Our Staff
Sandy Bishop has served as Executive Director of LCLT for over 30 years. She was a founding board member and the first executive director of the organization. She also serves as project manager for most of the housing developments and leads LCLT’s land acquisitions and program development. LCLT’s first affordable housing project was considered the premier community land trust project on the West Coast and was featured in the New York Times. She was awarded the Friend of Housing Award from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. LCLT has received dozens of awards for integrating green building and net-zero principles into housing developments. LCLT has benefitted from Sandy’s leadership in areas of preserving working farms, nurturing internship programs for the next generations of leaders in both construction and ag-based programs, and committing to a built environment that responds to climate change.
Clauda Costa is LCLT’s Stewardship Manager. She oversees land management, trains community members on various LCLT programs, fosters engagement with the Lopez community, and generally works to dream up a more equitable and resilient world. Clauda previously served as a project manager at True Blue Strategies, working on award-winning environmental campaigns, as a community engagement specialist at PRR developing community-building strategies for city and state agencies, and as a construction intern for LCLT on the Oystercatcher cooperative. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington in international relations and labor studies.
Marly Schmidtke, Administrative & Project Director, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology from Washington State University and pursued legal studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. She maintains an active Notary Public commission with the State of Washington. Marly has been with LCLT since 2018, where she provides professional expertise in legal and regulatory support, land title and property matters, bookkeeping and accounting, and business administration, contributing to effective, compliant, and mission-focused organizational operations.
Rhea Miller is LCLT’s Community Liaison. Formerly, she filled the position of Assistant Director of LCLT. Prior to her work with LCLT, she served for over 10 years as County Commissioner of San Juan County, with an emphasis on environmental protection and sustainability in housing, agriculture, and people. She has a long history as a community organizer with international experience. (Watch Rhea’s TEDx talk here). Rhea was a founding member of LCLT and has provided countless hours of volunteer help, from painting trim for new construction to facilitating Board of Directors meetings. She directed the LIFE farm to school program for a year. She has a special interest in indigenous spirituality, the new sciences, and the building of community. Rhea authored the book Cloudhand, Clenched Fist: Chaos, Crisis, and the Emergence of Community.
John Doe
Lopez Community Land TrustFollow Us
