Our Board

President

Molli Myers is a Karuk Tribal member, raised at the village of Vuunharaáx, near the place where the Salmon River meets the Klamath. 

For over two decades, Molli helped lead the grassroots campaign to remove the Klamath River Dams as a founding member of the Klamath Justice Coalition. During that time, Molli also worked in Tribal natural resources administration, operations, and grants compliance roles. Molli has extensive understanding of and experience in organizational development and management, as well as generations of traditional and cultural knowledge.

Molli comes from a family and community that emphasized her inherent responsibility as a steward of the land and a fix-the-world person. She continues to seek protection and preservation of ancestral lands and cultural resources, raising her five children to carry on the tradition.

Vice-President

Wendy (Poppy) Ferris-George has spent her life fishing on the Klamath and Trinity Rivers and is actively engaged in her community as a culture bearer, mother, and activist. While raising her four children, she focused on reviving the art of crafting cultural items that had not been made in Hoopa for over 100 years - specifically the Jump Dance Basket, porcupine headwrap, and bark skirt. She taught cultural arts classes and instructed summer school classes to share this knowledge with her community. At the same time, Poppy and her family spent decades traveling around the world promoting dam removal on the Klamath River. 
In addition to the KILT board, Poppy serves as the Vice-President of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), the entity that oversaw the removal project. She was appointed by the Karuk Tribal Council in 2016 to ensure a tribal voice. She is enrolled with the Hoopa Valley Tribe but also has Karuk, Chimariko, and Yurok ancestors. Wendyserved as Vice-Chairwoman of the Hoopa Tribe and served multiple terms on Tribal Council.
Poppy is a business owner and manages her business’ Salmon Summit Support System, Ferris Institute, Cultural Resources Consulting, and oversees her non-profit World Renewal. She holds a BA Degree from Sonoma State University in Archaeology and a Master of Professional Studies in Cultural and Heritage Resource Management. She is a Licensed archaeologist under the Secretary of the Interior Standards (RPA ID:5542). 

Frankie Myers is a Yurok Tribal member, formerly serving as Vice Chairman. Mr. Myers was born and raised on the Yurok Indian Reservation. Today, he and his wife are raising five children in the traditional village of Kenek, where his ancestors have lived since time immemorial. 

Mr. Myers is known for his success in building bridges between diverse stakeholder groups. During his two terms as Vice Chairman, he worked with tribal, state and federal lawmakers as well as non and for-profit corporations, family farmers/ranchers and conservation groups to solve some of most complex challenges in Northern California. He helped lead the decades-long campaign to remove four fish-killing dams on the Klamath River. 

Frankie has a wealth of experience in river restoration, natural resources management, community development, clean energy development, healthcare, commercial fisheries, commercial construction, wildfire prevention and environmentally sustainable economic development.

Born and raised in the heart of the traditional Karuk homeland, Leaf Hillman has spent his entire career working in one capacity or another to protect, preserve, and restore Klamath River fisheries and Karuk cultural resources. The Karuk have subsisted physically and spiritually on the bounty of the Klamath River and its watershed since time immemorial. To protect and restore these natural resources, Leaf started the Karuk Tribe’s Fisheries Department in 1990 and served as its director until 1994. At this point, under Leaf’s leadership, the department expanded to become the Department of Natural Resources. Leaf served as Director of Karuk Natural Resources Department until 2003, when he was elected to Vice-Chairman of the Karuk Tribal Council. 

Leaf Hillman is a descendant of a Karuk dance owning family and serves as a ceremonial leader during Piky’avish, the Karuk World Renewal Ceremonies. Over the past twenty years, Hillman has also taught the Karuk language at all levels of public education including adult community classes. Leaf Hillman is a leading proponent of removing Klamath River dams and played a leading role in developing the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and Klamath Basin Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement.