Jim O’Donnell

I was born to a middle class white family in a small town in Southern Colorado. We lived in a modest 1920’s stuccoed Spanish colonial style house made of cinder blocks and painted solid white. The roof was peaked and shingled gray. There was a chimney, but the fire-place didn’t work. A great black American Elm grew in our front yard. I lived there from birth and my mother is still there.

In the backyard she grew roses, lilacs and rhubarb for pie. She made my younger brother mow the grass. My father had a plum tree for homemade jam and the lady across the wire fence held a massive wounded crow captive in an oversized cage.

On weekends we went to the mountains. In the Huajatollas we crashed up old mining roads in our International Harvester Scout. In the Greenhorns we ate fresh trout from Lake Isabel and picnicked on the grass next to Ophir Creek. In the San Juans we perused places like Rico, Dunton and Sawpit and climbed steep paths dappled in aspen.

At Monarch we skied, in the Arkansas we rafted, and in the mountain ghost town of Victor my dad bought a miniature, tumble-down miner’s cabin, from which we explored Long Hungry Gulch, Wilson Creek, Little Pisgah and Grouse Mountain. To the cabin we brought the things we found scattered over the nearby hills and mountains. It was Victor’s past: giant star shaped drill bits, amethyst colored bottles, blue and white Lenox porcelain chunks, milk-glass, pewter cups and rusted open-top cans.

I also brought to the cabin a curiosity for the mountain bluebirds, vireos and hummingbirds I saw, the elk that cut our path, the mountain lion we hoped to see, the bear tracks in the mud, the butterscotch ponderosas, the fescue, the Columbine and the way the wind blew rain from the West onto my face in August.

Yet, I failed to understand the pits the rain dug where the cows had eaten all the grass. The streams I wasn’t allowed to touch that flowed from the mine tailings. The hill sides that sloughed where all the trees had been cut. The reason I couldn’t hear wolves howling at night, no matter how hard I tried. In the ruins of the ghost town there was a nutty old woman with spiked white hair and breasts that sagged to her knees. Her name was Mary and she collected fossils and miner’s lamps. She said the wolves had been massacred in the 20’s and 30’s and that they would never come back.
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Jim’s Resume/CV

James T. O’Donnell
PO Box 660, Arroyo Hondo, NM 87513
575-751-0274 : 575-779-1181
huajatollas@hotmail.com

Education
University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico
Master of Community and Regional Planning; 2001

University of New Mexico
Bachelor of Arts, Cultural Anthropology; 1995

Sustainable Development Experience

Collaborative Green, LLC Taos, New Mexico
Project Manager July 2008 – present
Develop, facilitate and lead community and social development processes such as bioregional planning, green jobs, local economic integration, clean energy, nutrition and community food security.
Project Examples: Facilitated the development of a “green” home design for low-income families for Habitat for Humanity, Taos. Developing food security system for north-central New Mexico with grant from Town of Taos.

Environmental Finance Center Albuquerque, New Mexico
Project Assistant July 1998 – November 1999
Development and implementation of community plans for sustainable development and natural resource protection in Native American and rural communities. Facilitated public meetings and education sessions.

Harwood Community Gardens Albuquerque, New Mexico
Organizer 1998 – 1999
Development, design and implementation of a membership-based community garden. Facilitated public meetings, gained business participation/sponsorship and local government approval.

Conservation Experience

New Mexico Wilderness Alliance Taos, New Mexico
Northern Director January 2007 – March 2008
Responsible for public lands protection in northern New Mexico. Outreach, employee and volunteer management. Worked closely with the business community, local elected officials and members of Congress.

Coalition for the Valle Vidal Taos, New Mexico
Outreach Coordinator August 2004 – present
Responsible for the introduction and passage of the Valle Vidal Protection Act of 2005. Organized and managed diverse coalition of ranchers, hunters, anglers, tribes, conservationists, businesses and local elected officials. Worked closely with Congressional members.

New Mexico Wilderness Alliance Albuquerque, New Mexico
Coalition Coordinator November 1999 – June 2001
Responsible for establishing diverse coalition of tribes, communities, organizations and businesses to strengthen ecosystem protection efforts. Workshop organizing, oversight of interns /volunteers. Field inventory and mapping. Forest policy, fire ecology and rural economic development advisor.

Archaeological Experience

Lone Mountain Archaeological Services Albuquerque, New Mexico
Crew Chief May 1997 – August 1998

Ministry of Culture, France Lorraine, France
Field Archaeologist January 1997 – May 1997

University of New Mexico Office of Contract Archaeology Albuquerque, New Mexico
Field Archaeologist April 1991 – September 1995

Metropolitan State College (CO) Bella Union, Peru
Field Archaeologist June 1988 – August 1988

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Cortez, Colorado
Field Archaeologist 1986 – 1988

Skills/Certifications/Honors

* Certified: Facilitation for Success, 2009
* Certified: Permaculture Design, 2008
* Certified: Proper Functioning Conditions Assessment for Riparian Areas, 2001
* SimpleCHANGE Stewardship Award, 2007
* KTAO Environmental Achievement Award, 2006
* Golden Key National Honors Society, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001
* Certified: Advanced Tutor, English as a Second Language, 1996
* Conversant in French, Spanish, Finnish
* Author, Notes for the Aurora Society, InfinityPress, 2009

* A complete list of publications, reports and articles available upon request *