Elaine Eisenbraun
Executive Director

Elaine has over 30 years experience in land management, education and executive leadership. Most recently she served as executive director of a 3200-acre outdoor education and research center in Vermont. But she’s no stranger to eastern Oregon. She worked in Madras as forester for the Warm Springs Tribes and was a forestry consultant in La Grande for over ten years. Her husband, Martin Eisenbraun, is also a forester. The couple has owned a home outside of Long Creek for several years and both are excited to be returning to the area full-time. They have two grown daughters. One is developing an outdoor clothing business and the other is a working cowgirl.

Bryan Vogt
Project Manager

Bryan has 8 years experience working with multiple stakeholders including private landowners, nongovernmental organizations, as well as federal, state, and local agencies on a diversity of natural resource issues including noxious weeds, wildlife habitat, and farm/ranch management. He holds B.S. in Wildlife & Fisheries Management and has graduate training in Rangeland Resources.

Bryan, his wife Lorraine, their son William and daughter Kassidy, live on the family orchard in Kimberly. They enjoy a variety of outdoor activities, including gardening, hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking. Both Bryan and Loraine are volunteer EMT–First Responders with the Monument Volunteer Ambulance.

Erik Rook
Monitoring Coordinator

Erik has over 4 years experience monitoring ecological systems from alpine lakes to rare desert plant habitat. He holds a B.S. in Ecology and Geographic Information Systems. His paper on measuring native and non-native prairie plant community dynamics under a mosaic of restoration practices was published in Northwest Science Journal.

Erik provides ecological monitoring for all NFJDWC projects, from weed surveys to water temperature monitoring. He embraces anything that involves strenuous exercise in miserable weather, and delights in training for sprint distances and half marathon races. He likes beer and practicing the fine art of beer making. He also enjoys big game hunting with bow or rifle, upland bird hunting, steelhead fishing, mountaineering, and technological gadgetry.

Valeen Storm
Business Manager

Valeen is a long time Grant County resident and graduate of Grant Union High School. She has over 8 years experience in contract administration and accounting. She provides fiscal administration for all NFJDWC grants, directs our small grant program and assists with macroinvertebrate monitoring.

Valeen enjoys working with children and exploring science and nature with them as part of Stream Smart, NFJDWC’s outdoor education program. She has two children, Nolan and Sophia, and loves spending time with them in the outdoors collecting bugs, snakes and frogs.

Patti Hudson
Outreach Coordinator

Patti started her professional career as an engineering technician. She worked as a draftsperson, surveyor and architectural designer for over 10 years before opening her own residential design firm.

Twenty-five years ago, after moving to a small ranch outside of Long Creek, she began writing for home improvement, business and agricultural publications. Beyond her numerous editorial credits, Patti has been a ghost writer for corporate CEOs and produced newsletter content for major corporations such as AT&T, the Ford Family Foundation and Carlton Sheets Investments. In addition to her work at NFJDWC, she and husband Eric Sines run Wild Dog Studios, a photography and web design business.

Patti has been the NFJDWC Outreach Coordinator for the last five years. She and Eric live in a solar-powered cabin above the Middle Fork of the John Day, where they like to spend as much time as possible on horseback exploring the watershed.