Board
Sometimes, if you want to get something done, you’ve got to do it with friends. PPLT’s board includes ranchers, designers, lawyers, scientists, accountants, and entrepreneurs who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.
Interested in Contributing Your Time?
Our Board
Nicole Anderson
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2022
- Raised in the Pacific Northwest, Nicole is proud to have had the opportunity to call Central Washington home. Nicole’s journey to Montana was driven by her thirst for any type of adventure and desire to be a part of a community that values relationships and hard work. After a few years in Bozeman as a young professional, Nicole and her husband Chance settled in Helena. Of all the places she has lived, Helena is her favorite town she has ever had the pleasure of calling home. Nicole is an Architect with SMA Architecture + Design focusing on commercial design of all scales in a variety of market sectors including multifamily, civic, healthcare, and higher education. Outside the office, Nicole spends her time experimenting in the kitchen, hiking Montana’s picturesque trails with their chocolate lab Chevy, and traveling all over our beautiful country. Most recently she has taken up skiing, which has proven to be one of her biggest adventures yet.
Lisa Bay
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2025
- Lisa Bay hails from a long family line who homesteaded near Superior, MT. She spent her summers there with her favorite aunt, and returned to Montana permanently after receiving a degree in Environmental Planning from U.C. Santa Cruz. Soon thereafter, she met and married Mike Bay, a fifth-generation rancher on the Rocky Mountain Front, and they placed a conservation easement on the ranch. While helping with ranch work, Lisa also ran a sole proprietor natural resource consultancy until 2001, when she went to work fundraising for The Nature Conservancy, retiring from there in 2011. Lisa served as one of the original board members of PPLT; helped raise money for and plan the restoration of PPLT’s Sevenmile property; and has volunteered on several multi-user recreational groups, including helping to write the Scratchgravels recreation plan. She is an avid walker, hiker, and horsewoman, and often walks the hills with her dog Remi.
John Beaver
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2025
- John grew up in rural Oklahoma and migrated north to a ranch in the Shields Valley in 1990. From there, he went to Bozeman and got his Masters in Range Science. While in grad school, John answered a phone call by accident and ended up with a job at WESTECH Environmental Services in Helena, where he is now a partner. He and his wife Debra have two daughters who grew up roaming the hills above the current Beattie Street trailhead. John works and plays outdoors, enjoying camping, hunting, skiing, botanizing, and bird-watching. He loves volunteering his time to help promote community engagement and connections with the outdoors; two great reasons to be involved with PPLT! His long-term plan is to be a crosswalk guard at Central School.
Pam Bucy
Board President
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2020
- Pam was born and raised in Townsend, Montana. It took only a short stint of city living to convince her that fresh air and wide-open spaces were a necessary ingredient for her happiness and success. She has been incredibly fortunate to live and work only 30 miles from where she grew up, surrounded by her large family. She is an attorney by trade and has had a wide variety of legal positions in both the private sector and state government. She currently serves as the Chief Discipline Counsel for the State of Montana. When not at work, you will find her with her family, Mark, Errol, Emma and Quinn and their two dogs, Piper and Daisy, hiking, boating, and exploring Montana.
Betsy Burns
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2024
- Betsy grew up fishing, skiing and hiking in Colorado. She’s called Clancy, Montana, home for the last 30 years. She earned degrees in geology and environmental policy and management and worked for 38 years in air quality and as a Superfund project manager. She finished her career working on the East Helena smelter site, where she developed a passion for the community and land. She is excited to work with Prickly Pear Land Trust on the East Helena Greenway project. She also volunteers with the Myrna Loy, Special Olympics, and the Prickly Pear Land Trust education program. Since retirement, she’s been busy traveling, camping in her RV, hiking with her dog, Casey, and enjoying the Last Best Place.
Martin Coonen
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2025
- Martin Coonen moved to Montana with his family when he was seven years old. He graduated from Helena High School in the same class as his wife, Lindy, a fifth generation Montanan. In the 90s, Martin fell in love with biking the Mount Helena Ridge Trail. Today, he owns Coonen Dental, which keeps him busy when he isn’t on the trails. He rides his bike to work everyday, rain, shine, or -20 degrees! He’s a Chicago sports fanatic and loyal Cubs fan, following in his grandfather’s footsteps. He attended Montana State University, Western Washington University, and The University of Washington School of Dentistry (go Dawgs) and moved to Helena in 2008. Martin and Lindy also have two daughters. Riley is a third grade teacher in Denver and Hallie is studying environmental sustainability at Montana Western.
Kevin Cumley
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2025
- Kevin grew up in Helena, MT, where his parents helped instill a lifelong love of the outdoors. He and his wife spent nearly 20 years in the Seattle area before moving back to Montana with their two children in 2007. They enjoy the incredible fly fishing, hunting, hiking, skiing, mountain biking, and camping this great state offers. Kevin has served on the board of directors for organizations ranging from small nonprofits to large multinational corporations and has been involved with local conservation groups supporting efforts to protect aquatic ecosystems and trout habitat. Kevin’s professional background is in the software industry, where he helped small to mid-sized organizations improve their success through technology. He began his career in public accounting in the 1980s before founding and then serving as President of Forepoint, an award-winning reseller of accounting software consistently ranked among the Top 100 firms. His final eight years in the profession were spent leading the national Client Advisory Services (CAS) practice for Sage Software in partnership with the AICPA. In 2020 and 2021, he was recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting, and he happily retired in 2022.
