WHO WE ARE

Who We Are

The official name of A Greater Applegate is Greater Applegate Community Development Corporation (GACDC). We became known as AGA in  2019 in order to mark the transition from our role as operators of  Cantrall Buckley County Park to broader community efforts.. We now build on the community engagement work initiated by the Applegate Economic Vitality Roadmap in collaboration with Rural Development Initiatives. As a result of input provided by the 200+ participants of the Applegate Roadmap process, AGA reorganized into a backbone organization for the community. To better fulfill our mission, AGA built capacity by bringing on staff and new board members. Learn more about who we are and get to know our team by reading our bios below!

BOARD MEMBERS

Alison Hensley Sexauer, Chair

Born and raised in the high country of the Angeles National Forest, to a family that owned and operated 8 campgrounds and a small ski resort, Kratka Ridge. In 2000, she moved to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB where she graduated with a BA in Global Studies and Spanish Literature.  From there Alison found herself in the midst of global travels and Farmers Markets, where she spent the next decade-plus of her life managing markets for Peacock Family Farms and Roots Organic Farms. In 2010 she Co-founded the Santa Barbara SOL Food Festival, with a mission to inspire, empower and promote local food and farming transformation.  In 2012 she co-founded Lucidity Festival as the Food and Sustainability Director of the LLC.

All in all, she has spent the last 15 years developing a passion for creating sustainable food culture through education, inspirational events and talks, and empowering herself and others to live into the change they see is possible.  She believes that food is the universal common denominator and a powerful agent of change. She is committed to creating, supporting, and growing businesses and community endeavors whose mission is towards creating a more sensible, regenerative, and just human and non-human presence on the planet.

Alison and her husband Tim moved to the Applegate Valley at the end of 2016 and she has thoroughly enjoyed working with and meeting a new region of food-lovin’ folk and tasting the bounty that Rogue Valley has to offer.

Kim Zwemer-Margulis, Secretary

Kim grew up in the suburbs of the East Bay Area while always dreaming of and scheming to get to more rural and wild places. In 2002, Kim and her family bought their home on Sterling Creek, two weeks before the Squire Fire broke out. They were evacuated for four long days to town with friends and caring for their 6-month old baby. In 2008 Shadowchaser of the Siskiyous, a wildfire ecology and local nature children’s book was released and so began her journey of educating others about our beautiful area and the dangers and benefits of wildfire. Currently, Kim continues to have a part-time private practice in Mental Health Counseling and enjoys gardening on her land on Sterling Creek. She is passionate about bringing the community together to enjoy our shared agricultural, cultural and social gifts and opportunities.

Garrett Long, Board Member 

Garett is a farmer and soil scientist who believes healing the planet parallels healing the human spirit. He spent five formative years practicing biodynamic/regenerative agriculture at Apricot Lane Farms (see: “The Biggest Little Farm” documentary) before leaving to pursue his M.S. in Soils & Biogeochemistry from the University of California-Davis. Since relocating to the Applegate Valley in 2021, Garett has served as the Director of Agriculture at Troon Vineyard, the world’s only Biodynamic and Regenerative Organic Gold Certified farm.

Garett was born and raised in suburban Seattle, but time spent in the forests, beaches and quiet parts of the Pacific Northwest and California taught him that he fancies rural living. He is passionate about real, good food, preaching the value of soil, and the interconnectedness of all life. He enjoys dancing, live music, river floats, the color yellow, and spring. He resides in the North Applegate with his partner, Desiree, and their son, Zephyr, who was named after the westerly winds that brought his Californian mama and Washington papa together in southern Oregon.

 

Peter Salant, Board Member

Board Member Peter Salant has lived in the Little Applegate Valley since 2000, having bought a small beef cattle ranch there in 1994.

Peter was born in New York City, and grew up in California since he was a four-year old.  Raised in both rural and urban environments, he took to raising cattle as a teenager and pursued Animal Husbandry, attending Cal-Poly Pomona in 1975.

Peter has worked in drug rehabilitation and juvenile re-education, has been in the wholesale food business, the international import-export business, and the raising of beef cattle during a lifetime of adventure.  He and his wife moved to Southern Oregon to raise their daughter here in the Ruch area, with a strong belief in public school education.  She has now fulfilled her dream and become a Marine Biologist.

