Staff & Board
Hal Anthony
Hal has been a local business owner in the Grants Pass area since 1985. He received an Associate of Arts degree from Orange Coast College, served six years of Vietnam era Coast Goard land/sea duty history and was a commerical truck driver for 15 years. Hal currently is President of Rogue Valley Veterans for Peace and is also involved with the Hugo Land Use Committee and Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society. He got involved with Rogue Advocates because,"Getting people to participate in their local communities and their government is the most important component of a sustainable social fabric."
Jimmy MacLeod, Executive Director
Jimmy has lived in the Williams Valley for 18 years. He is a carpenter, guitar maker, fine woodworker and subsistence farmer. He has been active for years in the protection of southern Oregon's native forests. Jimmy studied Environmental Education at Sonoma State University, was a docent at Fairfield Osborne Nature Preserve in Sonoma County, California and has served on the board of the Sugarloaf School, part of William's Sugarloaf Community Association. Jimmy is passionate about organic farming and permaculture and is interested in the promotion of sustainable land use for both rural and urban areas of this bioregion.
Jean Mount
Jean has lived in rural Josephine County since the late 1970s, working as an Adult Nurse Practitioner privately and for the Veterans Administration. She has her B.S.N. from Indiana University and M.A. from the University of Northern Colorado. Since 1998 she has been involved in land use with Friends of the Applegate Watershed and the Lower Applegate Citizens Advisory Committee as a board member and chairperson. Her goal is to preserve open spaces, farms, rivers and streams and says, "Getting individuals involved in local land use issues and their government is the most important way to preserve livable and sustainable communities."
Steve Rouse, Board President
Steve has lived in southern Oregon since obtaining his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in 1979. He started Rogue Valley Electric where he is now a supervisor, and is experienced with builders, developers and the County land use process. His passion is preserving and restoring Rogue Basin farmlands and floodplain habitats. “Most of southern Oregon's river floodplains are critical habitat for endangered coho salmon and deserve protection. This has been largely ignored during the development process. My Rogue Advocates work provides a voice for the voiceless.” Steve also serves on the North Applegate Watershed Protection Association board, co-chairs the Applegate Sustainable Aggregate Project and co-founded SAVE (Save Applegate Valley Environment).
Pepper Trail
Pepper is a professional wildlife biologist (Ph.D., Cornell University) and has been actively involved in the conservation and management of southern Oregon's public and private lands for over 10 years. He has been a leader in the efforts to establish the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, and to preserve the wildlife habitat provided by the Bear Creek Greenway. Pepper is past President and present Conservation Chair of the Rogue Valley Audubon Society. His goal is to preserve open space, farmland and wildlife habitat in the Rogue Valey, with the conviction that healthy communities depend on a healthy environment.
Sarah Vaile, Program Director/Staff Attorney
Sarah is from Indiana and is a 1999 graduate of Indiana University (B.A. English and Art History). She worked in a variety of places and fields, finally finding her passion in environmental issues - particularly sustainable agriculture. This led her to Pace Law School in White Plains, NY, where she studied environmental, agricultural and and land use law and received her J.D. and a certificate in environmental law in 2007. After graduation she obtained her Oregon law license, first working as a law clerk for Klamath County Circuit Court and then as an indigent public defense attorney in Medford.
Mike Walker
Mike is from Hugo in Josephine County. He earned his B.S./M.S. at OSU in natural resources and resource geography and did graduate work in urban planning/resource geography at OSU and University of Oregon. He was a career land use planner and NEPA specialist with BLM. Mike's passion is informed citizenry and decisionmaking in Oregon's land use planning system and addressing cumulative impacts relating to the land's carrying capacity. His other current roles include: Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society-Education Chair, Goal One Coalition-Director, Josephine Soil & Water Conservation District-Associate Director and NEPA Design Group-President.
