Staff

Melissa joined the Willow Bend team in August 2017. She holds a B.A. in Sustainable Agriculture from Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, VT. Melissa has served in the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps in the American Midwest, as well as the United States Peace Corps in Jamaica. Passionate about environmental education, she has shared her love of the natural world by creating programming for schools and camps, managing gardens, and playing songs about worms on her ukulele. Melissa loves to explore nature with her 3-year-old son, ride her bicycle, and draw silly comics in her sketchbook.

Ash joined the Willow Bend team in September of 2022. She holds a B.S in Environmental and Sustainability Studies from NAU. She has served as an AmeriCorps member for the U.S. Forest Service and state trail crews throughout Colorado, Oregon and California and has also volunteered as a land steward on farms and eco-villages in Hawaii and Washington. She is inspired by biophilia, the idea that humans possess a natural urge to seek connection, interaction and affiliation with nature and the "greater earth community". In her spare time, she finds herself writing poetry, admiring local flora, slacklining and playing music with friends.

Alex  joined the Willow Bend team in September 2024. He holds a M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison. After working in the biomedical device industry, Alex switched his career to outdoor education, primarily working for Outward Bound, leading backcountry backpacking, rafting, and rock climbing trips in Oregon, and dog sledding expeditions in Minnesota. Alex is passionate about empowering people through teaching critical thinking skills, emotional resilience, and curiosity driven learning. Alex loves all kinds of animals, both domesticated and wild, and will always try to spend time with them. When he’s not exploring outdoors, Alex likes to play board games, read, and play piano.

Susan has been coordinating the all-volunteer restoration of the habitat gardens since 2017. Since that time, volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds have contributed their time, skills, and talent to creating and maintaining gardens that exemplify local flora and ecosystems as well as provide an oasis of tranquility for the community. Having lived and gardened in the Flagstaff area since 1987, Susan is fascinated by our native flora as they emerge, bloom, and set seed. As a former ranger-naturalist at the Grand Canyon, she loves interpreting the gardens and their plants, insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Are you passionate about environmental education? Join our team!

We’re looking for a motivated individual to be Willow Bend’s Education Assistant! This position will focus on developing and delivering educational programs to schools and community members around Flagstaff (and sometimes beyond!).

• This is a part-time position- approximately 20 hrs/week with a semi-flexible schedule at $22/hr. Starting in starting in late March or early April 2025. There is the opportunity for qualified candidates to transition to full-time employment based on funding availability and performance.

View the application here or by clicking the link below:

https://willowbendcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Position-Title_-Education-Assistant-WB.pdf