Morika Vorenberg Hensley, Executive Director
Mori is a third-generation New Mexican who grew up with horses, dogs, cats, soccer balls, and lots of art in the dirt of Santa Fe and Taos. She is a lifelong lover of wild beings, sacred landscapes, and terrible puns, devoted to discovering and embodying a path of place-based ecocultural stewardship. She earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Environmental Sciences with a concentration in Ecology and Conservation from Emory University, where her thesis focused on human-wildlife conflict in Ladakh, India. She also has a background in community conservation, religion and ecology, and Tibetan Studies, merging these interests as a Fulbright-Nehru student researcher in India after completing her Master’s. Mori is grateful to now be back in New Mexico, and to have landed in the beloved community of SFWA. She joined the team in 2019 as Program Coordinator, slowly getting to know the organization from the inside out before stepping into the ED role in 2022. Beyond her work at SFWA, Mori loves to frolic in the mountains, make art, and track barrel cacti.
Raquel Baca-Tompson, Administrative Director
After working in corporate Human Resources for over nine years, Raquel put her career on hold to stay at home with her two young children before coming to work for the Santa Fe Watershed Association. In addition to a Human Resources background, Raquel worked as an assistant to the Director of Shidoni Foundry, Inc.; she has an Associate of Applied Science Degree; and has volunteered for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Northern New Mexico. As a native Santa Fean, Raquel remembers growing up with water in the Santa Fe River and holds fond memories of taking off her shoes to play in the river with friends. Raquel has been an employee with the Santa Fe Watershed Association since May 2006.
Amara May, Director of Stewardship and Outreach
After many years of adventuring, Amara is happy to be back in her hometown and working with SFWA. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies from New College of Florida and has worked in non-profits for almost 20 years. Her experience ranges from museums to local food systems and she appreciates the interconnectedness of the natural world, human creativity, and taking positive action for our collective future. She is excited to work with this wonderful community of people who embody such care and thoughtfulness as stewards of our land and water.
Julie Hasty, Director of Education
Julie has a passion for educating and guiding youth toward a deeper understanding of their natural environment, local water sources, and what it means to manage their local watershed. Having grown up in Santa Fe and lived most of her years in the Southwest, she has always enjoyed the outdoors and the beauty the Southwest has to offer. She received a BS in biology with a focus on ecology from the University of New Mexico and most recently facilitated water education for the University of Arizona, AZ Project WET, before returning to her sorely missed hometown in 2021. In her downtime she loves to run, hike, ski, and travel with her family. She is excited to be working with the Santa Fe community through SFWA to better understand our watershed and water challenges.
Jaclyn Behringer, Education Specialist
Jaclyn likes to relate the flow of events in one’s life to a river – her river deposited her in the high desert of Santa Fe four years ago. Originally from the muddy, cloudy, tree-covered east coast, she has been quite happy to explore the many different ecosystems in and around her new home in the southwest through scrambling around over rocks, soaking in hot springs, and experimenting with high desert gardening. Her many-storied work history contains such highlights as scenic painting and coordinating for film & TV, growing fruits and veggies at farms across the country, caring for animals from the small (bees) to quite bigger (horses), and sharing the joy of rock climbing with adventurers of every age! To her role at SFWA, Jaclyn brings her love for the exchange of ideas and discoveries between teacher and student, and passion for creating strong stewards of our natural world through example and education.
Lorraine Chow, Stewardship and Outreach Coordinator
Lorraine joined SFWA in November 2023 and is excited to contribute to the organization’s enduring mission. Previously, she directed communications for an environmental nonprofit law firm in South Carolina and served in leadership roles for several grassroots advocacy groups along the South Carolina Grand Strand. She received a M.A. from NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and worked for more than a decade as an environmental journalist and editor for various publications in New York City. She moved to Santa Fe in May 2023 from her hometown of Los Angeles and enjoys exploring the outdoors, cooking, and reading.
Mollie Walton, Restoration Ecologist
Mollie Walton graduated with a degree in Biology from Trinity University in San Antonio and a PhD in Biology from the University of Dayton in Ohio. Mollie is a restoration ecologist who has been fortunate to work with some of the best erosion control and restoration experts in the western United States. She has over 30 years of experience with on-the-ground restoration as well as mining reclamation, ecological monitoring, consulting, and research. Since 2006, Mollie has worked in northern New Mexico, shepherding ecological projects on tribal, private, and federal lands in collaborative land stewardship. She has planned, facilitated, and presented numerous workshops in New Mexico and Texas, and has produced technical documents designed to share information with landowners and managers. Most of these projects include the use of Zeedyk-inspired structures for improving the ecological health of working lands.
Cora Cliburn, Summer Program Assistant
Raised in the Galisteo Basin of New Mexico, Cora is a master’s student in the Energy & Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research explores household water security and climate adaptation, with a focus on residential water hauling practices in New Mexico. By highlighting water access strategies that are often absent from research and policy, she hopes to inform more equitable and climate-resilient water governance. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Anthropology from Stanford University and has also worked in food systems and the performing arts. Her interdisciplinary background shapes her commitment to storytelling and community-driven solutions to water justice issues. Cora is honored to return to Santa Fe to learn from and contribute to the people and landscape she calls home.
Collaborators
Aaron Kauffman, Hydrologist
Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Aaron Kauffman has over fifteen years experience analyzing and implementing simple and pragmatic solutions to watershed degradation. Aaron has a broad background in land management including reforestation projects in the Dominican Republic, monitoring and evaluation of pre- and post-fire erosion rates in oak savanna environments near the US-Mexico border, and stream restoration throughout the southwestern US. Aaron has also developed and taught community workshops and courses, including a Watershed Management class as part of the Sustainable Technologies program at the Santa Fe Community College. More recently, he has dedicated himself to addressing urban watershed issues such as stormwater pollutants, urban heat island effect, and channel degradation from flooding. Aaron completed his undergraduate degree in Ecological Studies at Seattle University and a received a Master of Science in Watershed Hydrology and Management from the University of Arizona. He founded Southwest Urban Hydrology LLC in 2012.
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