environmental policy, responsible care, solar implementation, and life cycle analysis. Since joining CCLR, he has been fundamental in the roll-out and management of the Equitable Community Revitalization Grant, assisting applicants and grantees plan and execute projects in the investigation and revitalization of brownfields across the state of California. He draws from his past experience to help applicants design budgets aligned with remediation success, and assists grantees with contracting events. While at CCLR he has also acted as a subject matter expert on Sustainable Remediation and helped explain how site clean-up can be linked towards broader Social, Environmental, and Economic goals.

Sarah Campe

Regional Scientist at the Sierra Nevada Conservancy

Sarah Campe is the Regional Scientist at the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC), where she has worked for over a decade to connect science, policy, and management and support the great work of the SNC’s on-the-ground partners.  Sarah moved to Sequoia National Park as a child and imprinted on the Southern Sierra backcountry, sparking a lifelong devotion to these mountains.  With a background in environmental science, policy and management, Sarah is particularly interested in landscape-scale dynamics and the social and ecological processes that drive change.  Her work focuses on advancing strategies to restore, protect and steward Sierra-Cascade landscapes and communities.

Shelley Villalobos

Senior Manager-CA Reforestation Pipeline Partnership, American Forests

Shelley Villalobos is a collaborator focused on solving complex environmental challenges through partnership, systems thinking and practical implementation. Before joining American Forests, she led sustainability initiatives in the sports industry, helping organizations integrate environmental and social responsibility into major events and operations. Today, she leads the California Reforestation Pipeline Partnership, working with federal, state, nonprofit, Tribal, and private-sector partners to strengthen the systems needed to restore California's forests after severe wildfire. Her work centers on removing barriers to post-fire reforestation by advancing cross-boundary collaboration, workforce development, science exchange and implementation-focused strategies that help move restoration from planning to action. 

Taylor Nilsson

Executive Director, Butte County Fire Safe Council

Taylor Nilsson is the Executive Director of the Butte County Fire Safe Council, where he works to advance collaborative approaches to wildfire mitigation and recovery, forest health, and community preparedness across Butte County. Since joining the organization in 2019, he has helped expand landscape-scale restoration and wildfire mitigation efforts through partnerships with local communities, Tribes, nonprofits, and state and federal agencies. Taylor also helps administer the Butte County Collaborative Group and serves as County Coordinator in Butte County through the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, supporting cross-jurisdictional collaboration to accelerate the pace and scale of forest restoration. He holds a bachelor's degree in Environmental Management and Protection from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Todd Manley

Director of Government Relations for the Northern California Water Association (NCWA)

Todd Manley is the Director of Government Relations for the Northern California Water Association (NCWA), where he assists member organizations with state and federal water policy issues.  Todd also manages the Sacramento Valley Salmon Recovery Program, a collaborative partnership of local water management entities, conservation organizations and state and federal fisheries and water management agencies working together to complete habitat projects and improve science to promote recovery of salmon and other species of fish in the region. This includes focused efforts in Battle Creek and Butte Creek to implement habitat projects and science to benefit endangered and threatened runs of Chinook salmon.

Todd serves on several boards and committees supporting the Sacramento Valley, water management, fisheries and the Pacific Flyway.

Prior to NCWA, Todd was a water policy advocate in Washington, DC.

Todd is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento’s College of Business Administration where he received the degree of Master of Business Administration. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from the University of California, Davis. Todd is a graduate of the California Agricultural Leadership Program.

Todd lives in Sacramento with his wife and daughter and in his free time he enjoys woodworking, fishing (particularly on the lower Sacramento River in Redding), hiking, and other outdoor activities.