Raising home-grown, quality beef for the public is Peter’s retirement passion, and he works at it daily.  He’s been on the Board of the Medford Schools Foundation, as well as that of the Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market.  He is excited to be part of this bread-basket of locally grown, high quality food produced here in Southern Oregon.  He is honored to be newly nominated to the Board of A Greater Applegate, and continue participating in the positive momentum we’ve achieved here in the Greater Applegate Valley.

Leslie Lundin, Board Member

Leslie moved to Southern Oregon from the San Francisco East Bay in 2020, settling into her Applegate home in 2021. She grew up on Whitewater Lake in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine State Park — a landscape strikingly similar to the Applegate, minus the brutal winters. The move let her lean fully into gardening, cooking with local ingredients, and the valley’s wine and live music scene.

Professionally, Leslie brings decades of executive leadership in commercial real estate and capital raising. She’s co-founder and Managing Partner of LBG Real Estate Companies, overseeing acquisitions and asset management, and previously ran a national investment program as SVP of Inland Mortgage Capital Corporation. She’s been repeatedly named a “Woman of Influence” in commercial real estate by industry publications like Bisnow.

Locally, Leslie has served on the board of The Chamber of Medford & Jackson County, and co-founded and led the national Audiophile Foundation, a 501(c)(3) preserving high-fidelity history and mentoring young music lovers. She holds a Master’s in Real Estate Appraisal and Investment Analysis and a BA from UW-Madison.

Leslie brings her strategic and financial expertise to A Greater Applegate’s board. Outside of work, she’s gardening, tinkering with stereo systems, renovating her house, catching up with her three grown sons, or wrangling three dogs, three goats, and a cat with her husband Grant.

Kim Alter, Board Member

Kim was born in Mussoorie, India, and raised in Berkeley, California, in a community-engaged and civic-minded family. At age 10, she fell in love with horses and farming while attending Farview Ranch Camp in Northern California—interests she has pursued ever since. Kim and her husband, Vincent, purchased their farm in Applegate in 2021, drawn to the region’s natural beauty, access to public lands, food and arts scene, and vibrant, connected rural communities.

Kim brings to A Greater Applegate’s board extensive expertise in nonprofit management and sustainability, economic development, and social entrepreneurship. Over a three-decade career spanning nearly 50 countries across five continents, she has worked with hundreds of nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, and ventures at every stage, from initial idea to measurable impact.

Kim founded and served as managing director of Virtue Ventures, the first management consulting firm focused on social enterprise. She also founded and created Grassroots U, an experiential learning and professional development program in social entrepreneurship based in India. In addition, she founded and served as CEO of Jump for Joy Farm, an organization that offered farm education, recreational programs, and camps near Portland, Oregon.

Kim was also a fellow and adjunct professor at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where she taught, conducted research, and wrote about social entrepreneurship for six years. She is the author of several works on the subject—some considered foundational to the field. She has spoken widely on social entrepreneurship and innovation .

Kim holds an MBA from Boston University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Brussels, Belgium; a BA in International Relations from San Francisco State University; and a certificate in French from UC Berkeley.

She is currently enrolled in a master’s program in creative writing and is writing a novel about farm ownership titled Farmaggeon. When she is not writing or farming, Kim enjoys exploring all that the Applegate Valley has to offer with her husband, building community connections, riding her Canadian horse, Fina, and rearing chickens and trying to grow food.

STAFF

Megan Fehrman, Executive Director


Megan grew up in the heartland and earned her undergraduate degrees in Agricultural Economics and International Relations at the University of Wisconsin before heading West. After exploring several aspects of community organizing, sustainability, and education, Megan earned a master’s degree at Portland State University, focusing on Community Food Systems and Agroecology. Most recently, she has earned a graduate certificate at Oregon State University in Rural Public Policy. Throughout her professional career, Megan has woven together community organizing, food and agriculture, asset-based community mapping, and now rural community building. Megan has worked as a statewide advocate and educator for socially responsible agriculture and as the Education Program Director for a non-profit that aimed to train and assist the next generation of farmers and ranchers. She is currently the Director of Vision Strategy for A Greater Applegate and is facilitating the Applegate Valley Vision process, step by step. Megan has lived in the Little Applegate Valley for 14 years. She also serves as an advisor to the Rogue Valley Food System Network, and is developing skills to consult with other rural communities focusing on community building, resiliency, and relocalization. When not at work, Megan likes to dig in the dirt, walk in the woods, travel, take in some music, be on the water, and spend time with family and friends.

