Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel, Executive Director and President
Dianne has traveled a lot of professional roads from heading up a medical lab, teaching, acting and now working to preserve open space, wilderness, wild and scenic rivers and National Recreation Areas. With the Community Hiking Club, Dianne acts as both President and Executive Director. She enjoys the outdoors, working with at-risk kids, and doing stewardship events in the forest. Her long term goal is to leave the ecology of her corner of the planet in better shape than when she got here. She is currently working on reviving the Dagger Flat Trail from the 1930s.
tbd, Camping Chair
Paul Huskey, Hike leader, and general footpath investigator
Paul joined the board in the summer of 2022, his passion is getting out of the office and into nature on the weekends with an emphasis on finding or rediscovering trails and areas of interest. He is moved by geological formations, local history and a twisted love of Gneiss rocks.
Heidi Webber, Treasurer
Heidi s the Treasurer of the Community Hiking Club. She has always been nature and animal oriented, starting with working in a pet shop as a teenager. Much more recently she was also Treasurer for Placerita Canyon Nature Center and Secretary for the Sierra Pelona Rock Club. She also edits and publishes the newsletter “Pelonagram” for the Sierra Pelona Rock Club. In addition, she is the publisher of the nature center’s newsletter, “The Rattler”. She became a certified scuba diver upon retirement, belongs to the Local astronomy club and has been married almost 47 years.
Chris Stratford, Scheduling
Lise Meyers, Community Outreach Coordinator
Lisé is our Community Outreach Coordinator. Ms. Meyers truly enjoys interacting with and serving others. She is an avid hiker and camper and is happiest when doing nearly anything outdoors. She serves on this board because she believes in the many causes that Community Hiking Club stands such as working with at-risk kids, improving the environment through stewardship, and land preservation. Preserving and caring for our natural areas is very important to her. Lisé brings a wealth of experience to this board, having served as past president of the board of directors for Symphony of the Canyons, Community Musician and secretary for the Channel Islands Board of Directors, Community Musician for the Cornerstone Chrysalis Board of Directors, and currently serves as the volunteer chair for Heart of the West, the largest fundraising event of each year for Carousel Ranch.
Alan Pollack, Club Historian
Alan Pollack has worked as a physician of internal medicine at Kaiser Permanente for the past 29 years. As President of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, he brings extensive expertise on the local history of the Santa Clarita Valley. Alan comes to the Board as a historical consultant who will be helping with legislative projects such as Rim of the Valley and the St. Francis Dam National Memorial. He can also provide his historical insight on hikes to the St. Francis Dam and other historical sites in the area.
Mary Bates, Field Trip Coordinator
Mary has been teaching since 2002 at College of the Canyons. She has made professional Scholarly Presentations and conducted field trips for hundreds, at the college and other venues such as museums, geologic societies, and local geology and hiking clubs.
Christine Kudija, Attorney