OUR TEAM

Many people and organizations contribute to the success of Bluff Lake Nature Center, including:

BLNC STAFF

  • Mark has been an environmental educator for 16+ years, and loves educating diverse audiences about nature and science. He began teaching about nature while working on the Georgia coast and has been engaged in studying the relationship of humans to the ecosystems they live in ever since. His love for teaching birding, forestry, watersheds, and astronomy only grew as he attained his Masters degree in Science for Ecological Teaching and Learning. Mark firmly holds the belief that the diversity within human ecosystems is as equally vital to survival as the diversity found within natural ecosystems is. He loves being involved in change initiatives that increase access to community resources, nature, and the outdoors for all. Mark grew up in an inner-city Chicago neighborhood called Uptown, and serves on the board for the community resource organization that owns the same building in which he grew up. He also serves on the Board of Summit for Action, which is dedicated to discussions and action around the intersection of equity and inclusion in the environmental conservation and outdoor recreation movements. When not squinting at bird legs, looking for planets, or smelling herbaceous scrub plants, Mark plays bass and paints watercolor landscapes. Mark raises his three children with special needs with his partner in a home in Green Valley Ranch with both grandpas, a niece, and a grandniece. Mark believes that communities can be empowered to steward and care for their ecosystems and the environment more broadly when they are eco-literate and have a strong sense of place.

  • Chira first joined the Bluff Lake team in March of 2021 as an AmeriCorps member, and returned to the education team in September of 2022. Chira grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she developed her love for the outdoors in the Sandia Mountains through hiking and potlucks at the peak. She holds a bachelor degree in Environmental Science from Regis University. Chira enjoys watching students create personal connections to nature and develop new interests through educational programming. She likes to spend her free time with her dog, baking sweets, traveling, and being outside paddleboarding, slacklining, or hiking!

  • Maya Alves (she/her) is serving as a Bilingual Environmental Educator at Bluff Lake Nature Center. She grew up in Orange, California, where she spent countless hours exploring the sandy beaches and tide pools along the coast, which sparked her early curiosity about the natural world. She graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 2024 with a dual Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Spanish for Professions. Her time studying abroad in Costa Rica, surrounded by tropical cloud forest and incredible biodiversity, deepened her commitment to a career spent outdoors. Maya is passionate about using her bilingual skills to bridge cultural gaps in environmental education in the Denver community. Aside from work, she enjoys rock climbing, snowboarding and cooking elaborate meals for her friends. 

  • Leila Regan-Porter has had a profound love of nature ever since her childhood days of hiking the countryside of England, where she was born to a British father and Iranian mother. Prior to Bluff Lake Nature Center, Leila lived in Macon, Ga. and worked at the Otis Redding Foundation, where she managed everything from marketing and administrative duties to fundraising campaigns and grant writing. She also served as grant writer for the Tubman Museum, and has written for Paste Magazine, Performing Songwriter, the Macon Telegraph, Macon Magazine, and more. She served as president for the boards of Bragg Jam and Main Street Macon. She loves visiting Bluff Lake with her husband and their child, and seeing her kid’s appreciation for the outdoors grow through education and exploration.

  • Rachel Hutchens is a Colorado native with a mission to make culture and nature accessible to everyone. She has a degree from the University of Colorado Boulder in History and Education. Rachel has worked in the nonprofit field for over 10 years, including spending time at the Missouri History Museum and the St. Louis Science Center. Rachel has been the Executive Director of BLNC since 2018, and has helped grow the organizations education programs and accessibility to diverse communities. Rachel also serves on the Board of Directors for two partner organizations: Sand Creek Regional Greenway Partnership and Friends of the Front Range Wildlife Refuges. Her favorite thing about Bluff Lake is finding bones and going on insect hunts with kids!

