Board of Directors

Julie Knobel – President

Julie grew up on a multigeneration family farm near the Snake River on the Oregon/Idaho border growing onions and other row crops.  She earned a degree in Forest Resources from the University of Washington and moved to the Olympic Peninsula in 2003, where she worked as a forester for private, public, and tribal organizations.  Julie recently received her Master’s in Social Work and is currently the Bereavement Coordinator at Assured Hospice.  The Land Trust integrates Julie’s lifelong interest in family farms, conservation, restoration, and land use. She said, “It is a privilege to sit at a table and ask questions about what the highest value uses are for lands over the long-term, and to participate in innovative and equitable projects with that vision.”  Julie raises sheep, rabbits, and chickens with her family in Port Angeles, and her hobbies are learning new ways to grow, prepare, and preserve foods that nourish us.  She also enjoys making music with the Sequim Community Orchestra and has a love for the 4H Youth Programs.

Wendy Clark-Getzin – Vice President

After many years of support, Wendy deepened her involvement with North Olympic Land Trust by joining the Board of Directors in early 2018. She brings with her extensive leadership skills and professional experience with a background in public administration, urban planning and civil engineering. Wendy’s interest in land conservation reflects her interest to “protect and improve upon the legacy of the most precious habitat, farmlands and forests to delight and teach my children’s generation and inspire them to live sanely and connected to their North Olympic places,” she said. Wendy served as the director of Long Range Planning and Capital Programs for Kitsap Transit for nearly two decades, followed by four years as the Director of Clallam Transit. She currently works for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe as their Transportation Program Manager. Beyond her interests in land conservation, Wendy volunteers within the community in a number of ways and is a performing member of the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra.

Erika Lindholm – Treasurer

Erika moved to the Olympic Peninsula in 2014 when she went to work for Craft3, whose mission is to strengthen the economic, ecological and family resilience of the Pacific Northwest. She was immediately smitten with this place and was happy to join as a founding member of the Board of Managers of Olympic Peninsula Conservation Resources LLC (a subsidiary of the Land Trust) in 2015. Beginning in early 2024, she shifted to working part-time for Craft3 as contract project manager for the organization’s Watershed Conservation Fund (WCF) pilot. If the pilot is successful, the WCF will become a financing tool for large scale land protection transactions that result in improved water quality in Washington. Erika aims to contribute her knowledge of business and finance to ensure that the Land Trust can continue to do its important work in perpetuity. Erika is honored to serve with other Land Trust board members in support of such an important mission and committed staff.

Diana Erickson – Secretary

Diana grew up in Seattle and spent her childhood camping and fishing in Western Washington, with the family motto being, “Always leave a place better than you found it.” Diana served as a Presbyterian minister in California and Ohio before she changed careers and became a Public Defense attorney in King County. She and her late husband, Lee (who, worked at Glacier National Park in his 20s, including as fire fighter and fire tower lookout), loved hiking, fishing and spending time in the woods. They retired to Port Angeles in early 2019 to take advantage of all the Olympic Peninsula offered. Fortunately, 2 years earlier, they were invited to a Conservation Breakfast as guests of long time members, Jim and Robbie Mantooth. Diana and Lee immediately became financial supporters, and later volunteers, because it matched their commitment to the preservation of not only forests and streams, but also the rich ecosystem and cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Before joining the Board, Diana also volunteered as scribe for the Conservation Committee for several years. She brings her experience of working with diverse communities and non-profits, as well as her legal training, to help support and serve the mission of the North Olympic Land Trust.

Sissi Bruch

Sissi moved to Port Angeles in 2009 where she has had the privilege of working with two Tribal Nations and serving Port Angeles as Mayor. She earned her Ph.D. in urban planning and a master’s degree in landscape architecture and spent over 4 decades in environmental and planning work. Her interest in the natural environment is lifelong as are the lessons it can teach us. 

