Land Trust of the Upper Arkansas Board Members
Hayden Mellsop – President
(Chaffee County) Hayden has been a resident of Chaffee County for over twelve years. He first came to the Arkansas Valley from his native New Zealand in 1990, and spent many years working as a whitewater and fly fishing guide on rivers and streams throughout the west. In 1996, he married Kym after they met in Salida in 1994, Kym grew up in San Francisco.
Hayden currently works as a realtor with Pinon Real Estate Group. He is a keen fly fisherman, father of two young daughters and joined the board of LTUA in late 2006. Hayden regards the upper Arkansas Valley as a very special community, and is committed to help preserve its character and charm for the benefit of future generations.
John W. Hake (Jay) – Vice President
(Chaffee County) A new arrival to the Arkansas Valley, Jay is a partner in the law firm Hake, Hart, & Lintzenich, LLC and a graduate of the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Originally from Minnesota, Jay fell in love with Colorado on a grade school ski trip and made good on his promise to relocate “as soon as possible.” He is excited about working with LTUA to protect one of the most beautiful and untrammeled areas remaining in Colorado.
Prior to immigrating to the Arkansas Valley, Jay practiced law in Boulder and Telluride, Colorado, was a business and corporate development executive for a software company, and worked in the public sector.
In his free time, Jay loves fly-fishing, skiing, and crafting custom bamboo fly rods. He lives in Salida with wife Lisa, daughter Maggie, and their dog, Zoe.
Jim Keil – Treasurer
(Fremont County), now semi-retired after 31 years in Software Development with IBM in Storage, Printing, and Global Services. Additionally, he worked for two years as an Information Technology consultant for Y2K readiness in the Insurance Industry. He earned a BA from the University of Colorado. He brings years of management and business planning experience to the LTUA. Jim and his wife Dianne, have lived in Fremont County for six years.
Erin Hunter – Secretary
(Summit County) Erin is a Colorado native. She has been practicing construction, real estate and land use law since 2000, and joined the firm West, Brown, Huntley & Thompson in Breckenridge in 2005. She graduated with a BA from Bowdoin College and a JD from the University of Colorado.
Erin’s background also includes work as a member of the Breckenridge Open Space Advisory Committee, a volunteer with the High Country Conservation Center, and an Environmental Protection Specialist with the National Park Service. She is an avid hiker and cross country skier, and joined the Board of the LTUA in March of 2009.
Rob White
(Chaffee County) has served as Park Manager of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, jointly managed by Colorado State Parks and the Bureau of Land Management, since 2000. His career in State Parks includes over 15 years experience as a ranger, naturalist, and manager throughout Colorado. Rob received his BS in Park & Recreation Administration/Biology with a Secondary Teaching Certificate from Central Michigan University, and his MS in Park Administration/Fisheries & Wildlife Management from Michigan State University. Rob brings his resource management experience to the LTUA along with a deep knowledge of public process and an ability to facilitate communication between multiple parties. He enjoys exploring the beauty of the Arkansas River Valley and other special places in Colorado with his wife and two daughters.
David Moore
(Chaffee County) David hails from the Midwest, moving to Denver 18 years ago to take a small start up software company to market. He met his wife Janet during the time in Denver. They moved into the Arkansas River Valley in 2003, retiring in 2004. Since that time Dave has been very active in the Chaffee community. He is currently on the Board of Trout Unlimited, and the Salida Rotary Club, where he was a recent president. He and his wife also drove the creation of a charitable foundation in Chaffee County called “The Salida Rotary Charitable Fund” where he is also a Director. This Foundation benefits youth and youth activities in Chaffee County.
Dave and his wife also created the primary fundraiser for this Foundation called the Arkansas River Double Haul, a celebrity fly fishing and golfing event held each year since 2007 in mid to late August (see Arkansasriverdoublehaul.com).
Moore graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Marketing then began a high tech career that included employment by IBM, Wang Laboratories, National Semi-Conductor, Hitachi Data Systems and Sun Microsystems. Moore ended his career with 9 years at Sun Microsystems where he was the Global Strategic Marketing Manager for the Banking Industry.
His hobbies are fly fishing and fly fishing guide work, bamboo fly rod building, bow hunting and civic volunteer work.
Dan Larkin
(Chaffee County) Dan is a forty-one year resident of the Upper Arkansas Valley where he spent his career in Loss Prevention, primarily in mining and heavy industry. He and his wife Kate live near Salida where they enjoy everything about this beautiful valley. He is past Director of the Lake County Building and Land Use Department and before that he served as a member of the County Planning and Zoning Committee. Following formal retirement, Dan has devoted his career and expertise to wildlife and habitat conservation. He is a past president and current board member of the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society and Chairman of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Habitat Committee.
Advisors
Bruce Goforth
(Chaffee County) Bruce Goforth, cofounder of LTUA, retired in the fall of 2005 as the Regional Habitat Manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife for the Southeast Region of Colorado including the Arkansas Valley, the Pikes Peak Area, the Wet Mountain Valley, and the San Luis Valley. His role was to oversee the Division’s habitat enhancement, land use planning, environmental protection, water rights, GIS and real estate activities. Bruce served eight years as a charter member of the BLM’s Front Range Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) until 2003, was Land Steward for the Colorado Natural Area’s Program, past president of the Colorado Chapter of the Wildlife Society, long-term member of the Nature Conservancy, the Audubon Society, and the National Wildlife Federation. For twenty-four years, Bruce has been associated with one of Colorado’s oldest land trusts, the Palmer Foundation, as member, board member, land steward, and advisor. He secured the sponsorship of the Palmer Foundation for LTUA as part of his efforts to establish a local land trust in the Upper Arkansas Valley. Bruce was LTUA’s first president for two years from 2002-2004; succeeded by Fred Henderson III and then later served as President from 2004 to February 2007. Bruce now serves as an advisor on the lands committee of LTUA.
Frosty Roe
(Chaffee County) Frosty graduated from Buena Vista High School and attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY graduating with highest honors in 1978. After spending 25 years as a deck officer traveling the globe, he retired from the high seas in 2002. Roe became very involved as a landowner/neighborhood coordinator in an effort that resulted in 8 easements totaling some 400 acres surrounding the Heckendorf State Wildlife Area to be placed in conservation easements with LTUA in 2003. He brings first hand experience with the demands of the conservation easement process as well as a landowner’s perspective to the board. He’s an avid outdoorsman, skier, golfer, mountain bike rider and seldom bored retiree.