For immediate release
December 11, 2020
Contact: Jessica Dacey, Director of Communications
Phone: 760-820-2275
Email: jessica@mdlt.org

Joshua Tree, CA – Leading social justice campaigner Terrysa Guerra has been appointed to the Mojave Desert Land Trust’s board of directors.

Guerra’s political and electoral experience spans 16 years. As the National Political Director at United for Respect, Terrysa oversees the development of political power for retail workers and people who work low-wage jobs. Her work at United for Respect has led to two signature pieces of legislation for working families, the introduction of the Stop Wall Street Looting Act and the passage of New Jersey’s Guaranteed Severance Pay Act, a new labor standard for low wage workers displaced by Wall Street driven bankruptcies.

In a previous role, Guerra helped pass Fair Workweek legislation across the country that now provides stable hours for over 2 million working people. A former strategist for electoral campaigns in Texas, she has also worked with numerous national and state electoral organizations. Her work has been documented by MSNBC and Marie Claire magazine, and was featured in a New York Times story about her upbringing in rural south Texas and its influence on her career.

Guerra lives in Joshua Tree where she enjoys cooking and hiking with her dog. She cares deeply about the Mojave Desert and its preservation and wildlife.

Guerra is a member of The Council at the Joshua Tree National Park Association, and a board member for both All Due Respect and Americans for Financial Reform.

Guerra’s appointment comes at a time when the Mojave Desert Land Trust has achieved new conservation milestones. Since 2006, it has acquired nearly 90,000 acres across the California desert and donated more tracts of land to the National Park Service nationally than any other nonprofit since 2006.

Her appointment builds on an already accomplished board. The board members are John Simpson, real estate executive, Peter Brooks, Iraq veteran and water expert and executive, Gwen Barker, local business owner and marketing professional, Robyn Helmlinger, law partner at Orrick, Kelly Herbinson, biologist and desert tortoise conservation researcher, Ron Radziner, renowned architect, and Brad Wilson, President and Co-Partner of Ace Hotel Group and Atelier Ace.

“The Mojave Desert Land Trust is honored to have Terrysa Guerra join our board of directors. Her extensive experience as a social justice champion will bring new passion, impetus, and knowledge to our efforts to build greater equity into our conservation and educational programs, and our work to preserve the California desert for generations to come,” said Geary Hund, Executive Director, of the Mojave Desert Land Trust.The Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to protect and care for lands with natural, scenic, and cultural value within the Mojave Desert. Since its founding in 2006 the land trust has conserved more than 90,000 acres, donating more tracts of land to the National Park Service in the last decade than any other organization. In addition to acquiring land, the land trust established a seed bank to ensure the preservation of native species. MDLT operates an onsite nursery at its Joshua Tree headquarters which propagates native species for ecosystem restoration. MDLT educates and advocates for the conservation of the desert, involving hundreds of volunteers in our work. For more information, visit mdlt.org.