People

Raquel Aviles is a proud member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, born and raised in Tucson, and the Executive Director of Tucson-based nonprofit Native Seeds/SEARCH (NS/S). Prior to assuming this role, Raquel served as an NS/S board member during her 25 years in healthcare and behavioral health systems, organizational development, and Indigenous wellness programs. Founded in 1983 in response to concern from farmers, gardeners, Indigenous communities, and conservationists about the devastating loss of seed diversity, NS/S now conserves more than 1,800 regional seed varieties from the desert Southwest and Mexico in a climate-controlled seed bank. They additionally manage an onsite seed farm, work directly with regional farmers, and serve regional Indigenous communities with seeds for traditional crops. Through Raquel's leadership, NS/S continues to honor the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous seed keepers, promote sustainable agriculture, and empower communities to cultivate a resilient future.

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Ray Clamons is an architectural designer, natural builder, and musician passionate about strengthening a sustainable community through architecture, permaculture, and education. His design-build company Natural Building Works specializes in rammed earth, strawbale, and natural plasters, creating low carbon and high-performance buildings with regenerative water harvesting landscapes. Ray holds a Bachelor's of Architecture from University of Arizona, is a Licensed General Contractor, Certified Passive House Consultant, Sustainable Building Advisor and certified in Permaculture Design. Natural Building Works is currently retrofitting the cabins at Camp Cooper with hempcrete wall insulation, and envisions master's students conducting air quality monitoring, data analysis, reporting and public outreach/education to advance public understanding of the link between building materials and environmental quality. 

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Prior to joining Pima County Conservation Lands and Resources (CLR), Mabel Rivera was a classroom teacher for 13 years. Mabel now applies this experience and her passion for bridging science and learning to her role creating and facilitating environmental education programs for Pima County classrooms and communities.

Mabel serves as coordinator for a capstone project supporting the work of multiple teams within the CLR department, including staff who monitor protected species in accordance with the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. This project would connect protected species monitoring activities to community and youth engagement and learning, potentially through creating community data collection opportunities, classroom curriculum, educational signage, or digital tools for the County website and interactive maps. This project aims to engage the public in CLR's work and invite community to be informed stewards of the Sonoran Desert.

Learn more about Pima County Conservation Lands and Resources