Carol Montgomery President

Carol grew up in the high desert area of Northeastern California. She comes from a hunting, fishing, horseback and motorcycle family and spent many hours of her growing up years roaming the high desert on her horse and spends family recreational time riding motorcycles, camping, and rock hounding in the Smoke Creek and Black Rock Deserts.

Carol graduated from Lassen Community College with Associate Degrees in Business Administration and Accounting.  She recently retired from Lassen Community College with 27 years of service where she worked as an accountant, and in her last eight years she was the coordinator for two federal and state categorical programs with combined annual budgets of $500,000. 

Giving back through volunteering and community service is a way of life for Carol and her family.  Carol served for six plus years on the Northern California Bureau of Land Management Resource Advisory Council, for 18 years on the Lassen County Fair Advisory Committee, and for 16 years on the Northeastern Rural Health Clinic Board of Directors. 

Carol has also served on several advisory committees including the School Site Council, ROP Advisory Committee, and Vocational Olympics.  As her children grew up, Carol was a parent volunteer for their sports activities and a 4-H Advisor for projects and 4-H camp. 

In 2006 Carol became aware of the increasing need for stewardship in the Black Rock Desert and began volunteering with non-profit groups serving the Black Rock Desert.  Spring 2022 brought Carol the opportunity to join the board of directors of a newly forming non-profit called Stewards of the Black Rock Desert and she jumped at the opportunity. 

Carol is excited to be part of an organization who will represent and be the voice for all who utilize the amazing public lands of the Black Rock Desert. 

Russell Bierle
Vice President

Russell serves on the Gerlach Empire Citizen Advisory Board as well as working fore the Gerlach General Improvement District in water systems management and other capacities. He has lived in and around deserts in California and Nevada for many years. He writes: “People tend to undervalue the desert. Developer-types tend to see it as a giant wastebasket to dump their problems into. CAFOs, prisons, landfills, and hazardous waste disposal sites are popular uses for desert landscapes. There aren’t a whole lot of prime examples left of deserts that still look much like they would have a thousand years ago. The Black Rock Desert is one of those sites. It has resisted these encroachments better than most places through a fortuitous combination of remoteness and severe inhospitality. Now, perhaps ironically, the best strategy to preserve these lands for another thousand years is to make them more accessible for public recreation. If we can’t foster a public connection to this area, it will be at risk of defaulting to utilitarian uses, becoming another loose network of lithium mines and waste disposal sites.
There is precedent. The Winnemucca dry lake bed south of here was once a sprawling wildlife preserve, but no one was able to effectively advocate for its preservation. Diversion of water from the Truckee River at Derby Dam caused the lake to dry up. It remains the nation’s only former National Wildlife Refuge. I
believe public interest could have been a deciding factor in changing this outcome, and I think Stewards of Black Rock are doing good work in advocating for the preservation of our pristine desert.”

Matthew Ebert
Treasurer

After a couple years attending Burning Man, Matthew “Metric” Ebert moved to the Hualapai Flat north of Gerlach, Nevada, in the year 2000 with many years of professional event production experience and became the resident property manager at Burning Man’s work ranch. He was appointed to the Gerlach Empire Citizen Advisory Board in 2003 where he served 15 years reviewing development proposals and contributing to various committees.

In 2005 he started an RV rental and outfitting business, Black Rock Rental, and continued contributing to the Burning Man event as a member of the Man Krew, the team that builds the Burning Man effigy. In 2006, Metric joined the Friends of Black Rock High Rock as an AmeriCorps volunteer, ultimately becoming their first Executive Director. At Friends of Black Rock, he was responsible for the day-to-day tasks of every facet of the organization’s management and development.

As a member of the E Clampus Vitus historical society since 2007, Metric continues to apply his knowledge and experience to produce events, develop merchandising, and provide historical interpretation at places of interest throughout Nevada. Metric earned a BA in philosophy and business administration at the University of Nevada – Reno in 2018, and a Master of Public Policy degree at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021. Metric lives in Gerlach with his wife, Erin, who serves as Stewards’ Secretary. They are both active in the BLM Site Stewardship Program.

Liz Deason

Liz writes: “I am very interested in doing what I can to help preserve the beautiful Black Rock Desert. 
I have been going there since 2000 either as a volunteer with Friends of Black Rock during the Rendezvous, camping and volunteering as a Voice with Temple Guardians at Burning Man, or camping/star-gazing.  I am involved with other non-profit groups whose focus is preservation (i.e. Native Daughters of the Golden West and Northern Nevada Ghosthunters). I also volunteer as a religious education facilitator at my church, and am a member of High Desert Harmony, a women’s a cappella chorus.  I have an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership, an M.A. in Literacy Studies, a dual undergraduate degree in both Special Education and Elementary Education, and spent a year studying Textile Arts, before changing my degree focus.”

Erin Watson Ebert – Secretary

Erin began visiting the Black Rock Desert at Burning Man 1997 at Fly Ranch in the Hualapai Flat, serving as a Black Rock Ranger volunteer for the event on and off ever since. Prior to moving to Gerlach in 2019, Erin worked for various pharmaceutical companies in the Bay Area for many years developing medicines and ensuring those medicines were available worldwide. Erin loves taking road trips in the desert to see hot springs and locations of historical interest. In her free time she reads books on history and studies historical costume.

Laura Blaylock – Founder

Laura first visited the Black Rock Desert in 1974, helping a friend with his amateur radio. She returned in 1980 to relocate and rebuild a railroad tie cabin at Mandalay Springs, 8 miles east of Sulphur. She lived in the cabin for 6 years while mining with the old-timers to make a living. Laura eventually participated in moving the cabin back to its current location near Sulphur from Mandalay Springs . After marrying a Nevada mine inspector, Laura lived in Winnemucca for 25 years. She was active as a volunteer for Humboldt County Hospice, conducted quilting and environmental education classes at the Humboldt County Library, and served on the boards of the Winnemucca Food Pantry, Winnemucca Community Garden, and Nevada Outdoor School. In 2012 Laura moved to Gerlach and increased her stewardship activities. She has been with the Earth Guardians Camp at Burning Man for many years, has participated at the BLM Interpretive Camp, and was named the top BLM volunteer in the state of Nevada two years in a row. Laura was the driving force behind the formation of the Stewards of the Black Rock Desert. She can frequently be found doing playa patrol with her “litter truck,” promoting the use of potty buckets and educating visitors about fairy shrimp. She as an active hula-hooper, quilter, ukelele promoter, kite flyer, landsailer, and amateur rocketry enthusiast.