Megan Kileen
Board President
B.A. Geoscience, B.A. Dance Performance & Choreography
M.A. Energy & Environmental Analysis
Executive & Program Support Associate, Watershed Center
Megan hails from New England where she grew up with a great love and appreciation for the natural world. She earned an undergraduate degree in Geoscience from Skidmore College and went on to serve as an Interpretive Ranger at Mount Rainier, Olympic, and Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (in Skagway, AK). She went on to earn her B.A. in Energy & Environmental Analysis from Boston University to better understand the human and economic factors influencing natural resource management decisions.
Megan has called Trinity County “home” for just over two years and performed CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) analyses for local, small-scale cannabis farms prior to accepting a position with the Watershed Research & Training Center. No matter where she is in the country, Megan is always striving to instill stewardship values and ethics within any person willing to listen. Trinity County’s scenic beauty is comparable to many famous national parks, and it deserves the care and respect that comes with cherishing our sacred, local, wild spaces. Caretaking the wilderness is a responsibility shared by everyone.
Andy Johnson
Board Treasurer
Architectural Technology Degree
Senior Design and Project Manager, NV5
Clerk of the Board of Directors: Trinity Public Utilities District
Andy’s love for hiking, backpacking and wilderness trips was sparked during his time in boy scouts and camping in the mountains of northern California with his family in his youth. This early exposure to the outdoors has been transformative for him. Recognizing that wilderness experiences are not available to everyone, he sees his work with Ascend as an opportunity to make them accessible to all that are interested.
Andy and his wife have two children to share their love of the outdoors with and enjoy instilling important values such as “leave no trace,” community involvement, and stewardship. Even with an enthusiastic outlook on the growing popularity of backpacking, Andy acknowledges the potential impact of increased usage on the wilderness areas we cherish. He believes that through education, positive experiences, and advocacy for funding and policy, we can overcome the challenges associated with the growing visitor numbers to our public lands.
Having moved to Trinity County in 2018, Andy considers himself fortunate to live in a beautiful and welcoming community. He is an officer of the North Fork Grange and a board member of Trinity Public Utilities District. Andy and his family spent 15 years in Minneapolis, MN where he earned a degree in Architectural Technology. He currently works as a Senior Designer and Project Manager for a nationwide engineering firm. In his free time, Andy enjoys camping and backpacking, paddling canoes, kayaks and rafts, fishing, disc golfing, and seeing live music.
Chriss Williams, M.T.S.
Board Secretary
Harvard ’19, Religion, Media and Ethics
Environmental Consultant, Flowra
Board Member: Human Response Network
Chriss grew up in Trinity County and spent a great deal of time camping in a tipi on the outskirts of the Trinity Alps with her dad and two younger brothers. She was schooled in the basics of wilderness survival skills and tomahawk throwing (which she later put on her resume…). After graduating high school she spent the next two decades living in such places as; Sacramento, Salt Lake City, New York City, Sweden, Maine (where she taught children archery and canoe skills at a fancy summer camp), Amsterdam, Tel Aviv and Cambridge Massachusetts.
After graduating from a Master’s Degree program at Harvard University, she returned to Trinity County in 2020 to work in commercial cannabis compliance. Chriss enjoys wilderness adventures with her 2 dogs (Coop & Whit), volunteer work with several community organizations, acting in local theatre productions and reflecting on how beautiful life is in Trinity.