The Western Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit public-interest environmental law firm, is proud to announce the addition of Amelia Marchand and Cliff Villa to its board of directors. Cliff Villa rejoined the board after serving in an appointed position with the Biden administration.
Amelia Marchand is co-founder and executive director of L.I.G.H.T. Foundation, an Indigenous-led conservation nonprofit. She has over 27 years of experience in cultural and natural resource management, climate action, and food and water security policy, working alongside Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. and Canada. A citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Amelia earned a masters in environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School and a bachelors in anthropology from Eastern Washington University. In 2024, she made history as the first woman presidentially appointed to the Indian Tribe member seat on the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation.
“We are honored to welcome Amelia Marchand to the WELC board,” said Board President Karin Sheldon. “Amelia’s extensive background and experience will enhance WELC’s ability to contribute meaningfully to conservation issues impacting Tribal communities and federal land management across the West.”
“The work of restoring balanced and ethical relationships between humanity and our natural world is not only intersectional, it is intergenerational and multifaceted,” said Amelia Marchand. “When we approach the frameworks of various environmental and natural resource laws with the knowledge and wisdom of cultural ecologies and environmental heritage, I believe we can weave together and harness the power of these values to address the environmental health, biodiversity, and climate crises for the next Seven Generations. Our children and grandchildren deserve it, and I’m proud to support WELC’s endeavors for all our relatives.”
Cliff Villa is a constitutional and environmental law professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where he also teaches in the Natural Resources and Environmental Law Clinic. Previously, he served for 20 years as legal counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, focusing on enforcement of laws including the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. More recently he served in the Biden administration as political leadership for the U.S. EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management. In that role, based in Washington, D.C., he provided policy direction for national programs including Superfund cleanup, Brownfields revitalization, and emergency response.
“I sought out Cliff to rejoin WELC’s board because of his considerable experience in our areas of focus, multi-generational New Mexico roots, and undisputed integrity,” said WELC Executive Director Erik Schlenker-Goodrich. “As an authority on environmental justice, his guidance will align well with our strategic effort to build power for change through a commitment to equity, inclusion, and justice.”
“I am truly honored to rejoin the board of WELC, an organization I have greatly admired for its commitment to the communities and ecosystems of the West,” Cliff stated. “The West is not only where my family has long settled; it is the front line for many emerging challenges for climate justice. By rejoining the WELC board, I look forward to facing those challenges and helping communities to find solutions.”
Founded in 1993, the Western Environmental Law Center uses the power of the law to foster thriving, resilient western lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the face of a changing climate. WELC is governed by a board of directors comprised of renowned attorneys, academics, and conservationists from across the country.
Contact:
Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, WELC Executive Director, 575-751-0351, eriksg@westernlaw.org
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