  • Andi Wells grew up northeast of Atlanta where she was constantly playing outside, playing soccer, and spending a lot of time in the north Georgia mountains. She graduated from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies. During her time at Eckerd, she worked with students in the community and taught them the importance of sustainability and how to grow their foods. This experience grew her love for educating others about the environment and how together we can make a change. She likes to spend her free time playing/watching soccer, hiking, reading, and spending time with friends. 

  • Emily began her career in Early Childhood Education back in 2017, before joining Denver Forest School in September 2021, and joining Bluff Lake Forest School in 2025. She's a native to Colorado, where she discovered her love for all things outdoors and nature related. It's a passion of hers to share this with her student's, in hopes that they too foster a love for the outdoors and all of its amazing creatures, for the rest of their lives. When she's not working with kids, Emily enjoys hiking, reading, crocheting, birding, and spending quality time with her son.

  • Ben’s (he/him) parents told him he would grow up to be a professional camp counselor one day. This has turned out to be true, and Ben is now the Summer Camp Director at Bluff Lake. He plans all the public programming like Boo on the Bluff and the free monthly walks, and still loves teaching in the outdoors for OEP or field trips. Ben found Bluff Lake through eBird, and now it’s the single place where he has seen the most species of birds in the whole world. When he is trying not to think about birds he also enjoys ukulele, snowboarding, and reading books.

  • Tess (she/her) enjoys maintaining and improving the valuable habitats and ecosystems on site as well as identifying plants and watching birds. She loves working outside and is thrilled to share the love of the outdoors with others. Tess has a degree from the University of San Diego in Biology. After deciding laboratory science was not for her, she started working in outdoor recreation and then in conservation at state and city parks . When not outside, you can find her sewing, crocheting, or playing board games.

VOLUNTEERS

  • Ann is a fledgling writer, avid reader, and amateur naturalist who has worked in Denver area libraries and nonprofits for over 30 years. Her love of nature was nurtured in her home state of New Jersey where she grew up near Stony Brook, part of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed. She waded in the brook and played along its banks in the warm weather and skated across the ice in the cold. Ann enjoys sharing the wonders of Bluff Lake with kids and marvels at their endless curiosity.

  • Tom has been volunteering at Bluff Lake since his retirement from IT Management. He enjoys getting out of the office for good and getting outdoors.

    Tom has a lifetime love of the outdoors gained from spin fishing and fly fishing to canoeing and portaging the lakes of the Canadian wilderness. He spends a good amount of time at his forest service cabin in the Lost Creek Wilderness.

    Tom enjoys being outside with children to hopefully give them a new perspective on life (away from screens). Tom is always amazed at what they notice in nature and their questions. When not volunteering, Tom enjoys hiking, biking, golf, and world adventure travel.

  • Kora has been volunteering at Bluff Lake since fall of 2018. Before she retired, she taught fourth and fifth grade in Aurora Public Schools at Montview Elementary and Jewell Elementary for 31 years. She has always loved teaching kids about science and seeing them get excited about learning outdoors. She now spends her time volunteering with several organizations, taking care of with her 3 grandchildren, hiking and walking, cooking and baking, and church activities.

  • A lifelong lover of the outdoors, Shana studied Art History at Colorado College where she became fascinated with the beauty of the front range. She is grateful to volunteer in the sunshine with a community that cultivates curiosity and appreciation for her beloved local flora and fauna. Beyond several volunteer positions, she has a day job at an art/design tech company and enjoys yoga, reading, painting, paddle boarding, museum hopping, and adventuring anywhere with mountains, hot springs, or beaches.

  • George retired from medicine in 2013. Now he spends his time birding, performing grandfather duties, photographing, jogging, writing and facilitating courses on end-of-life issues, birding and making photobooks online in lifelong learning venues. He then spends the rest of the day cooking, enjoying his meals and getting a good night's sleep so he can repeat everything again the next day.

  • Steve is a retired city planner, having worked throughout Colorado and California in the public and private sectors. He now focuses on his family, friends, and his passions. These include photography, birding, and of course Bluff Lake. He has volunteered at Bluff Lake Nature Center for several years, helping lead the monthly bird walks and currently serves as vice-president of the Board of Directors. His favorite things about Bluff Lake are the diversity of the ecosystem and the opportunities for hands-on learning about nature and science in the middle of an urban setting.

