Heather Dutton grew up in a farming family in the San Luis Valley, where she gained a love for agriculture and the outdoors. She is fortunate to have worked as the Manager of the San Luis Valley Water Conservancy District since 2016. The greatest reward of this position is the opportunity to work with friends in the water community to find creative ways to manage water and natural resources in the Upper Rio Grande Basin.

Prior to working for the District, Heather was the Executive Director of the Rio Grande Headwaters Restoration Project. She serves on the Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC), Colorado State University Water Center Advisory Board, and Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation Board. Heather is happiest when exploring the San Juan Mountains on foot, motorcycles, and snowmobiles with her husband.

Sarah co-owns Jones Farms Organics, a 4th and 5th generation family farm in the San Luis Valley, and the 1st Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) Farm in the state of Colorado. JFO grows multiple varieties of heirloom wheat and rye (Rouge de Bordeaux, Yecora Rojo, Sonora, Durum, Wrens Abruzzi, and Ryman Rye) and over 20 varieties of specialty potatoes. As the director of sales, marketing, and logistics, she has cultivated relationships with over 30 direct customers.

Sarah is the vision behind Rye Resurgence Project, which was awarded grant funding from the SLV Water Conservancy District to help farmers in the SLV reduce reliance on groundwater, improve soil health and maintain profitability through cultivating a market for local terroir driven rye.

Marielle spent her formative years in the Rocky Mountains near Estes Park. After high school in Denver and undergrad at Colorado College, she moved to Australia for a year, working on farms across the country. Inspired by her experiences in permaculture and sustainable agriculture, she moved to Portland, Oregon where for nearly 10 years, she worked for a statewide non-profit where she launched, managed, and grew the Oregon Brewshed Alliance - a coalition of Oregon's craft brewing industry supporting and advocating for forest watershed protection. During that time, she went back to school and received her masters in environmental law & policy to become better versed in the complex language of western water and to help break down barriers to entry.

In 2021, she moved back to her home state to serve as the Director of Public Relations at the Colorado River District in Glenwood Springs. After several years living and working on the Western Slope, she decided to move closer to family and is now resettled in Fort Collins where (in addition to her work with RRP) she works as a Program Manger for CSU’s Colorado Water Center.

Introduced to the Rye Resurgence Project on a 2023 field tour with Heather and Sarah, she officially joined the team in May 2024 and is proud serve as the Communications Director, combining her creative skills with her passion for Colorado, western water issues, local agriculture, sustainability, and the craft food & beverage world. She spends her free time in the mountains with her pack of three pups, who love to join her for hikes and various outdoor adventures.

Morgan was raised on a small family farm in the San Luis Valley. Growing up she spent summers running wild in pastures along the banks of the Rio Grande and helping on the farm. This began her love for water and appreciation for agriculture. Her participation in 4 H further developed her personal connection to ag while highlighting the importance of leadership and civic engagement in rural communities.  She lived in New York City for a time, and that experience solidified her connection to the land and love for her home in the west. After returning to Colorado she has held a variety of positions in private and government organizations and has picked up a wide variety of valuable skills along the way, which she is excited to share with this project.

Her previous work has emphasized the importance of agriculture to her life and she is thrilled to return to it through this position, in addition to stepping more into the operations of her family farm as the 5th generation.  She looks forward to working to help preserve the agricultural way of life here in the SLV, and to build strong, resilient farms and communities for the future. Morgan loves to travel and experience different cultures and places, and in her spare time she can probably be found planning her next adventure, enjoying the outdoors with her family, or frolicking with her niece in the same pastures she grew up in.

‘This isn’t just land. It’s our heritage, our future, and the very essence of our being.’