From 1989 to 1999 Chelsea worked as a professional in the field of environmental conservation, most recently with the Environmental Defense Fund. Her work focused primarily on finding cost-effective, equitable and environmentally sound ways to improve the management of western water resources, including the Colorado River, the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and the San Francisco Bay/delta, and the Colorado River delta in Mexico. Chelsea is an accomplished public speaker and has written for scientific and popular journals on issues ranging from land and water rights of Native Americans, to environmental dispute resolution, water pollution control programs, and international relations related to water resources. Chelsea's most recent publication "A Delta Once More: Restoring Riparian and Wetland Habitat in the Colorado River Delta" is available on the web at www.environmentaldefense.org or through Environmental Defense.
A graduate of Yale University in 1982, magna cum laude, Chelsea earned a M.A. from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California in 1989. She served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Future of Irrigation from 1994 to 1996. She formerly served on the Board of the Colorado Center for Healthy Communities, the Advisory Board for the Rocky Mountain Office of Environmental Defense and the Aspen Valley Land Trust. She currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Trust for Public Land in Colorado and is President of COMPASS, an organization supporting progressive education in the Aspen and Carbondale Community Schools, and the Early Childhood Center in the Roaring Fork Valley.