Email: megan@agreaterapplegate.org

Christina Ammon, Copywriter and Destinations Consultant

Christina Ammon has considered the Rogue Valley her homebase for thirty years, but has left several times: Once to get her Masters degree in Literary Nonfiction from the University of Oregon. Then, after grad school, she spent many years mostly on-the-road as a freelance travel writer, penning stories for the BBC, San Francisco Chronicle, The Oregonian, Conde Nast, Orion Magazine and many other publications. Her personal travel stories have been widely anthologized in books such as The Best Travel Writing, Volume 11 (Travelers Tales Publishing) and Leave the Lipstick, Take the Iguana: Funny Travel Stories and Strange Packing Tips (Travelers’ Tales). She received several writing awards along the way, including an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship to write about Oregon wine.

In 2014, she started Deep Travel Workshops, and began organizing writing workshops in Morocco, Nepal, Mexico and Spain. She learns much from her guest instructors, which include Tim Cahill, author and founder of Outside Magazine, NPR-storyteller Doug Cordell and many other great writers. Her “hand-stitched” travel itineraries emphasize cultural sensitivity, working with small, local businesses and creating “off the off-the-beaten-track” experiences.

She moved to the Applegate Valley to paraglide in 2012, and to write for the National Paragliding Magazine. After surviving a flying accident at Woodrat, she now opts for pursuits that don’t require a reserve parachute, like writing for Applegate Wine Trails and Applegate Valley Connect. She is finding that writing for a small, local audience is the most satisfying writing of her career so far.

Laurel Briggs, Business Marketing Consultant

Although a native southern Oregonian, Laurel Briggs began her career in Salem, Oregon working for a local magazine and obtaining a BA in English from Willamette University. After an internship at Domus Advertising in downtown Philadelphia, Laurel attended graduate school for Communications and Marketing at Cal State Fullerton.

After marketing commercial tile and teaching journalism, Laurel returned to southern Oregon and became a webmaster, graphic designer and writer for Asante Health System’s communication and marketing department.

An opportunity arose to market a local real estate project called the Bella Vita in downtown Medford and Laurel left her corporate job and earned her real estate broker’s license. For several years Laurel marketed development projects.

In the beginning of 2009 Laurel founded Creative Marketing & Design and opened an office in downtown Medford. With offices now in Jacksonville, CM&D provides web development & design, marketing planning, and design services to businesses, individuals, government entities and non-profit organizations.

Laurel’s mix of local market understanding, education and big-city experience provide her clients with a unique marketing edge.

jb Palasini, Artist Working Group Coordinator

jb grew up on a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta, later moving to Southern Mississippi along the Gulf Coast. She received her BFA from the University of Mississippi with a focus in Fine Art and Painting. There she formed an art collective that held exhibitions all over the Southeast. She spent the next few years in Atlanta, painting murals and traveling around the country behind the scenes with a popular home decorating television show. She briefly moved back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where Hurricane Katrina swept her out to Southern Oregon. jb fell in love with the rivers, valleys, and mountains and settled in Southern Oregon 18 years ago.  She has lived in the Applegate Valley for the past 10 years.

A creative problem-solver that seeks out challenges, jb has led her life  open to opportunities that present themselves. She has managed and consulted art galleries and restaurants, painted portraits and murals, and served as an event coordinator. She has also worked in the wine and brewing industry, with vegetable and animal farms in the valley, and was the market manager and organizer for the Applegate Evening Market in 2022. She has attended many of the AGA working group meetings and events over the years and is thrilled to be a part of facilitating the Applegate Valley Vision and applying her skills to rural community-building efforts.

In her spare time, jb is establishing a new painting studio for her fine art and commissions. She enjoys paddleboarding, rafting, climbing trees, hiking—and pretty much any other outdoor adventure opportunity available.  jb is passionate about bringing people together through networking and creating social connections in the community. She is dedicated to serving the community and honored to be a part of A Greater Applegate.

Email: jb@agreaterapplegate.org

Leigha Linder, Operations Director

Leigha Linder is a Southern Oregon native with eight generations having lived in and around the Applegate Valley dating back to the mid-1800’s.  Her love and appreciation for this vibrant, unique and beautiful region is beyond words.  As a mother of two amazing children, Leigha has thoughtfully balanced family life with career and wellbeing.  This approach has healthfully led her into award winning programs and certifications of adult and youth yoga as well as teaching children meditation and social-emotional awareness.  With these skills, Leigha has enjoyed facilitating many youth camps and activities to soothe and uplift the wonderful children in her community over the years.  In addition, her experience in management and administration within various office settings has created a perfect match in joining the A Greater Applegate team.  Her positive focus and attention to detail has always been a factor in her ability to excel and optimize systems in any situation.  She is absolutely thrilled to weave all of her passions and skills together to create a positive impact within the Applegate Valley and beyond!

