R. John Dawes
President
Executive Director, Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds
Alexandria, PA
As Executive Director of the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds since 1994, Dawes has supervised small grants to over 150 environmental and watershed associations throughout the state. The intent is to provide seed money to allow a local group to access agency funding through the Dept. of Environmental Protection, the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Office of Surface Mining, the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers. This has resulted in over $110m. in project cost. The majority of this small grants budget is for abandoned mine reclamation. For five years Dawes was a consultant to the Heinz Endowments Environment Program where he supervised grants to regional watershed groups pursuing a DCNR Rivers Conservation Plan. Other duties included participation in sustainable forestry round tables, and the facilitation of a statewide watershed advocacy group called POWR – the PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers.
Dawes graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and an M.Ed. Since 1970, he has owned and managed a purebred Angus farm in Huntingdon County where conservation practices have been implemented, including streambank fencing, forest stewardship planning, a 10kw windmill for electric power production, and spring development using photo-voltaic panels. The farm won the 2007 Governor’s Award for Conservation.
Mike Kane
Treasurer
President and Executive Director, Community Foundation for the Alleghenies
Johnstown, PA
As its director, Mike Kane is responsible for the oversight of all operations at CFA, including managing a portfolio of loans and investments in excess of $8 million. He obtained his undergraduate education from the University of Pittsburgh and M.A. from Emerson College. Additionally, Mike obtained a certificate in Major Gifts and Planned Giving from the Institute for Healthcare Philanthropy, Univ. of Wisconsin Graduate School of Business.
Mike has served and assisted in the start up of a number of local and regional nonprofits and initiatives, including the Stonycreek-Quemahoning Initiative and Lift Johnstown. He has served on the steering committee of the Power of 32; as well as on the boards of Johnstown Area Regional Industries, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, ArtWorks in Johnstown, Johnstown Industrial Development Corporation, the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, FracTracker Alliance, Conemaugh Valley Conservancy, Goodwill Industries of the Conemaugh Valley and others. He has also served as President of Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania, a regional association of philanthropic organizations.
Julia Trigg Crawford
Secretary
Farm Manager, Red’Arc Farm
Sumner, TX
Julia Trigg Crawford is the 3rd generation Manager of her family’s 650 acre farm in far northeast Texas. Purchased by her grandfather in 1948, Red’Arc Farm is named for the waterways that form two of it’s borders, the Red River and the Bois d’Arc Creek. Here on some of the finest land in the county her family raises Red Limousin cattle and grows wheat, corn and soybeans. Rich in archeological treasures as well, Red’Arc Farm houses a well documented Caddo Indian burial site within its boundaries.
In 2011 Julia Trigg refused TransCanada’s offer for an easement across their farm to build the Gulf Coast Section of the Keystone XL pipeline, so the land was taken through eminent domain. She appealed that condemnation all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. Even though that appeal was denied she continues to fight for property rights and eminent domain reform. Along the way she has testified to the U.S. Congress on federal eminent domain legislation, spoken out many times in Austin to the Texas Legislature, was arrested in front of the White House, joined with Native American and First Nations Peoples in protest, supported landowners in other states challenging pipelines and eminent domain abuse, and proudly stands at the ready to help wherever her story and experiences are needed.
A graduate of Texas A&M University with a B.A, Journalism, Julia Trigg was also a four-year letterman and Captain of the Women’s Basketball team. She lives and works in Direct, Texas, a community of 70 on the outskirts of Paris (Texas, that is).
