Our Team
Technical Advisory Committee
Susan Styer
New Mexico Environment Department
Dr. Kathy Whiteman
WNMU Professor Outdoor Program
Dr. Corrie Neighbors
WNMU Professor Natural Sciences
Van Clothier
Stream Dynamics- Stream Restoration
STAFF
Allyson Siwik,
Program Director
Since 2003, Allyson has served as the executive director of the Gila Resources Information Project and the co-founder and program director for the Silver City Watershed Keepers since its creation. Allyson graduated with a BA in biology from Colby College and a Master of Environmental Management in Resource Economics and Policy from Duke University School of the Environment. She has nearly 30 years of experience in environmental protection, conservation, and advocacy, including 12 years with the US Environmental Protection Agency in North Carolina and El Paso, TX. She has worked extensively with local communities in the borderlands to resolve environmental problems, including binational air quality management, mining environmental impacts, water quality and water supply concerns, and community-wide initiatives on climate change and sustainability.
Alesia Hallmark,
Silver City Watershed Keepers Project Coordinator / Pick it Up Toss No Mas Coordinator
Alesia grew up in the forests of eastern Oklahoma. There, she felt the joy of playing in creeks, climbing oak trees, and living with wildlife and farm animals alike. Her curiosity about the natural world led her to B.S. degrees in Botany and Zoology from Oklahoma State University and a Ph.D. in Aridland Ecology from the University of New Mexico. As a researcher with the Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research program, Alesia studied the relationship between long-term patterns of climate, plant growth, and animal population dynamics across the Southwestern U.S. Alesia is passionate about sharing her ecological knowledge, often working with students to access the outdoors, conducting collaborative research, and communicating findings with local stakeholders. Alesia has come to appreciate the increasingly rare privilege she enjoyed as a child; many people don’t have a positive relationship with nature and the earth that sustains them. As the coordinator of the Silver City Watershed Keepers and Pick It Up-Toss No Mas programs, Alesia hopes to protect natural spaces and waterways of the greater Gila bioregion and encourage people to connect with their local ecosystems.