Email: info@agreaterapplegate.org

Mia Lacerte, Community Engagement & Communications Director

Mia Tarduno, Engagement Director

Mia grew up in Upstate New York with a love of community, creativity and the outdoors. These values have carried her through a wide-ranging career rooted in connection and service. She studied anthropology, environmental studies and dance at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, blending her passion for people, place and expression. After graduation, a job leading backpacking trips sent her to Colorado where she found her love for the mountains.

Mia spent a decade living in rural Colorado where she worked in guest services, taught yoga and eventually ran a thriving yoga studio that became a beloved wellness and gathering space. She also served as Operations Lead at REI where she helped teams communicate more effectively and launched a local artist program that celebrated regional makers and fostered creative community within the store.

She relocated to Southern Oregon in search of shorter winters, a longer growing season and community connected to the land. She started working at Willow-Witt Ranch, a working farm and event venue. There she managed administration, marketing, and communications, bringing vision and heart to every detail. These experiences, along with her leadership in community-based projects, have led her to her current role as Engagement Director at A Greater Applegate where she’s excited to support rural connection, collaboration and resilience. Mia brings a collaborative, grounded approach to everything she does, drawing on her background in business ownership, operations leadership, and community-building.

Mia is also a trained birth doula and hosts monthly Birth Cafés that offer space for pregnant people and those considering pregnancy to share, reflect and connect. In her spare time Mia enjoys trail running with her Aussie, gathering with friends and creating handwoven tapestries. Deeply committed to meaningful connection and creative community building, she is honored to be part of the work of A Greater Applegate.

Email: Mia@agreaterapplegate.org

Jeff Haas, Business Network Manager

Jeff has had connections to Southern Oregon for 30 years, lived in the area since 2012,  and has had a home in the Applegate Valley since 2020. He raised his family in the North Coast of California, a place with many things in common with the Applegate. Jeff worked closely with local entrepreneurs in different home grown businesses, some of which became regional or national players. Jeff’s career list of jobs with businesses home grown in a rural environment includes positions at a wholistic health center, a produce distributor, children’s music source Music for Little People, garden center/hardware store Dazey’s Supply (now with a branch in Medford), and solar pioneer AEE Solar. If there was a 20 year long course in learning about entrepreneurship in a rural setting, Jeff would have fulfilled its requirements. 

In past years, Jeff has served as a school board trustee and President, started an association to enhance local cultural, recreational, and educational opportunities, and volunteered in work with the homeless. Jeff currently volunteers as a teacher with Southern Oregon NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. 

Natural beauty and a strong sense of community drew Jeff to relocate to the Applegate. Jeff is a family oriented guy who enjoys hiking, running trails, kayaking, swimming holes and being a member of a community that cherishes its natural environment. Jeff has a longtime interest in sustainability and spent decades working in solar. His last 4 years of work in solar were conducted on a remote basis from a home office in Ruch, with almost zero local contact. “The role of Business Network Manager is a great opportunity to support business and community connections in the Applegate and deepen my own connections to the wonderful place we all share.” Please reach out to Jeff directly to learn more about or join the AGA Business Network.

Email: jeff@agreaterapplegate.org 

Tucker Grinnan, Resilience Hub Coordinator

Tucker was born in Virginia, but grew up abroad in Hong Kong. Wanting a change from the big city, he made his way back stateside to attend university in Eastern Washington and fell in love with the area.

Since graduating, he’s worked in a variety of positions across the West, finding himself unable to leave the mountains and rural communities behind. He has experience in conservation, after working several seasons for the Forest Service as a Wilderness Ranger, and has held positions in education, agriculture, and communications.

After spending the last year in Wyoming, he’s excited to be back in the Northwest and working with the community in the Applegate on pressing issues facing the valley.

In his free time, you can find him running on dirt roads, browsing library shelves, and sometimes baking (but mostly eating) cookies.

