Our Team
Staff
To learn more about Bob: Bob Sallinger: 30 years at Portland Audubon
Bob Sallinger, Executive Director
Bob has more than 30 years of experience working to protect birds across the State of Oregon. Prior to founding Bird Conservation Oregon, Bob worked as Conservation Director at Audubon Society of Portland where his responsibilities included overseeing local, state, and federal policy initiatives, litigation, community science initiatives, the Backyard Habitat Certification Program, and the busiest wildlife hospital in Oregon. Bob has also served as an elected director at East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District and as an adjunct professor of Law at Lewis and Clark Law School, Over the course of his career Bob has served on dozens of publicly appointed committees and commissions; he currently serves on the Elliott State Research Forest Board, Portland Flood Safety and Water Quality Board, Portland Utility Board, Intertwine Alliance Board, and as president of the Board of Humane Voters Oregon. In 2023, Bob joined the staff of Willamette Riverkeeper where he currently serves as their first Urban Conservation Director. Bob also occasionally helps lead nature trips for Wild Latitudes.
Bob has won numerous awards for his conservation efforts including the Oregon Chapter of the Wildlife Society David B. Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award, the US Fish and Wildlife Special Achievement Award for work recovering Peregrine Falcons, the Oregon Land Board Partnership Award for collaboration, the Columbia Riverkeeper River Hero Award, and leadership awards from Columbia Riverkeeper, Friends of Trees, Columbia Slough Watershed Council, Raging Grannies, and Depave, among others.
Bob has a BA in Biology from Reed College and a JD with Environmental Certificate from Lewis and Clark Law School. He lives in NE Portland with his wife, Elisabeth, three children, and an assortment of dogs, cats, goats, and chickens.
Board
Dan Rohlf, President
Professor Dan Rohlf teaches Wildlife Law, Law, Science, and the Environment Seminar, Sustainability in Law and Business, and other courses at Lewis and Clark Law School’s environmental and natural resources program. He also works with the law school’s environmental LLM program, teaching the Environmental Law LLM Seminar. He has been at the law school since 1988.
Professor Rohlf is also a co-founder of the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center, now Earthrise Law Center, the law school’s domestic environmental law clinic. Through his work with Earthrise, Dan supervises students working on administrative and judicial actions which affect the environment of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Originally trained as a geologist, Dan’s expertise includes endangered species law and policy, wildlife law, and ecosystem management. He is also interested in the interaction of law and science, and the developing law related to efforts to make society and businesses more sustainable.
Dan’s research and publications have also centered around conservation of biological diversity. He is the author of The Endangered Species Act: A Guide to Its Protections and Implementation, which won the National Wildlife Federation book award. He has lectured and published widely on topics related to protecting and managing biodiversity. Dan received his BA degree in geology from Colorado College and his JD from Stanford. After law school he served as a clerk for Justice Jay Rabinowitz of the Alaska Supreme Court. He is an avid cyclist, skier, hiker, and dragon boat paddler.
Mike Houck, Secretary
Mike Houck directed the Community Research Center at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry from 1972 to 1977 and taught at Oregon Episcopal School from 1977 to 1979. In 1980 Mike founded the Urban Naturalist program at the Audubon Society of Portland where he served as Urban Naturalist for 35 years.
He founded the Urban Greenspaces Institute in 1999 where he was Executive Director for over 20 years and is currently Director Emeritus. Houck is a co-founder of The Portland-Vancouver region’s Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium (UERC), The Intertwine Alliance, and the international The Nature of Cities. Mike co-edited Wild in the City, a Guide to Portland’s Natural Areas (2000); Wild in the City, Exploring The Intertwine (2011); and two editions of The Routledge Handbook of Urban Ecology (2011), (2021).
Photo by Michael Wilhelm
Kaitlin Lovell, Treasurer
Kaitlin is a scientist and a lawyer specializing in endangered species and river ecosystems. She is serving on two special assignments for the City of Portland: as the External Finance Strategy Manager for the Bureau of Environmental Services and the Mitigation Bank Policy Director for Commissioner Mingus Mapps, developing a new program to build mitigation banks for endangered species impacted within the urban ecosystem.
Previously, Kaitlin served in a variety of roles elevating the intersection of science, law, and policy for the Bureau of Environmental Services including as the Regulatory Strategy and Remediation Manager, the Science Integration Division Manager, and the Science, Fish and Wildlife Manager. Some of her most visible accomplishments include the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge reconnection, Crystal Springs Creek restoration and the development of Portland’s Climate Change Preparation Strategy. Kaitlin joined the City in 2007 after 7 years at Trout Unlimited, a national nonprofit fish conservation organization, where she served as salmon policy coordinator and counsel.
Kaitlin is a graduate of Cornell Law School and Bucknell University.