Honorary Board

Brady Johnson

Brady is the son of CELP founder Ralph W. Johnson and has been a life-long supporter of a rational water policy. Professionally Brady is retired from a long career litigating a wide variety of cases including criminal defense, civil rights, mental health and civil commitment, torts, class actions and for the last 15 years of his career, antitrust and consumer protection. Brady has appeared before trial and appellate courts in several states, and in federal trial and appellate courts in the 2nd, 3rd and 9th Circuits and in the U.S. Supreme Court. Brady holds a B.A. from the University of Washington and a J.D. from the University of Puget Sound School of Law. He also holds a Certifcate in International Law from the McGeorge School of Law. He is a member of the Washington State Bar. Brady served on the CELP Board of Directors from 2015 to 2022.

Rachael Paschal Osborn

Rachael Paschal Osborn is a public interest water lawyer and has provided representation to Indian tribes, environmental NGOs, labor unions, and small communities since 1992.

Rachael is a co-founder and served as executive director of the Center for Environmental Law & Policy (1993-1999, 2007-2011). She is also co-founder and board member of Washington Water Trust (1997-2001). Both organizations are dedicated to the protection and restoration of free-flowing waters in Washington state.

Rachael is a talented educator, mentoring scores of water law and policy courses over the years, and has written extensively on water resources and environmental issues. She currently maintains a blog, which you can read here.

Fran Wood, MD

Dr. Wood is an Emeritus Associate Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology) at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Raised in Philadelphia, PA Dr. Wood’s love of the great outdoors was inspired by fly fishing trips to the Pocono Mountains with his parents and seven summers spent working as a camping and fishing counselor at Camp Allagosh on Moosehead Lake in central Maine. Whilst attending Harvard Medical School, Dr. Wood also added birding to his spare time agenda.

Dr. Wood first called Seattle home from 1954-1956—and unable to stay away—returned in 1960 where he has lived since. He has been a member of the Washington Fly Fishing Club since 1955 and, recently, has been running birding trips as a volunteer for the Seattle Audubon Society. He served on the CELP Board of Directors for many years, and remains an avid CELP supporter.

In Memorium: Estella Leopold, PhD

Dr. Leopold was the youngest daughter of Aldo Leopold, and was Emeritus Professor of Botany and past director of the Quaternary Research Center at the University of Washington. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society and helped establish Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado and Mount St. Helens National Monument in Washington. Her research interests and publications focus on paleobotany, forest history and management, restoration ecology, and environmental quality. She studied fossil pollen and seeds to reconstruct ancient vegetation and climate in Alaska, China, and the western U.S. Over her lifetime, she published over 100 scientific papers, working well past her 80’s. She died at the age of 97 in February of 2024.

Her obituary can be found on the Aldo Leopold Foundation website.

In Memoriam: Charles Wilkinson

Prior to joining the faculty of University of Colorado Law School, Professor Wilkinson practiced law with private firms in Phoenix and San Francisco, and then with the Native American Rights Fund. In 1975, he became a law professor, teaching at the law schools of the University of Oregon, University of Michigan, and University of Minnesota before moving to Colorado in 1987.

His primary specialties are federal public land law and Indian law. In addition to his many articles in law reviews, popular journals, and newspapers, his thirteen books include the standard law texts on public land law and on Indian law. He also served as managing editor of Felix S. Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law, the leading treatise on Indian law. The books he has written, such as 1992’s The Eagle Bird, are aimed for a general audience, and they discuss society, history, and land in the American West. He won the Colorado Book Award for Messages From Frank’s Landing, a profile of Billy Frank, Jr. of the Nisqually Tribe of western Washington. In his latest book, Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations, he poses what he calls “the most fundamental question of all: Can the Indian voice endure?” Listen to an interview on Colorado Public Radio conducted by Dan Drayer about Blood Struggle.

The National Wildlife Federation presented him with its National Conservation Award, and in its 10-year anniversary issue, Outside Magazine named him one of 15 “People to Watch,” calling him “the West’s leading authority on natural resources law.” He has served on several boards, including The Wilderness Society, Northern Lights Institute, and the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado. Over the years, Professor Wilkinson has taken on many special assignments for the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, and Justice. He was a member of the tribal team that negotiated the 1997 Joint Secretarial Order of the Interior and Commerce Departments concerning tribal rights under the Endangered Species Act. He served as special counsel to the Interior Department for the drafting of the Presidential Proclamation, signed by President Clinton in September, 1996, establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. In December 1997 Agriculture Secretary Glickman appointed him a member of the Committee of Scientists, charged with reviewing the Forest Service planning regulations. Professor Wilkinson acted as facilitator in negotiations between the National Park Service and the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe concerning a tribal land base in Death Valley National Park; in 2000 Congress enacted legislation ratifying the resulting agreement. He was most recently serving as facilitator in far-ranging negotiations between the City of Seattle and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.