Executive Committee

Erin Capuchino

Executive Director

​

Erin Capuchino joined the Yosemite Sequoia Resource Conservation and Development Council in Feb of 2022 as an Outreach Coordinator and was promoted to Director in May. She is a California native with roots in Tulare County and has lived in Oakhurst, CA, for the last 11 years. Recently graduated from Fresno Pacific University with a bachelor’s in Organizational Leadership, Erin is driven and passionate about helping others and making a difference.

Erin enjoys spending time with her friends and family; she loves good food and entertaining. Erin stays busy with three kids, fundraising for many different nonprofits, including the Wildland Firefighter Foundation and local nonprofits, coaching the local High School Water Polo teams, swimming, or lifeguarding when not working for the YSRCDC.

Hazel Lavender

Program Coordinator

​

Hazel is the Project Manager for YSRCDC, offering general support and project management. She originally served as a VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) to the YSRCDC several years ago, bringing her to the area where her love affair with the Sierras began. Hazel attended the University of Wisconsin, where she studied English, focusing on Literature and Writing. She’s worked for several tribes in the past and Forest Service and has a passion for the outdoors and the preservation thereof. In her free time, Hazel enjoys shooting her bow, hiking, camping, and anything else that gets her outside.

Mi-Ling Wong

Social Media Specialist

​

Mi-Ling is the Social Media Specialist for YSRCDC. She currently attends Fresno State and is in her second year of college studying Mass Communication and Journalism. With her dream job of being a digital marketer, Mi-Ling loves all things about social media, even the editing part. She has lived in Fresno all of her life and even though she has an occasional bike ride or hike, she loves the outdoors.

Mi-Ling enjoys dedicating the rest of her free time to the gym. She enjoys weight training and body building specifically, with cardio on the side when she feels like it. She enjoys trying new restaurants, loves good eats, and enjoys day trips to Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Francisco.

Raini Patteson

Project Manager

​

Raini is our new project manager! She will develop and coordinate fire resiliency and forest health programs in Kern and Mariposa County by facilitating community and partnership engagement and supporting project needs.

In 2019, Raini graduated from University College London with an M.Sc. in Earth Sciences. After deferring a decision for a Ph.D., she decided to volunteer throughout Southern France on permaculture farms. The weight of the global need for clean, sustainable, and equitable access to natural systems and her time at the farms culminated in a desire to focus on community, climate, and watershed conservation. Originally, Raini grew up in Louisiana; impacted by Hurricane Katrina she wanted to learn more about Earth systems which resulted in her attending the University of Missouri and earning a degree in Soil, Environmental, and Atmospheric sciences. Raini moved to California in 2020 and is completely enchanted by the cinematic landscape of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the communities that live here. From 2020-2022, she worked with the East Merced Resource Conservation District as a rural climate specialist enhancing landowner relationships and building program capacity for land and water restoration. The past year, Raini worked through the Sierra Nevada Alliance Forestry Fellow program to train as a project manager with the Y/S RC & DC.  She ultimately wants to support communities impacted by worsening environmental crises and injustices and work to develop relationships with communities and solutions to conservation issues by implementing best management practices.

Colleen Laird

Forest Health Project Coordinator

​

Colleen joins Y/S RC&DC as a Forest Health Project Coordinator through the Sierra Nevada Alliance's Forestry Fellow Program. In this position, she will contribute to ongoing projects, lead fire resilience workshops and help coordinate partnerships. Originally from Illinois, Colleen has been ambitious with her exploration of the U.S. and the world. Some of her adventures include earning a bachelor's in geology and environmental studies in Ohio, completing a resource assistantship in conservation education with the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, monitoring forest soil health in Oregon's Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and earning a double degree master's in environmental sciences from the University of Hohenheim and the University of Copenhagen. She has been drawn to the Sierra Nevada by the opportunity to help protect the unique and epic landscapes of the region and to work within the communities that call the region home. In the long-term, Colleen aspires to facilitate landscape-scale environmental resilience projects that bring together people from all walks of life to create positive change, locally and globally. Beyond work, Colleen loves hiking, looking at cool rocks, crocheting, and cooking with friends.