Chris Jagger, Applegate Aggregation Hub Coordinator

Chris Jagger and his wife, Melanie Kuegler, own and operate Blue Fox Farm in Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley, focusing on organic vegetable production since 2004.
Starting from 1 acre, they scaled to 45 acres before downsizing to a more sustainable ~7-acre model. Chris is also a consultant, runs Blue Fox Ag Services, and hosts the Living Soils Symposium. He is working with A Greater Applegate and the Rogue Valley Food System Network to help coordinate an produce aggregation and delivery system.

PAST ACTIVITIES

Operation and management of Cantrall Buckley Park (1998 to February 2018):

With community-led improvements such as Greater Applegate Solar Project, Monarch Waystation, Revitalized Playground Project, New Playground Restroom, Native Landscaping and Community Mural Project, New Campground Showers/Restroom, State-of-the-art Vegetative Wastewater Treatment System, Summer Film Series, Master Plan and Design Grants.

Applegate Valley Economic Vitality Projects:

GOLD’N Applegate Discovery Tour Route, Southern Oregon University Tourism Study, Applegate Lake Campground Proposal, Regional Investment Fund Grant, Applegate Business Consortium, EAS (Toll Free) Calling Area, Applegate Directory, Small Diameter Conference, Buy Local Campaign, Business Technology Survey.

Environmental Sustainability and Community Livability Projects:

Applegate Valley Green and Solar Tour 2008 and 2009, Applegate Wayside Park, Application for Low Power FM Station, Applegate School Historical CD, Fire Plan Survey, Team Bravo – Community Beautification, Support Keeping Ruch School Open, Support Friends of Forest Creek.

Community Partner and Organizational Support:

Pacifica – A Garden in the Siskiyous – Start Up, Fiscal Agent – NW Seasonal Workers, Siskiyou Sustainable Co-Op – Start Up, Applegate School Foundation

PAST ACTIVITIES

Operation and management of Cantrall Buckley Park (1998 to February 2018):

With community-led improvements such as Greater Applegate Solar Project, Monarch Waystation, Revitalized Playground Project, New Playground Restroom, Native Landscaping and Community Mural Project, New Campground Showers/Restroom, State-of-the-art Vegetative Wastewater Treatment System, Summer Film Series, Master Plan and Design Grants.

Applegate Valley Economic Vitality Projects:

GOLD’N Applegate Discovery Tour Route, Southern Oregon University Tourism Study, Applegate Lake Campground Proposal, Regional Investment Fund Grant, Applegate Business Consortium, EAS (Toll Free) Calling Area, Applegate Directory, Small Diameter Conference, Buy Local Campaign, Business Technology Survey.

Environmental Sustainability and Community Livability Projects:

Applegate Valley Green and Solar Tour 2008 and 2009, Applegate Wayside Park, Application for Low Power FM Station, Applegate School Historical CD, Fire Plan Survey, Team Bravo – Community Beautification, Support Keeping Ruch School Open, Support Friends of Forest Creek.

Community Partner and Organizational Support:

Pacifica – A Garden in the Siskiyous – Start Up, Fiscal Agent – NW Seasonal Workers, Siskiyou Sustainable Co-Op – Start Up, Applegate School Foundation

PAST ACTIVITIES

Operation and management of Cantrall Buckley Park (1998 to February 2018):

With community-led improvements such as Greater Applegate Solar Project, Monarch Waystation, Revitalized Playground Project, New Playground Restroom, Native Landscaping and Community Mural Project, New Campground Showers/Restroom, State-of-the-art Vegetative Wastewater Treatment System, Summer Film Series, Master Plan and Design Grants.

Applegate Valley Economic Vitality Projects:

GOLD’N Applegate Discovery Tour Route, Southern Oregon University Tourism Study, Applegate Lake Campground Proposal, Regional Investment Fund Grant, Applegate Business Consortium, EAS (Toll Free) Calling Area, Applegate Directory, Small Diameter Conference, Buy Local Campaign, Business Technology Survey.

Environmental Sustainability and Community Livability Projects:

Applegate Valley Green and Solar Tour 2008 and 2009, Applegate Wayside Park, Application for Low Power FM Station, Applegate School Historical CD, Fire Plan Survey, Team Bravo – Community Beautification, Support Keeping Ruch School Open, Support Friends of Forest Creek.

Community Partner and Organizational Support:

Pacifica – A Garden in the Siskiyous – Start Up, Fiscal Agent – NW Seasonal Workers, Siskiyou Sustainable Co-Op – Start Up, Applegate School Foundation

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