MEET BRN'S FOUNDER
Dr. Ron Pulliam
Founder |
Borderlands Restoration Network is the product of the hard work, dedication, and vision of Dr. Ron Pulliam who relocated back to the southwest upon his retirement from academia and government service to dedicate his time and energy to rehabilitating and restoring overgrazed, dewatered, and degraded landscapes on both sides of the international border.
Because of his vision and energy, BRN and the Borderlands Wildlife Preserve not only exist, but are thriving carrying out our mission and Ron's vision to grow a restorative economy by rebuilding healthy ecosystems, restoring habitat for plants and wildlife, and reconnecting our border communities to the land through shared learning. |
Rodrigo Sierra Corona
Executive Director
Executive Director
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tom Sisk
Board Member |
Ann Gosline
Secretary 
Cynthia Bower
Board Member |
Chuck Klingenstein
Treasurer 
Francisco Cantú
Board Member |
José Manuel Pérez
Board Member 
Valeria Cañedo
Board Member |
ADMINISTRATION
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DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Sarah Taylor, CFRE
Development & Communications Director |
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PROGRAMS
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Melissa Fratello
Program Director
Program Director
NATIVE PLANT PROGRAM
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Casey Jacobs
Horticulture Technician |
James Dennison
Native Plant Technician 
Marta Monka
Weekend Waterer |
EDUCATION PROGRAM
Caleb Weaver
Community Restoration Program Manager 
Damien Carlos
Ṣu:dagī ‘O Wuḍ Doakag Facilitator 
Deyanira Victor
BECY Douglas Facilitator |
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WATERSHED & HABITAT RESTORATION
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CONSERVATION
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2023 INTERNS
Anays Blanco
BRN Sonoran Intern 
Ivanna Tautimez
BRN Sonoran Intern |
Jorge Chacon
BRN Sonoran Intern |
Miguel Moroyoqui
BRN Sonoran Intern |
SENIOR FELLOWS
Senior Fellows bring expertise, connections and advanced knowledge to collaborate on projects, grants, and programs that contribute to BRN's mission.
Dr. Laura Monti
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Laura Monti is a Cultural Ecologist at the Prescott College Kino Bay Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies. Her research and practice focuses on bio-cultural diversity and social and ecological health, with a Ph.D from University of Arizona in Arid Lands Resource Sciences-Ethno Ecology and Medical Anthropology, and an M.S. in Community Health and Pediatrics from St. Louis University. During the last twenty years she has lived and worked in Southwest US and Northern Mexico, teaching with universities, developing intercultural community programs and guiding philanthropic investments to address complex social and ecological challenges that face indigenous communities living.
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Dr. Gary Nabhan
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Gary Paul Nabhan (born 1952) is an Agricultural Ecologist, Ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, and author whose work has focused primarily on the interaction of biodiversity and cultural diversity of the arid binational Southwest. He is considered a pioneer in the local food movement and the heirloom seed saving movement.
A first-generation Lebanese American, Nabhan was raised in Gary, Indiana. While excelling in some of his studies, he dropped out of high school, and then had the opportunity to attend Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa for 18 months. During that time, he worked at the headquarters for the first Earth Day for two stints in Washington DC. He then transferred to Prescott College in Arizona, earning a B.A. in Environmental Biology in 1974, and has remained in-state ever since. He has an M.S. in plant sciences (horticulture) from the University of Arizona (1978), and a Ph.D. in the interdisciplinary arid lands resource sciences also at the University of Arizona (“Papago Fields: Arid Lands Ethnobotany and Agricultural Ecology”, 1983). During this time he started working with, and learning from farmers and foragers in several indigenous communities on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. |
Kate Tirion
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Kate is a decades long permaculture teacher, practitioner and designer with a focus on organic food systems foundational to human and planetary health. Kate founded Deep Dirt Farm, now owned by BRN, in Patagonia to serves as a learning center and example of arid lands permaculture.
A graduate of UC Santa Cruz Eco Horticulture program, Kate pivoted from a long career in Southern California real estate to follow her passion for environmental work. As a certified expressive arts therapist Kate’s work engages people in the bigger questions and actions needed to foster a sense of belonging and a relationship of reciprocity with our planet. |