Jon Knechtel, PNTA Director of Trail Management

After completion of his schooling, and smoke jumping during the summers, Jon wanted to work as an engineer for the USFS. Since his father was working for them at the time, he could not, so he worked for the DNR as an engineer on the Willipa and Sedro Woolley Districts. He packed two seasons in the Pasayten Wilderness, hauling trail crews, supplies, fishermen and hunters in and out in the mid sixties. He then went into construction and maintenance in the sawmill business, where he's spent the last 33 years.

Nate Melanson, SKY Nursery Manager, Cascade West Region Project Coordinator

Nate Melanson, the SKY Native Plant Nursery Manager, and Cascade West Project Coordinator, was born in Massachusetts. His love of the outdoors originally brought him to the Pacific Northwest, as a wildland firefighter in 2003. Nate has past experience as a Structural and Wildland Firefighter/EMT, and is currently Wilderness First Aid certified. He has extensive experience working with local youth, making him ideal for PNT projects. His dog Inari, agrees. Prior to firefighting in Massachusetts, Nate worked as a network administrator, computer instructor, and a web developer for a small computer company in Massachusetts. He has now become the webmaster for the PNTA.

Laurel Downing , Bookkeeper, Office Manager

Daniel Collins, Regional Coordinator, Olympic Region

Eastern Washington could be called my homeland, but since my college years, I've lived and roamed in central Idaho, Kodiak Alaska, Eugene Oregon and now in Puget Sound. Mountains have always tied it together for me. I did my graduate work at the University of Oregon in Community Planning. Moving back up to Washington State, I worked with local non-profits (501c3) providing project management assistance on facility improvements and then moved over to a bridge and structures engineering group in King County. Four years of inspecting bridges (including trestles of the County Rails to Trails) turned my full attention to trails. Other experiences which may have intertwined my path with this fine organization are: 2 years GIS computer mapping in Boise with a startup company, leading an After-School Boat Building Program with immigrant youth in '05, teaching mountaineering skills through the Washington Alpine Club, and an afternoon sailing with Andy Goulding and Barbara Culp, sister of Trygve.