Betony Jones

History

Member for

1 year 25 weeks

Personal Information

Full Name

Betony Jones

Bio

After meddling in international environmental policy in India and Borneo, and national policy in Washington D.C. for several years, I decided to follow Gary Snyder's advice and came to the Sierra to "find my place and dig in." So for two years, I have been living in Truckee and working for the Sierra Business Council, a nonprofit that seeks to reconcile tension between the business and environmental communities in the Sierra Nevada by implementing positive, proactive projects that apply, model, and inform about principles of sustainability.

I currently manage our forestry program, the purpose of which is to bring new information and ideas to Sierra Nevada in order to foster social well-being, economic revitalization, and environmental quality and restoration in the region's forest communities. I am also developing a program to market ecosystem services to secure long-term funding for maintaining the Sierra's treasured landscapes and ecosystems.

My favorite part about my job is luring my dog into the old biodiesel Mercedes and travelling around the region to check out all the innovative things people are doing in the Sierra's tucked away places, watching the light glisten off those granite peaks and flat valley floors, and realizing day after day I lucky I am to live in this unique and stunning part of the world.

In terms of formal education, I studied plant biology at the University of Michigan, and earned my masters degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.