We are a group of citizen activists of diverse social and political affiliations who are united in our belief in the importance of rights for nature.
Board Members (2020):
- Mary Balzer
- Kitty Brigham – President bio Kitty has lived in Colorado since 1976. She began working for environmental protection and conservation in 1980 as natural resources chair for the Jefferson County League of Women Voters. She is 95% vegan. She is a past nonprofit administrator and current nonprofit volunteer. Kitty lives in a new net-zero 100% fossil-free solar PV home that was designed by CU architecture and engineering students. She also “walks” bikes and buses “the talk” by leaving her 20 year old Subaru in its garage nearly all the time. Her special concern is the safeguarding of wildlife and biodiversity and ecosystems.
- Steve Jones – bio Steve is author of The Last Prairie, a Sandhills Journal, and co-author of The Shortgrass Prairie, the Peterson Field Guide to the North American Prairie, Colorado Nature Almanac, Wild Boulder County, and Butterflies of the Colorado Front Range. Steve organized the first comprehensive small owl and wintering raptor surveys in Boulder County and helped plan and carry out the Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas. His consulting work includes more than two-dozen breeding bird and resource inventories for city, county, and state open space programs. He has led field trips and taught nature classes for 36 years, and he taught in the Boulder Valley Public Schools for 33 years.
- Dan Leftwich – bio Dan is a founding member of Boulder Rights of Nature; an attorney in Boulder, Colorado, and the founder of MindDrive Legal Services, LLC. (www.minddrivelegal.com). MindDrive Legal Services represents clients in civil rights, constitutional law and general litigation matters, as well as community groups seeking to enact local or state-wide initiatives. Dan has an undergraduate degree in journalism, and a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. During his 20 year span as a plaintiffs’ class action litigator, Dan was involved in some of the most complex cases in the nation against Fortune 100 corporations addressing monopoly power, price fixing, and corporate fraud with his former law firm in Washington, D.C. For the past few years, Dan has helped represent local community groups, such as Protect Our Loveland, Our Broomfield, and others, defend their constitutional rights to protect themselves from the hazards to public health, safety and the environment of hydraulic fracturing and orther corporate industrial acitivities. He is the author of several articles and presentations on legal issues, Earth Jurisprudence, Sustainablility, and the Rights of Nature.
- Mitchell Rodehaver – Secretary
- Grant Wilson – Vice-President bioGrant is the Directing Attorney at Earth Law Center and a member of Boulder Rights of Nature. He has worked on a variety of environmental campaigns in the US and worldwide, including on climate change and water law issues. He earned a J.D. with a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.
- Howard Witkin
- Chris Hoffman – Emeritus
SUBCOMMITTEES (2020):
- Communications & Publications: Dale Ball, Mary Balzer
- Ecosystems and Wildlife: Kitty Brigham, Mike Dallin, Ann Huggins, Steve Jones, Michael Thomason
- Education & Awareness/Community Outreach: Mitchell Rodehaver
- Film Series: Cynthia Cornelius, Steve Jones, Anyll Markevich
- Finance/Membership: Ann Huggins, Steve Jones, Howard Witkin
- Legal BOULDER CREEK WATERSHED RESOLUTION: Dan Leftwich, Grant Wilson
- Spiritual Activism