Teresa Martinez
Executive Director, CDTC

Teresa Martinez has dedicated more than 35 years of her professional career to advancing awareness, access, engagement, and stewardship across the National Trails System. She worked with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy from 1987 to 2007 and the Continental Divide Trail Alliance from 2007 to 2012 before co-founding CDTC in 2012. Since then, she has served as Executive Director, leading efforts to complete, protect, and elevate the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail while building a strong and engaged community of volunteers, partners, supporters, and trail users. Teresa serves on the Trail Leadership Council of the Partnership for the National Trails System and the board of Leave No Trace, and chairs the board of the Next100 Coalition. A graduate of Virginia Tech, she holds a B.S. and an M.S. in fisheries and wildlife. Teresa enjoys exploring the places around her home in northern New Mexico by foot, bicycle, and horseback.

L Fisher
Director of Trail Programs, CDTC

L Fisher is an educator and community organizer who grew up in rural Indiana. They received dual degrees in philosophy and political science before earning their master’s in political science from Indiana University. Before moving out west, they worked on campaigns and in policy advocacy throughout Indiana and parts of Texas. L’s passion for environmental policy eventually took them to Montana, where they worked as a conservationist and outdoor educator along the Rocky Mountain Front. When they are not working, L is dedicated to being an avid reader, amateur chef, and hiking enthusiast.

Dr. Lilian Brislen
Director of Activation, The Conservation Fund

Dr. Lilian Brislen is the Director of Activation at The Conservation Fund. Activation is an initiative that bridges conservation and economic development and supports rural communities as they turn natural, cultural, and recreational assets into lasting economic opportunity. Before joining The Conservation Fund, Lilian served as Deputy Director within the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, where she helped lead the Regional Food Business Center program and a portfolio of regional food systems research initiatives. She previously served as the founding director of The Food Connection at the University of Kentucky and as a professor of practice at Colorado State University, roles that focused on rural economic development, market innovation, and institutional partnerships. Lilian holds a Ph.D. in rural sociology from the University of Kentucky and a bachelor’s degree from Beloit College. Outside of work, Lilian is an avid cyclist, loves jazz, and is a self-proclaimed science fiction dork.

Miles Kirksey
Program Associate, Activation, The Conservation Fund

Miles Kirksey joined The Conservation Fund in March 2024 as a Program Associate on the Activation team. In this role, he provides technical assistance and strategic advising to rural communities across the country, helping them develop and implement sustainable economic development initiatives that leverage their natural assets and align with conservation goals. Before joining the Fund, Miles served as Advocacy Engagement Manager at the NC Rural Center, where he spent over five years working with rural communities across North Carolina on economic development issues, including small business development, food systems infrastructure, and civic engagement. Hailing from Morganton, North Carolina, Miles holds a B.A. in political science and public administration from Appalachian State University. In his free time, you can find him exploring the rural roads of North Carolina in search of his new favorite trail or watering hole.

Ellie Lerner
Associate, Activation, The Conservation Fund

Ellie Lerner advocates for land activation and environmental literacy through research, design, and creative economic development strategies. Ellie is a licensed landscape architect and planner, and she loves to explore how uplifting biodiversity and social-ecological rehabilitation shape more resilient communities and their economies. She offers expertise in rigorous environmental analysis, applied field sciences, and creative storytelling. She is also experienced in large-scale systems planning for restorative landscapes and regularly participates in cross-disciplinary planning for natural resource sustainability, conservation and land management, and data-driven asset mapping. Ellie enjoys building meaningful project partnerships through fun community engagement and fieldwork (especially if it means she gets to play in a stream).

Claire Cutler
Trail Policy Specialist, CDTC

Claire Cutler grew up in Kailua, Hawaii, exploring Oahu’s mountains and ocean. She developed a love for environmental science and policy, and attended Georgetown University to study Science, Technology, and International Affairs. After graduating, she spent two years working as an AmeriCorps member. As CDTC’s Trail Policy Specialist, Claire enjoys opportunities to educate elected officials and the public about the importance of the CDT, public lands, and using their voice to protect beloved landscapes. Claire is an avid runner on both roads and trails, and also enjoys hiking, baking, and reading.

Dr. Mike Tracy
CDTC Trail Adopter and Advocate, Powell, Wyoming

Dr. Mike Tracy has balanced his lifelong love of nature and the wilderness with practicing internal medicine and pediatrics in Powell, Wyoming, since 2002. Mike believes in the healing power of spending time in the great outdoors and encourages people to combat nature-deficit disorder. He discovered his love for backpacking early in life in Colorado, with fond memories formed in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness many years ago. This century, he has spent considerable time hiking the Continental Divide Trail and volunteering with CDTC in Wyoming, in addition to hiking in the Beartooth Mountains and on the Bridger-Teton, Bighorn, and Shoshone National Forests. Mike hopes to continue long hikes and volunteer trail work on our amazing public lands for many years to come.

Kathy Knapp
Grassroots Advocate and Community Organizer, Pie Town, New Mexico

In 1995, Kathy Knapp bought the Thunderbird Trading Post in Pie Town, New Mexico. She baked pies at the Pie-O-Neer until 2020 and hosted CDT hikers in the early days, when many slept on the pie shop floor. Kathy was also an early advocate for trail access along the Divide, bringing landowners, lawyers, and CDT representatives together for meetings at the Pie-O-Neer. In 2024, she helped form the Pie Town Action Committee, a nonprofit that manages the town’s 100-year-old community center. After the committee led a complete remodel, the community can now bake hundreds of pies there for the annual Pie Festival. Today, Kathy co-owns the Silver Creek Inn in Mogollon, New Mexico, where she hosts guests seasonally, and is a campaign organizer for Protect Catron County, a volunteer-based coalition opposing the Ane Uranium Exploration Project between Pie Town and Datil. Her motto is simple: nature nurtures.

Zach Angstead
Federal Legislative Director, Wild Montana

Zach Angstead is the Federal Legislative Director at Wild Montana. He grew up on the Colorado Front Range and moved to Montana to attend Montana State University in Bozeman, where he earned a B.S. in ecology and a B.A. in political science. He worked for the U.S. Navy for several years in Washington before returning to Montana to raise his family. Zach has worked for Wild Montana since 2020, inspired by the dark and mysterious world of Montana’s caves and by his passion for wildlands across the state. Zach and his children, Finn and Emery, call Great Falls home along with their two dogs.