The People Behind Forever Our Rivers
Our mission is to help communities enhance river health in their neighborhoods and create more equitable access to rivers. Improving streamside habitat, protecting wetlands and bolstering base flows to support aquatic habitat are also priorities.
Tim Carlson
Board President and Secretary
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Tim is an environmental engineer with more than 40 years of experience. His career spans the range of restoration including soil, ground and surface waters, and riparian lands throughout the West. His work has focused on developing reasonable and rational solutions to environmental problems that were considered intransigent by many. Recently retired, he spent the previous 20 years working or consulting with nonprofits serving as president, executive director, research director, and consultant. This included founding the Tamarisk Coalition (now known as RiversEdge West) and consulting to the Walton Family Foundation. Typical activities provided to these nonprofits was guidance to numerous watershed partnerships in the Colorado River Basin to improve riparian habitat and river health, as well as researching and crafting innovative sustainable funding mechanisms for river conservation. These experiences led to the formation of Forever Our Rivers Foundation to address the complex issue of sustainable funding that focused on an innovative approach that wasn’t tied to traditional funding approaches.
Steve Ayers
Board Member
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Steve has spent 24 years in sales and marketing before returning to college and receiving a B. S. in Strategic Communications and Professional Writing in 2004. That same year he began a new career in journalism as a reporter for the Verde Independent and Camp Verde Bugle newspapers. During his eight-years as a journalist, he wrote extensively on the Verde River, environmental issues, local agriculture and Verde Valley history. He received over 40 statewide and regional journalism awards including seven from the Arizona Newspaper Association and the Arizona Farm Bureau Print Journalist of the Year in 2010. In 2013 he made yet another career change taking over as the Economic Development Director for the Town of Camp Verde. Over the last two years, he has been instrumental in developing a model that blends traditional economic development programs with asset-based, place-making initiatives and environmental conservation. He is a master home brewer who provides both marketing and craft beer expertise to the Board.
Donna D’Angelo Morrall
Board Member
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Donna is a Certified Financial Planner ™ professional with more than 10 years of experience and co-owner, with her husband Steve, of Clear Waters Financial Planning LLC. The firm donates 20% of its profits to local non-profits that strive to create a sustainable environment and future for Western Colorado. In addition to her expertise in financial planning and socially conscious investing, Donna also brings her experience as an environmental scientist to the Forever Our Rivers Foundation. Donna is an aquatic ecologist and has studied the impacts of deforestation on stream geomorphology, nutrient dynamics, and fish distributions since the early 1980s. She worked for 15 years for The Procter & Gamble Co. conducting stream research, environmental modeling and risk assessments. In her spare time, Donna enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, fishing and playing golf. She is also a member of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness.