About | Moab Solutions

Carol always saw the good in people, and because of that, she brought out the good in people. She volunteered everywhere in the community, from Seekhaven to the Arts Festival. She was a tutor and a mentor for Grand Area Mentoring. She was a hospice volunteer, and would, at the drop of a hat, do whatever was needed to help out anyone in need. She was simply inspirational. On July 5, 2019, Carol peacefully slipped from this world to the next. Moab Solutions may have lost one of its founding “partners in grime,” but not a day passes that her legacy doesn’t continue to move us forward.

Carol’s standing in the community gave Moab Solutions an early boost. Her respectability helped get our messages across to our beloved community!

Board Member 2012 -2019

Carol Hoggard

Lenore Beeson hails from the Bronx, but made Moab her home over 27 years ago. She has been a realtor since July of 1993. Her philosophy on real estate and life is simple: be honest, be fair, and work diligently to achieve the best possible result.

Lenore has a great love of the natural world and cares deeply about the plight of people and animals in need. Lenore has worked with Moab Solutions on many projects and happily agreed to serve on the board to help move the goals of the organization forward.

Board President 2019 - 2022

Lenore Beeson

Bob taught sociology at California State University at San Bernardino from 1974 to 1981, and at the University of Oregon from 1981 to 2008. He was Department Head for over half of those years of teaching. For three years at the University of Oregon, he served as Associate Dean with oversight for the Social Sciences. In Eugene, OR he served as Board Chair of Citizens for Public Accountability for five years, and as Interim Board Chair of Oregon Toxics Alliance (now Beyond Toxics). As a member of the Willakenzie Planning Team, he helped create a neighborhood plan for the City of Eugene, as well as the "New Community Meeting," which brought together business owners, developers, and citizen activists.

Board President 2012 - 2019

Bob “O.B.” O’Brien

From 1992-1994, Mayr was an Assistant Professor (Public Interest Science and Environmental Advocacy) in the graduate University of Montana Environmental Studies Program. Mary's work has always focused on developing and proposing alternatives for public policy. Her book, Making Better Environmental Decisions: An Alternative to Risk Assessment (MIT Press 2000), provides numerous examples of the power of alternative proposals and assessments to leverage positive change. She has also been working for the Grand Canyon Trust since 2003, and currently serves as Utah Forests Program Director. She previously served as a staff scientist and organizer for toxics reform and conservation organizations including Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, Environmental Research Foundation, Science and Environmental Health Network, and Hells Canyon Preservation Council.

Board Secretary 2012 - 2019

Mary O’Brien

WHO

ARE

WE

MOAB

ON A MISSION

Work With Us

We work to make Moab communities

cleaner, safer, & more connected

to each other and the natural world.

Our vision for the future is simple. We imagine thriving communities that nurture and respect each other. At our core is a deep love for the natural world, and all the lives that depend upon it.

How Moab Solutions got its start

Moab Solutions believes in the power of small changes over time. We started as a group of passionate community members concerned for our home, and are now a growing organization providing answers to hard questions.

Moab Solutions 20th Anniversary!

2024

2017

Moab Solutions began focusing more on emergency assistance

March 9th - “The Solutions” formed a non profit 501-c3, and renamed to “Moab Solutions”

2012

2008

Local clean ups led us to encampments, and thus began our work with the houseless

1994

David introduced Sara to cleanups along the Animas River

May 12th - “The Solutions” hosted the first library meeting to organize cleanups

2004

One rogue storm did not create Moab’s arches and canyons. It was the small, consistent effort of a trillion droplets over eons.

We put a face to the homeless and expanded the circle of caring into the community.

What started as individual cleanups led to group meetings at the public library. Those meetups led to more organized cleanups, which led us – literally – to Moab’s most in need.

The history of Moab Solutions’ work with the homeles

In 2008, our main focus was on recycling, zero waste, and cleanups. While walking the trails for a cleanup project with Friends of the Parkway, we literally stumbled upon a homeless encampment. It felt urgent to us that we understand why they were there. Some of them fell into hardship due to addiction, disability or mental health challenges. We worked hard to get to know them and give them a hand up.

We quite literally stumbled into this work

With a grant from the Carl George Bjorkman Foundation, we expanded a fledgling program called Parkway Partners. This weekly meet up with the homeless helped them bring their trash out of the camps for disposal and recycling, and provided them with work. This was the beginning of a community-wide movement. It led to the creation of many other programs to help those most in need. Most importantly, though, we brought their lives into the public eye. We took creek dwellers to local council meetings, where they shared their stories. They spoke to local reporters and appeared in the Times-Independent, and later in the Moab Sun News.

Moab Solutions’ current members

Faces of Change

“I’ve been called the Bernie Sanders of climate activism in Moab. It always gives me a chuckle, but then I remember what we’re dealing with. ”

Sara Melnicoff

founder and executive director of Moab Solutions

I’ve never known “dark skies” or pure wilderness.

Most people alive today won’t either. We’ve divorced ourselves from the natural world, and it’s an unhealthy relationship for both us and the planet. If you browse through my phone’s images, you won’t see photos of grandkids or grand vacations, you’ll see pictures of trash. Piles of it.

I started picking up trash along the Animas river in the early 90s with my life partner David. Those walks gave me a raw, no BS look at the damage we humans are doing. All our exploitation and waste is polluting the water we drink, the air we breathe and the places we raise kids.

Then, while doing cleanups, we began to meet and interact with the people in the homeless camps along Mill Creek. In an effort to fix two problems at once, we started employing them to help. It’s that cyclical process of helping people heal the planet that drives Moab Solutions.

Moab Solutions has worked with Pete for years in many different ways. We’re now proud to officially have him on the team. He's assisted with trail work, cleanups on public lands, homeless outreach and eliminating food waste.

Board President | Aug 2022 - Present

Pete Gross

Robin is one of a kind with talents that run deep and in many directions. She is a multi talented artist with a sharp mind for business. She has owned and operated a scratch bakery, and has recently doubled the revenues of the thrift store she currently works at through her years of retail experience and shining personality. Robin was an early supporter of Moab Solutions, and her devotion to reusing and upcycling embodies one of Moab Solution’s core goals.

Board Vice President | 2013 - Present

Robin Zank

Dave is a Canyonlands Watershed Council board member, a founding member of the Moab Area Watershed Partnership, and is a former two-term mayor of the Town of Castle Valley (2010-2017). He’s been looking out for southern Utah since 1991. He’s worked for Utah Open Lands on private land conservation and for the Grand Canyon Trust on public land conservation. He received a Water and Soil Science degree from the University of California, Davis (’83), an MBA from Colorado University ('91), and graduated from the Climate Solutions University in “how to make Grand County resilient to Climate Change” ('10).

Board Secretary | 2019 - Present

Dave Erley

We call him “Win” for short, and the shoe sure fits. Having experienced homelessness himself, he meets people where they’re at and provides a friend they can trust. He understands that there are a lot of reasons people might experience homelessness. Since something as simple as a tank of gas or a new ID card can get folks to the next step, Win gets out there to find what people’s individual needs are. And that’s a Win!