  • Erika began volunteering at Bluff Lake in 2008 as an outdoor educator. She joined the board of directors in 2010 and later served as board chair until 2017. In 2019, she became a certified forest therapy guide and currently guides walks at Bluff Lake.

    Erika is a fourth-generation Coloradoan who was fortunate to spend much of her childhood playing outside. Family vacations camping in the Rockies further inspired her to become an advocate for getting kids outside and preserving open space. A retired college professor, she is the author of a children’s picture book, “Go Outside” and a co-author of “Denver Mountain Parks: The Magnificent Dream” published by John Fielder. In addition to volunteering at Bluff Lake, she serves on the board of the Denver Mountain Parks Foundation, teaches nature journaling and continues to love spending time outside.

  • Barb first visited Bluff Lake with her son’s class back in 2002 and really enjoyed it. After recently retiring from CDOT as a roadway designer/project manager she is happy to rekindle her BA in Environmental Conservation by leading field trips. She loves teaching kids about biology, science, maps and seeing them learn through exploring nature. In her spare time she enjoys volunteering, hiking, yoga, biking, gardening, traveling and spending time with her two adult kids.

  • Joann has studied mind-body wellness practices for over thirty years and has certificates as a Level 2 Qigong and Tai Chi Easy Instructor through the Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi (IIQTC). She is also the Recovery Education Director at the Colorado Mental Wellness Network where she conducts workshops on mindfulness and other wellness programming. She is happy to have discovered Bluff Lake as it provides a beautiful sanctuary for practicing both mindfulness and qigong, and she began volunteering in 2016. Joann is also a passionate gardener and her book, Growing Mindful, Explorations in the Garden to Deepen Your Awareness, was published in 2021. She writes a monthly blog at Mindfulnessgardengames.com that combines her love of gardens, mindfulness, and wellness practices. Other passions include fiber arts, reading, hanging out with family and her two sweet animal companions, Luna and Millie.

  • Sheri is thrilled to be giving back through the gift of slowing down and nature connection as part of the Volunteer team at BLNC guiding the Nature Wonder Wanders. A graduate from Earth Based Institute’s Nature Connected Coaching and Transformational Wilderness Guide Certification Programs, Sheri coaches her clients through Your PATH Coach LLC, where PATH stands for Personal Accountability To Harmony. Sheri works on site at BLNC as a Learning Guide for the Denver Forest School where she loves hearing the kids say: “I did it!” It is a joy to help cultivate the student’s self-awareness, relationships, and a respect for nature. She holds a BA from Ball State University and is also a fitness coach at both Row House-Smoky Hill and STRIDE Southlands Fitness studios where she encourages movement, self-awareness, and personal growth.

  • Christina has been volunteering at Bluff Lake since the summer of 2023. Before she retired, she taught 13 years of high school science for California public schools, and was a field biologist with California F & W for 2 years! At Bluff Lake, Christina brings her background and enthusiasm for the environment to our summer camp program!

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jared Luner

President

Regulatory Policy Specialist, Xcel Energy

Steve Hebert

Vice President

Retired City Planner

Luke Galli

Treasurer

Owner, EMJD Corporation

Lisa Pera

Member

Eligibility Division Deputy Director, Department of Health Care Policy and Financing-State of Colorado

Tina Landers

Member

Legal Specialist, Adobe Inc.

Katie Robb-Davis

Member

Associate Pastor, Wellshire Presbyterian Church 

Kim Lopez

Member

Volunteer Coordinator, Friends of the Front Range Wildlife Refuges

Kristen Lommele Festin

Member

Ken Pritchard

Member

Retired Civil Engineer

[If you are interested in serving on our Board of Directors, please contact Executive Director Rachel Hutchens at rachel@blufflake.org]

MAJOR FUNDERS