Marly Ellis
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2023
- Marly grew up in central Ohio, roaming the Hocking Hills and the shores of Lake Erie with her two younger sisters. Her career took her to Chicago and then New York City, where she spent the last two decades helping to build brands and digital businesses and traveling in relentless pursuit of nature and open spaces. Marly’s family brought her to Helena. She and her husband (a Helena native) are raising their three young boys here, and are wildly grateful to call the Prickly Pear Valley home. Marly is excited to bring her over 20 years of experience in marketing, strategy, and creative storytelling to PPLT. On weekends she is outside exploring with her kids or reading books.
Jeannie Etchart
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2020
- Jeannie is a fourth generation Montanan from a well-known and respected ranching family in Northeastern Montana. She grew up in Helena and later went on to attend the University of Notre Dame, graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2006. Following graduation, Jeannie moved to Washington, DC where she held multiple political, event-planning and fundraising positions including at The White House, United States Senate and The Prince of Wales Foundation. In December 2015, Jeannie moved back to her dear hometown of Helena. She always knew she wanted to return to her beloved Montana and is happy to be back to her roots and a part of the wonderful and thriving community. Jeannie recently formed her own event planning business, Etchart Events LLC, to assist the area with planning, coordinating and executing a variety of functions. She is also very involved in the community and serves on the Boards of the Helena Area Community Foundation, Carroll College Saints Athletic Association, Green Meadow Country Club, St. Peter’s Health Foundation and most recently PPLT. Jeannie enjoys many things Helena and the surrounding areas have to offer such as skiing, golfing, rafting and hiking Mount Helena and is excited to join the PPLT Board and help further their mission to help preserve the beautiful public lands we are so lucky to get to call home!
Eliza Frazer
Board Secretary
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2017
- Eliza first fell in love with Montana as a teenager, enchanted by the brilliant stones sparkling in the rivers (not at all like Pittsburgh’s), the unimaginable space and the smell of sagebrush. She came often to ski, fish and bird hunt, and finally moved to Helena in 1992. The move “home” to Montana was delayed by a BA at Wesleyan, an MBA at the University of Chicago, and a dozen years of desk jobs, mostly in finance. In Helena, she has been on the boards of several nonprofits including the Holter Museum and the Montana chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Eliza and her husband Barry Hood are thankful to have raised their son, Jack, in Helena. They continue to enjoy Montana’s outdoors most every day.
Aidan Myhre
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2024
- Aidan Myhre is a fourth-generation Montanan dedicated to community service and keeping up with her very active family. Aidan has served on twelve boards in the arts, social services, healthcare, and public lands. In addition to her inspiring service record, Aidan brings over 25 years of professional experience in strategic communications and legislative and regulatory affairs to PPLT’s board. She loves Helena’s trails and enjoys hiking, biking, and backcountry skiing on public lands.
Mike Roberts
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2024
- Mike Roberts was born in Hamilton, Montana, and schooled at both Montana State University and the University of Montana. Mike has spent nearly four decades years in Helena, working with the citizens of Montana on water issues and enjoying the great outdoors. A retired state hydrologist, Mike volunteers water resources expertise to the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Trout Unlimited, and Prickly Pear Land Trust. His passion for open space in was fueled by the efforts to preserve the north slopes of Mt. Ascension during the Timberline Subdivision proposal in the late nineties. When not volunteering for good causes or working on his 130-year-old house with his wife Shannon, Mike can be found running, skiing, floating, biking, fishing, and hunting Montana’s great landscapes or providing the soundtrack at local venues with his band Darkhorse.
Joe Schmechel
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2024
- Joe comes from a long line of Montanans, with his roots in Butte. He has lived in every corner of the state, from his childhood on the mean streets of Billings to working as a lifty in Red Lodge, digging dinosaurs in Fort Peck, and leading hikes in Glacier. Joe received his B.A in History from the University of Montana and his M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Montana Tech. These days, Joe and his wife Sarah own and operate the Western and Gold Bars on Last Chance Gulch, where they make sure no Helenians go thirsty. In his free time, Joe is an avid hunter, dog walker, splitboarder, and mountain biker. Joe is passionate about open lands, wildlife management, and flowy single track.
John Tietz
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2020
- John moved to Montana from Colorado in 1977 when his father accepted a job at Montana State University. After graduating from Bozeman High School and MSU, John moved to Seattle, Washington to pursue a career in environmental remediation & consulting. In 2001, John decided he needed a new adventure, and enrolled at Seattle University School of Law. After graduating in 2004, John and his wife Leah and son Bridger moved to Helena so John could join the law firm of Browning, Kaleczyc, Berry & Hoven, PC, where his practice focuses water rights, land use, and environmental law. John became involved in protecting Montana’s open lands when he joined the Heritage Lands Working Group, an ad hoc committee established by the City of Helena, Lewis and Clark County, and PPLT to make recommendations to the L&C County Commission regarding options to preserve the county’s heritage working lands. John subsequently served on the county’s Citizens Advisory Committee on Open Lands, which provides guidance to the County Commission on the funding of conservation projects under the county’s Open Lands Program. When he is not riding his bike, John can be found skiing, backpacking, canoeing, or hiking somewhere in Montana’s public open lands.
Willis Yarberry
Board Member
BOARD MEMBER SINCE:
- 2023
- Willis spent the last twenty-five years in conservation with stints at The Nature Conservancy, Western Rivers Conservancy, and Ecosystem Investment Partners, a mitigation banking firm. He specialized in land transactions and federal lobbying for appropriations in his years in conservation. Prior to that, he spent the first twelve years of his career in commercial real estate banking. He enjoys fly fishing, camping, bird hunting, snowboarding, and mountain biking. And with more time on his hands since his retirement in late 2021, he has gone completely bonkers over saltwater fly fishing.