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Karen Maki

Menlo Park, California
Chair
Loma Prieta Chapter

"Growing up in the Bay Area I spent a lot of time in the redwoods and in Yosemite," muses Karen Maki. "By the time I became an adult I was already passionate about forests."

Maki worked in Yosemite for three summers in her early 20s. "I was a waitress at the Ahwahnee Hotel, and we'd go out to the river on breaks. I remember one hot day I really wanted to go in the water, but I didn't want to skinny-dip, so I just dove in in my dress."

A licensed marriage and family therapist, Maki became active with the Club in 2001. "I was very upset when Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election," she says. She responded by helping start a forest committee and working to educate the public and elected officials about the ills of clear-cutting and the value of keeping the forest intact. "Not only is it the right thing to do," she says, "companies will make more money in the long run by practicing sustainable forestry."

When two forest bills she cared deeply about were introduced in the California State Assembly in 2003, Maki spearheaded Club phone-banking efforts to the districts of key legislators. Both bills passed, "even though we were told they'd pass the Senate but never the Assembly." Her current focus with the Club is on keeping volunteers energized. "The only way to take our democracy back," she says, "is to get people engaged."

Maki has twice traveled to France recently, participating in an art-lovers tour of Paris and the south, and a weeklong workshop in Chartres on labyrinth walking.

Published: April 25, 2007