Cat Price
DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIPS, EnGAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT
Cat has lived in the mountains of the watershed for 16 years and counting. Her professional background is in nonprofit development, event planning, and project management. As the Grants Manager for the Fourmile Watershed Coalition following the 2013 Front Range flood, she followed her heart into the environmental realm, managing resilient recovery and restoration projects and leading engagement with stakeholders and community members as they learned about and responded to the land’s and people’s needs.
Cat co-founded and has grown alongside the Boulder Watershed Collective. She is inspired by cultivating shared benefit for the environment, the community, and the greater good, and is energized by deep breaths and solution-focused action. In her free time, Cat enjoys adventuring with her husband, children, and rascal dog, as well as practicing yoga, hiking, and adventuring.
Kirin Riddell
director of programs, finance, & operations
Fire adapted communities coordinator
Kirin grew up in the oak woodlands of northern California. After completing a Bachelor of Science in Earth Systems at Stanford University, she moved to Alaska, where she lived off-grid for 12 years in a little dry cabin in the boreal forest of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. She spent six years with the Park Service in resource management and emergency response. She moved to Boulder with her husband and daughter in 2021 to complete a Masters in the Environment at CU Boulder, where her capstone project focused on understanding how local community values can holistically inform Community Wildfire Protection Plans. Kirin is inspired by the diverse ways that people connect with natural landscapes, and by learning about local values in order to plan for climate-resilient communities. She also loves to explore and learn about the forested watersheds of the front range.
Erin Fried
Applied social scientist
Erin grew up in Colorado, lucky to have been able to ski, hike, and smell ponderosas in the Front Range. With undergraduate roots in the performing arts and psychology, she has pursued interdisciplinary paths at the junction of environmental social science and education with an artistic lens. She received her Masters Degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at CU, researching how creativity and real world problem solving helps undergraduates learn complex biological concepts. She has also applied her social science training to various consulting and university teaching positions. Grateful to be a part of the BWC team, she is passionate about local practices that inspire collaborative action and connects diverse stakeholders - especially concerning our beloved forests and river corridors.
Scott Heffernan
Forest Program Manager
Hailing from central Texas, Scott grew up playing and exploring the creeks, waterways, and natural landscapes around him with a curious mind. He graduated Magna cum Laude from the University of Colorado with a focus on population genetics and marine biology, but would utilize his minor in astrophysics while getting a Master's in Forest Remote Sensing from Oregon State University. Scott is a seasoned field ecologist and forester, and blends the art, science, and communication of forestry on a daily basis. When not in the woods, he enjoys rock climbing and making music with his wife and young daughter.
Preston Brown
Watershed program SpECIALIST
Born and raised in Colorado, Preston spent his early years playing in the open spaces and creeks of the Front Range. He still plays in the creeks of Front Range but as a watershed restoration professional with an expertise in natural stream restoration design and fisheries. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University he began his watershed restoration career in northern California working in stream restoration for endangered coho salmon. Preston is a seasoned practitioner having directed large-scale river and floodplain restoration, low-tech- process-based restoration, and aquatic habitat restoration for endangered salmonids. After 10+ years in northern California, he and his family moved back to their roots in Colorado and live in Boulder County. While not working to restore the waterways of the beautiful Boulder Creek Watershed, Preston enjoys woodworking and spending time with his wife and young son, exploring the creeks and open spaces in their community.
Jackie Barry
Forestry Specialist
Jackie grew up playing in the dense oak forests of southeastern Pennsylvania. Upon moving west and getting introduced to the world of wildland fire, they became hooked and spent years working in fire in different capacities; prescribed fire, engine crews, hand crews, and a hotshot crew. After hotshotting, Jackie decided to shift their focus from suppression to forest management, and completed their Master’s of Natural Resources in Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. After coming back home to Colorado and working in forestry and fire for the local government, they are now happy to be on the team at BWC. Jackie is passionate about the inclusion of diverse community stakeholders in creating ecologically and socially comprehensive and adaptive forest management plans in the Boulder Watershed. When not working, they enjoy making art, riding their bike, snowboarding, cooking, and spending time with friends.
Julien Blundell
Fire Adapted Communities Coordinator
Julien grew up wandering the woods of New England with a bow and a notebook. He moved to Colorado to study writing and literature at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and from there, continuing in the New England naturalist tradition, he completed a Masters in the Environment at CU Boulder. His pandemic hobby was foraging, where he learned to identify, prepare, and eat many of Colorado's wild plants and fungi. Julien is interested in the diverse ways that communities impact and manage their wildland commons, and how we can be better stewards of the natural world. He loves longsword fencing, archery, poetry, and wandering the wilds of Colorado looking for plants to eat.