Our Staff
Meet the dedicated team bringing the mission to life!
Stewardship Director
April Dawne Christen
April Dawne grew up in Eugene and has been hiking and exploring all over Oregon with her dad since she was a kid. Her love of plants, mushrooms, wild places, dancing, delicious food and being physically active has led to a varied work history. She has been a restaurant cook, worked for the Forest Service, coordinated natural history workshops and continues to run her own landscaping business. She joined the Friends Stewardship crew in June of 2016, became the Nursery Assistant in May of 2020, administrative assistant in 2024 and Outreach and Communications Coordinator and Plant Sales Manager in 2025. You can find April Dawne by listening for her infectious laugh.
Stewardship Coordinator
Michaela Blackham
Michaela was raised along the upper McKenzie River in the foothills of the Cascades, where her love for the outdoors began. She graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources. Her professional experience spans environmental stewardship and education across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. With a strong background in urban forestry, Michaela is passionate about helping people connect with the places they live. She is a Certified Arborist, Tree Risk Assessor, and a retired climbing arborist. Outside of work, Michaela enjoys whitewater rafting, biking, crocheting, and supporting women’s basketball. She loves spending time with her partner, making her daughter laugh, and exploring the outdoors with her dog.
Nursery Manager
Mieko Aoki
Mieko has a background in biology, ecology, landscape architecture, horticulture, habitat restoration and wildlife rehabilitation. She joined the Friends in 2017 as Trails and Volunteer Coordinator, and became the Nursery Manager in 2020. She has always enjoyed plants, animals and what can be learned by slowing down and observing them. When not at work she loves camping in the mountains, wading in streams, listening to birdsong, sharing good food with friends and spending time with her awesome husband.
Intern and Volunteer Coordinator
Sha Cabal
Sha moved to Eugene in the middle of the pandemic, seeking refuge from the concrete jungle of Los Angeles. She quickly fell in love with the landscape of Willamette Valley while tending the land at permaculture homesteads, small-scale farms, and public parks. The diverse ecosystem of the Valley represents something very meaningful to her, which is resilience. In her spare time she likes to bomb hills on her bike, craft with friends, and spend time with her tabby cat. While working with the Friends, Sha aims to practice inclusion and decolonization through her programming and projects.
Trail Steward
Guston Cole
Guston grew up in San Francisco and has been fascinated by the natural world for as long as he can remember. After studying in Flagstaff, Arizona, and living there for ten years, he recently moved to Eugene to experience life in the wet Pacific Northwest, in contrast to the arid Arizona mountains. His previous work with a city parks department and the Conservation Corps has equipped him with a diverse set of skills suited to his new role as Trails Steward. He enjoys cooking, basketball, and spending time with loved ones, but his true passion lies in plants, and he spends much of his free time learning about them.
Nursery Assistant
Hannah English
Hailing from the rural south, Hannah grew up stomping through forests and wading rivers. She gradually moved west, working multiple seasonal jobs including tallgrass prairie restoration in Nebraska using bison grazing, wild donkey behavioral observation in Arizona, and passerine songbird densities within working Oregon forests. After falling in love with the various microhabitats of the Willamette Valley, she decided to call Eugene home in 2019. Hannah enjoys creating delicious meals from the food in her garden, foraging plants and mushrooms in the coastal mountain range, and cuddling her snuggle-bug of a cat.
Communications & Outreach
Kenzie Wong
With experience spanning nonprofits, startups, and large companies, Kenzie brings a results-driven marketing approach to every project she takes on. Her multimedia work has been highlighted by SAMHSA, publicly traded brands, and community-focused organizations. Born and raised in the Willamette Valley, she grew up hiking, biking, and riding horses across the landscapes she now helps steward. Stepping into this role, she’s most energized by the chance to deepen her own understanding of land stewardship and use her creative tools to grow awareness of how each of us can care for the natural spaces around us.
Board of Directors
The Friends are governed by a Board of Directors. These individuals bring a wide array of skills and experiences to the organization's vision.
Please email us if you would like to learn more about serving on our Board of Directors or a board committee.
Committee opportunities are open to both Board and non-board members.
Reach out to us at Board@bufordpark.org.
President
Margie James
Margie grew up in Eugene, Oregon, spending her time exploring and camping. She studied forest management at Oregon State and did contract work (stand exams) with the forest service on the east side of the Cascades. She got her associate degree in Health Records at Central OR Community College and worked for PeaceHealth. She has always found solace in being outdoors, no matter what she was doing. Margie strongly believes in the importance of the greater Mount Pisgah area as a needed recreational and natural resource for our local communities. She is a believer in the work of Friends of Buford Park and Mt Pisgah, the restoration and trails work, community education about this treasure, and Friends collaboration with other natural resource non-profits.
Treasurer
Jim Origliosso
Jim Origliosso, Board Member & Treasurer can be seen daily trekking the Eastside trails with his canine companion Gracie. For most of his career, Mr. Origliosso worked as a Chief Financial
Officer in the electric and water utility industry. He retired from the Eugene Water and Electric
Board after serving 22 years as its Treasurer and Finance Director. Origliosso is the founder and President of the Oregon Disaster Airlift Response Team, a volunteer pilot organization (VPO) active in disasters. He also serves as Treasurer of Angel
Flight West, nonprofit organization that provides free air transportation to those in need. He is
a commercial pilot and has flown over 100 missions as an Angel Flight West Command Pilot and Oregon Wing Leader. Mr. Origliosso holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy Analysis from Southern Illinois University and was a Certified Public Accountant prior to his retirement.
Secratary
Katelin Kutella
Katelin worked as the lab manager for the Diez Lab at the University of Oregon, where she managed research projects at the Friends’ Native Plant Nursery and in Buford Park alongside students, volunteers, and staff. She is eager to continue supporting Friends’ mission and is passionate about creating opportunities for young people and researchers to engage with the land while supporting the stewardship of Mt. Pisgah’s ecosystems. Katelin values the biodiversity of Buford Park and the nursery’s work producing seed for restoration, and she is committed to supporting these efforts for the community and future generations.
Board Member
Daniel Dietz
Daniel has been enjoying the trails, oaks, and waters of the Mount Pisgah area since arriving in Eugene in 2016. He believes that Buford Park is one of the more interesting and important areas in Lane County and that the Friends are instrumental in stewarding it. He finds the dedication and knowledge of the Friends staff to be as impressive as the land itself. Daniel has worked in natural resource management since the late 1990’s and is currently a restoration specialist with the Upper Willamette Soil and Water Conservation District.
Board Member
Emily Cook
Emily Cook has lived in Eugene since 2018 and is currently a PhD student in a community ecology lab at the University of Oregon. She studies the ability of native plant species’ to persist under changing conditions. Emily is passionate about using scientific research to inform restoration efforts and support resilient ecosystems. She values community-centered conservation and the role that collective, hands-on work by volunteers and community members plays in maintaining the health and natural beauty of this remarkable place.
Board Member
Philip Bayles
Philip Bayles has a distinguished career background in both music and computer-related fields. His conducting has received regional and national acclaim. Mr. Bayles has a second career in computers and networking. He has served on the Board of Directors of Oregon Public Networking, bringing technology to the disadvantaged and taught numerous courses in computer literacy, word-processing, internet research. Philip supports the Friends because he believes that the greater Mt. Pisgah area is so beautiful and beloved and is a place well worth restoring, and preserving, for all.