Esteban Ortiz

Esteban (he/him/el) supports the team at Columbia Riverkeeper as its program coordinator. As a Navy veteran, Esteban traveled the world and served onboard the USS Constellation CV-64. He became conscious of the work that is needed in marginalized communities, not just overseas but here in our own country. This is especially true of the constant work needed at the grassroots level to educate, motivate, and activate community members. Esteban dedicated his professional career working on presidential campaigns from Obama ’08 to local county commissioners races in Garfield County, Colorado. In the environmental non-profit world, Esteban has worked with organizations including Communidades, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Washington Conservation Voters. He has served on the board of Earth Charter Indiana and the Hanford Advisory Board.

What inspires you to do this work?

Living here in the Pacific Northwest, now in the Hood River area, I think we all just need to realize that we need to protect the land and resources la madre tierra (mother earth) provides us. As a community, we need to apply some common sense and check our egos to all work together towards conservation.