While working for the Tribes, Sissi learned to appreciate the gifts of food and medicine found here.  She enjoys learning how to partake of its bounty respectfully, being grateful and thankful, and giving back to ensure future generations can also experience this—being a part of nature, not outside of it. 

Her curiosity of native medicinal plants, sustainable food production, and various creative outlets has made retirement both a classroom and a playground. The Land Trust Board mission fits well with Sissi’s vision for the future and the conservation of these amazing lands we all share.

Jennifer Kidder

Following formal education in ecology, geography and environmental education, Jennifer spent several years teaching environmental and outdoor education in the Midwest, Rocky Mountains and on the West Coast. Since 2010, Jennifer has been at the NatureBridge campus in Olympic National Park and currently serves as Campus Director. She enjoys applying her MBA to nonprofit challenges and as board chair of the Washington Outdoor School Coalition works alongside other leaders in Washington State to support access to Outdoor School for all students in the state. Jennifer is excited to be part of the North Olympic Land Trust community and support its mission. She is grateful for the opportunity to help care for and be more involved in our local community.

Kim Sager-Fradkin

After 20 years working with wild animals on the Olympic Peninsula and several years on the North Olympic Land Trust conservation committee, Kim chose to join the Land Trust Board as a way to deepen her participation in local conservation.  Kim earned a master’s degree in fish and wildlife resources from University of Idaho and is currently the wildlife program manager for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.  Kim manages all aspects of the Tribe’s wildlife program, including research on local cougars, deer, elk and other wildlife that are recolonizing the Elwha watershed after removal of two hydroelectric dams.  Kim has also worked in a number of national parks, including Sequoia, Yellowstone and Olympic National Park.  “I fell in love with the Olympic Peninsula within weeks of moving here in 1999, and can’t imagine living anywhere else in the world. We have it all – open spaces, gorgeous wildlands, temperate coniferous forests, oceans and mountains. I love sharing all that the peninsula has to offer with my husband and two young children, whether it be from a hiking trail or the deck of our boat.”

Anna Swanberg

Anna grew up on the Olympic Peninsula, and her family owns Bent Gate Farms, which raises 100% grass fed beef and lamb, and organically fed pastured pork. Anna is involved with many community organizations, including 4-H and Pacific Northwest Junior livestock Auction. Anna said, “I want to be a part of preserving the fertile valley, keeping what farmland that is left in production and setting future generations up for success.”

Richard Tucker

Richard earned a bachelor’s degree and Juris Doctor from Florida State University, and an master of public administration degree in coastal resources management from the University of West Florida. Richard’s career has been devoted to conservation, beginning as a city planner in Pensacola, Florida, where he helped create the Escambia Bay Bluffs Park. After moving to the Northwest almost 30 years ago, he worked for the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority and then spent 15 years working for King County. While with the county, he focused on protecting habitat, working farms and forests, implementing a public benefit rating system and managing a multi-county salmon recovery effort. He then joined the Trust for Public Land in Georgia, which created new parks in Atlanta for the Atlanta Beltline and preserved land along the Chattahoochee River. Richard’s conservation experience spans large and small projects. For example, in Alabama he worked for both the Nature Conservancy and a local land trust.

Gary Colley, emeritus

Gary worked with other area residents to establish the North Olympic Land Trust in 1990 and was responsible for legal work related to the Land Trust’s conservation easements. He led the standards and practices committee for many years, work which culminated in achieving accreditation through the Land Trust Alliance. Gary is a recipient of the Clallam County Community Service Award and he was named Cox Conserves Hero for Western Washington in 2009.

John Willits, emeritus/in memoriam

John retired from Peninsula College, where he taught in the forestry program for 27 years. He joined the Board in 1994 and played a pivotal role in the Land Trust and in preserving the landscape of Clallam County by donating four conservation easements and working with numerous other landowners to create permanent legal agreements in the Lower Dungeness Valley and throughout the county.