In addition to his role with HCA, Logan serves as a City Council member in Overland Park, KS after first being elected in November 2017 and re-elected in November 2021. Logan was elected by his fellow council members to serve as City Council President for 2024. In that role he is involved with the Overland Park Environmental Advisory Council and has served on the City’s Advisory Council on Parks + Recreation. He is also the Council representative of the City’s tree board, the Legacy of Greenery Committee.

Logan currently serves on the board of directors for the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance, the Johnson County Transit Council, and is the Kansas co-chair of the Mid-America Regional Council’s (MARC) Sustainable Places Policy Committee. He also serves as the Mayor’s representative on the MARC Board of Directors and is a recent past member of the Executive Committee for the Overland Park Chamber Economic Development Council. He previously served on the board of Metropolitan Energy Center.

Before HCA, Logan was a community engagement manager for Harvesters—The Community Food Network, a press intern at the Obama White House, and served as an intern for Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II. To help pay for his education, he worked as a package handler for UPS and was a member of the Teamsters union.

A graduate of Shawnee Mission schools, Logan graduated Cum Laude from the University of Southern California with dual degrees in Broadcast Journalism and History, and holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Kansas with certificates in City & County Management and Urban Planning.

If people can see and experience the value of natural habitats in metro areas, this can fundamentally transform the way humans view and interact with nature both locally and globally.

In addition to her work with HCA, Jess also serves as the Director of Conservation and board member for the Kibale Chimpanzee Project (non-profit) in Kibale National Park Uganda. She directs conservation research, programs, and educational outreach campaigns that mitigate anthropogenic threats to chimpanzees and other wildlife in the area. Jess is also an instructor of Biology and Anthropology at the Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City. She previously lived in the Blue Ridge mountains where she taught both Biology and Anthropology at the University of North Georgia and was part of the co-founding team (serving as the Sanctuary Director) for Project Chimps, a chimp sanctuary dedicated to retiring chimpanzees from biomedical research.

Jess received her Ph.D. in Integrative and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Southern California for her research on aggression and conciliatory behavior in wild chimpanzees. Jess then completed a post-doc at Aarhus University in Denmark that focused on how long-term field sites provide conservation benefits to biodiversity and habitats while also creating a primatology curriculum for school children for the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences. Jess also has her M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Central Washington University where she studied captive chimpanzees who use sign language at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute and her B.S. degrees in both Biology and Anthropology from Missouri State University.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

~ Jane Goodall

She moved to the east coast after graduation where she worked at The Valerie Fund, a non-profit for children with cancer and blood disorders, and then a season at Acadia National Park. Rebecca lived in South Korea for several years, teaching Business English at Soonchunhyang University. Prior to joining the Heartland Conservation Alliance team, she worked at Mo-Kan Regional Planning Council as a community development planner where she wrote and administered grants, among other duties.

While pursuing her master’s degree in Community and Economic Development from Pennsylvania State University, she attended a summer session in Quebec as part of the Rural Policy Research Institute. She also has a graduate certificate in Renewable Energies from St. Francis University, and completed a Permaculture Design Certificate in Konso, Ethiopia.

Rebecca volunteers for several organizations and serves on the Downtown Review Board and as secretary of a neighborhood betterment group in St. Joseph, Mo., where she lives. She likes to camp, travel and read in her free time.

“Watch and listen to wildlife like insects, birds, and deer—they’ll show you where and tell you about an area’s natural resources.”

That deep connection to nature eventually grew into a lifelong dedication to restoration, environmental advocacy, and neighborhood empowerment.

In addition to his role at HCA, Damon serves as the Neighborhood Conservation and Environmental Steward for the historic Dunbar Neighborhood, where he leads community-based green infrastructure, tree planting, native restoration, and revitalization efforts.

He is also the founder of Rooted & Reaching Eco Art Garden—an outdoor, off-grid space where science, art, and nature converge. The garden blends environmental restoration, permaculture, rainwater harvesting, solar power, and creative programming. Damon also serves on the Illegal Dumping Leadership Team with the MARC Solid Waste Management District, working to address illegal dumping in disinvested areas.

He brings a unique mix of skill sets, perspective, and heart to the HCA team—bridging ecological knowledge, RFP creation, project management, creative direction, and deep community engagement to champion a more connected and sustainable Kansas City.

“I’m passionate about this work because I understand that environmental restoration also restores our communities—and those two worlds are really one and the same.” —Damon Lee Patterson”

A KU graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, Hannah developed a strong passion for community outreach and environmental education. During her final semester, she interned with the HCA’s Outreach and Education program, gaining valuable experience in community engagement and further fueling her commitment to environmental education.

Now serving as HCA’s Outdoor Education Coordinator and Blue River Nature Guide, Hannah is passionate about connecting urban residents with nature. Having grown up in an urban setting, she understands that nature can feel distant in city life. Her work centers on fostering a connection between urban communities and their local natural spaces to promote the well-being of both people and the environment for Kansas Citians.

He reveled in the scent of rain after a storm, the soothing sound of water rushing through creek beds, and the enchanting sight of fireflies lighting up the night sky—each one captured momentarily in a jar before being released back into the wild. And when he returned from his adventures, Grandma’s freshly baked rhubarb pie awaited him, a sweet reward from the garden.

Christian’s deep connection with nature remains unchanged. He still seeks every opportunity to immerse himself in the natural world, living as closely and harmoniously with it as possible. As the Conservation Land Steward for HCA, he has found the perfect role to fulfill this passion. Every day, whether he is engaged in restoration projects, conducting biodiversity surveys, or capturing wildlife photography for HCA’s media, he is living his dream.

In addition to his role with HCA, Christian is a dedicated Master Naturalist for the Loess Bluffs Chapter. During his free time, he finds joy in giving back to nature and sharing his knowledge with others. He is a lifelong learner, always seeking to deepen his understanding of the natural world.

When Christian isn’t busy with work or volunteer commitments, he indulges in outdoor pursuits such as fishing, hunting, hiking, nature photography, and his personal woodland restoration project. For him, there’s no greater joy than being in nature, where he feels most alive.

Growing up in an urban environment didn’t make it easy to connect with nature outside of what was at home, but when Mahreen’s mother learned about the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center that changed. Mahreen attended countless day camps and events that broadened her world. Learning more about native wildlife and plants that served different purposes for the local ecosystem deepened her love of the environment so much she spearheaded an effort for recycling at her middle school as part of her National Junior Honor Society project.

Mahreen’s family is originally from Pakistan and that fuels much of her passion for climate justice and conservation. With her mother’s side being from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that hosts more glaciers than any country outside of the polar regions and her father’s side having participated in local agriculture in the Punjab province, her family’s generational connections to nature continues to inform her strides for climate justice on both a local and national scale.

In addition to her work at Heartland Conservation Alliance, Mahreen is the Campaign Coordinator at the Kansas City chapter of Sunrise Movement, a youth-led organization that is trying to tackle the climate crisis through bold policy that leaves no one behind. She is excited to bring six years of experience working in the climate justice space, both locally and nationally, to Heartland Conservation Alliance.

In her free time, Mahreen enjoys hiking, kayaking, bouldering, and different forms of creative expression from wildlife photography to DJing.