2023 Slate of Board Member Candidates

 

Jen Rupert

Jen and her family have lived on capitol creek road for more than 20 years. They just completed a conservation easement on the family property. Jen’s goal is to keep the capitol Creek Valley pristine.

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Michael Kinsley

Michael is an artist/painter (KinsleyPaintings.com) who also provides mediation, facilitation, and strategic-planning services valley wide. He works with all kinds of organizations and individuals to resolve issues through collaboration and whole-system thinking. (KinsleyDiplomacy.com). Michael is a member of the county Open Space and Trails board and the CLEER board (Clean Energy Economy for the Region). He's lived on Snowmass Creek since '92 and served on the SnoCap Board on-and-off for about twenty years.

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Chris Collins

I have been on the board the past 5 years and would like to continue working on preserving the integrity of theCapitol Creek Valley. I have worked for the most part on the approval of the land use applications. Making sure the applicants follow all the rules established in the masterplan.

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Sierra Flanigan

I am currently serving on the board and passionate about continuing the work to instill greater social and environmental responsibility into the Snow-Cap caucus area. Specifically I would like to address climate resilience more seriously by developing an action plan, partner with Watershed Biodiversity Initiative and other local groups to conserve the natural ecosystem and all its many inhabitants, and more broadly set an example in the RFV around biodiversity, development as we know it, and community engagement. It’s been a privilege thus far, Sierra 🌎

 

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Ned Andrews

My wife, Sharon and I have lived in the Little Elk Creek neighborhood for 9 years. My professional training was in hydrology and geology. This background and experience with water and land management (I grew up on an irrigated citrus orchard in Southern California) would be my primary contribution to the Capitol Creek Caucus. For most of my career, 31 years, I was a member of the U.S. Geological Survey, where I was Chief of the River Mechanics Project. The project focused on studies in water resources and river management issues in the western U.S., especially the Colorado River Basin. Subsequently, I joined the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado as a Research Professor. All of us who enjoy the privilege of living in the Capitol Creek Valley appreciate the importance and benefits of our water and land. Increasingly, we sense and feel growing pressures and demands on these resources, both from within as well as from outside our valley. The coming years may well bring an acceleration of these trends. Protecting our land and water will be increasingly important. It has been my pleasure to serve on the Snowmass-Capitol Creek Caucus Board for the past year. I would enjoy the opportunity to continue.

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Judy Hill Lovins

Judy came to Aspen in 1971. Soon after she opened a photographic fine art gallery (The Hill Gallery of Photography) that ran for over 30 years and won national and local awards. She served on several boards, including the Aspen Village Homeowners' Association, the Skico’s Environmental, and Aspen Hall of Fame. She has served on the Farm Collaborative Board (formerly Aspen Tree) for the past 10 years. Her oldest son, Miles, wife Nastassia and two grandchildren live in Boulder, and youngest son Nathan and wife live in Aspen Village. In 2007 she married Amory Lovins. They live in “the banana farm”, the former Rocky Mountain Institute Headquarters, which burns no fossil fuels and powers two electric cars.

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Jill Sabella

Jill has lived in the Capitol Creek Valley since 2000 and started coming to Aspen in 1963 from Minnesota to ski with her family.  She attended college in Denver, frequenting Aspen as often as possible, where she had a number of jobs from waitressing to writing.  She worked as a columnist for the Aspen Illustrated News in the late '60's and in the late 70's published a book of her photographs as staff photographer for the Aspen Music Festival.  She worked for National Geographic Society as         photographer and writer on various projects.  While living in Seattle for 20 years, she worked as a photographer, doing fine art gallery work, commercial annual reports and advertising, and portraiture.

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Over her life she has come and gone from the Roaring Fork Valley and was always drawn back because of the great community of people and the beauty of the area.  As an artist she has found much inspiration from the Capitol Creek Valley - especially the rural ranching character that still remains and of course the mountain landscapes.  In the last several years she was on the Board and several committees of the Red Brick in Aspen.  She has taught drawing and painting at the Art Base in Basalt, and has exhibited paintings and drawings in several venues in the valley.

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Helene Slansky

I moved to Old Snowmass in 2000 and joined the caucus board soon thereafter. I’ve been through three revisions of the master plan and am proud of the work we’ve done to preserve streams,owls on Snowmass Creek. Our emphasis on climate change and the environment are so very important that I’d like to continue to serve on the board.

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Molly Child

Molly joined up with Steve and the Child family on Capitol Creek Ranch 43 years ago, and has been lucky to live (much of it outside doing ranch work) on the beautiful land at the base of Haystack Mountain. Molly and Steve raised three kids here with the help of the Basalt school system, and the many other great programs for kids in the Roaring Fork Valley. After many years coordinating environmental awareness and art activities for pre-schools in the valley, co-directing a local summer camp “CapCreeCa” on the ranch, teaching cross-country skiing at the Snowmass XC Center, and running her small gardening business, Molly is endeavoring to follow the Child family tradition of serving the community! She served previously on the Caucus Board, and hopes to help guide the future of these valleys by sharing the lessons she is learning from living close to the land.

    

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Judy Frey

I have lived in Old Snowmass for eleven years, after living in Boulder for nearly 36 years. I have always been interested in astronomy, and one reason I chose to live in this valley is the unusually dark skies. I’ve been able to set up a telescope and view Jupiter and Saturn, a neighboring galaxy, and some breathtaking interstellar clouds of gas. I wrote an illustrated article that describes what you can see right here, with the naked eye, throughout the seasons (posted on the Caucus website under “Land and Sky.”) This part of our environment represents such an important—and disappearing—experience that I would like to see Old Snowmass become a Dark Sky Sanctuary under the International Dark Sky Association. My other interests include music—attending the music festival throughout the summer, playing the piano, and collecting historic music from around the world. I’ve always hiked in the mountains in order to see some of the most beautiful places on earth. The ancient Greeks viewed sports and music as the perfect education – and I feel that I’m in the right place here for both!

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David Chase

Long time member of Caucus Board and Past chair; Aspen Valley Land Trust Board Chair; dedicated to retaining open space in Caucus area.

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John McBride

Current board member Wildlife biology major and natural resources Alpine Director AVSC

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Pete McBride

 

Current board member and native of the valley. Filmmaker, Photographer, author. Lover of the wilds and ag history of Old Snowmass.

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Chelsea Brundige

Current Board member, served on Caucus Board for about 15 years since 2001. Skills and experience in stakeholder engagement, conservation, river restoration, climate change

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