Who We Are

Tracy Kessner, SPLT’s President, has an MS in Environmental Policy from the University of Colorado in Boulder and a BS in Equine Science from Colorado State University. She developed her process and business organizational skills working for IBM and Sun Microsystems, where she spent 8+ years as a globe-trotting IT project manager. She puts all of this knowledge to use making the world a better place, one acre at a time. When she’s not protecting the environment by treating contaminated water at Avivid Water Technology in her role as the VP of Business Operations, she can be found working on her xeric and vegetable gardens in Louisville, CO, surrounded by hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and her family. 

Taylor Jones, SPLT’s Vice President, has been fascinated by animals great and small her whole life, from a childhood spent watching ants to a Master’s thesis on the Andean bear. She received an Master of Science degree in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2010, where she was a member of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab. Taylor led WildEarth Guardians’ “Protecting the Prairie Dog Empire” priority campaign for a decade. She is currently a Master’s student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, focusing on sustainable food systems. She is committed to social, racial, and environmental justice as inextricably interconnected movements.

Lexi Schaefer, SPLT’s Secretary, is a second-generation Colorado Native who grew up in Longmont, hiking the mountains, and developing a deep affinity for all Colorado wildlife. She graduated from University of Colorado in Boulder a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and promptly developed a sales career in the wine industry where she focused on sustainable and organic wines for 17 years. Lexi discovered SPLT while working for Fetzer Vineyards where she was immediately drawn to SPLT’s mission and ambitious goals. She supports SPLT fundraisers with her enthusiasm and passion for the cause.

Ramona Gaylord is a SPLT Board Member and biology/science teaching consultant with Telluride Public School/Telluride Mountain School. She has also been a biologist consultant with Bridal Veil Living Classroom at the Telluride Institute from 2006-2015. While at the Pinhead Institute from 2002-2007, Ramona created “Biodiversity through Art.” These projects depicted the indigenous residents of the Telluride valley: the Gunnison’s prairie dogs and the Ute Indians. Her culminating display in Elks Park featured a painted tipi, bronze sculptures, acrylic range maps and life-size clay prairie dog replicas. Ramona grew up in Denver and witnessed the relentless destruction of prairie habitat and wildlife during her youth. She believes that buying prairie habitat is the best way to forever protect it. She strongly believes in SPLT’s mission. She and her husband, Kent, have two daughters, Soleil and Chambri. Soleil, Kent and Ramona have worked at SPLT’s Raven’s Nest Preserve. Soleil created 2 revegetation plots seeding them with indigenous grasses in hopes that buffalo and rice grass will spread from these plots. Ramona hopes that her daughters will be able to enjoy visits to SPLT’s reserves when they are her age!

Misty Morehead, is a SPLT Board member and a lawyer based in Denver. Misty recently became a partner at Ellis, Wright, & Ewegen, LLP, a small Denver law firm she started with two of her study partners from law school. The trio decided to “firm up” because they had similar interests in law and a shared desire to work towards protecting the environment. Misty spent much of her childhood meandering through the Rocky Mountains and the Eastern plains. Misty’s grandfather owned a farm out in Eastern Colorado where Misty and her brother would play among cornfields and race under the endless sky. Misty graduated pre-law from Metropolitan State College of Denver, where she interned with the Colorado State Senate. She then attended the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2003. While there she represented abused and neglected children, managed a student team writing a Domestic Violence manual for the State of California, provided legal research for voting rights organizations, sat on the board of public interest groups, and assisted a number of environmental groups with legal research and analysis.

Shannon Ryon is a SPLT Board Member. Shannon has 15 years of experience in real estate and title closings and has a strong background in organizing philanthropic events.  She is a Colorado native and grew up on an organic farm and apple orchard in Golden, CO. Shannon enjoys traveling, history, skiing, and antique collecting.  Shannon was first introduced to The Southern Plains Land Trust through fellow board member Ramona Gaylord and has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Southern Plains Land Trust for several years.

Sheree Seabury is a SPLT Board Member.  She moved to Colorado in 1983 and lives with her husband on an Airpark in Erie, CO.  She graduated with a BSBA from Columbia College in 1985 and has spent the last 37 years in the high-tech industry.  Sheree joined Luscombe Engineering in 1991 as an Outside Sales Representative and became a partner in 2002 until she retired at the end of 2016.  She has served on several other Board of Directors in the area. As a supporter of SPLT for many years, she believes that purchasing land to keep as a prairie wildlife reserve is the best way to help preserve the prairie grasslands and animals.  Sheree loves to ski, fly, scuba dive and ride on her husband’s Harley through Colorado and other places around the world.  She is an advocate for saving the endangered black-tailed prairie dog due to explosive development happening in Colorado and loves going on marine research and conservation scuba diving trips whenever possible.

Soleil Gaylord is a SPLT Jr. Board Member. She was raised in Telluride, Colorado, and is currently a junior at Dartmouth College. She is studying Government and Environmental Studies. On campus, she is a staff news reporter for The Dartmouth, the oldest college newspaper in the country, she works at the Life Sciences Center Greenhouse, and she performs research on avian bioacoustics. In her community, she hosts a radio show that highlights the biological intrigues of southwestern Colorado. She also designed and maintains a native revegetation plot on her hometown’s open space. Soleil’s interests range widely, but she particularly loves politics, mountain running, wildflowers, birds, biological illustration, and reading. She was a member of several U.S. Mountain Running Teams.  When not nose-deep in a book, Soleil is listening to her favorite podcasts and running, rafting, backpacking, or hiking.