Gayle Killam

Portland, Oregon

Gayle has been training and supporting citizens across the country to improve implementation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act since 1998. A significant focus of that training and policy work has been the development and implementation of state and federal stormwater programs. She has worked at the local level managing watershed-based restoration and green infrastructure projects that involve local relationship-building and management of technical contractors. The goals for these projects are to restore historic hydrology, improve riparian habitat and to revitalize and reconnect urban communities to the waterways that flow through them. Gayle works on multi-state basin policy analysis and advocacy and has recently been evaluating the impacts of federal budget cuts on state and local programs that protect our nation’s waters.

Gayle was the editor and principal author of the second edition of River Network’s “The Clean Water Act Owner’s Manual.” She originally created River Network’s online Clean Water Act course and co-authored “Tracking TMDLs, a Field Guide for Evaluating Proposed Watershed Restoration Plans,” and “Permitting an End to Pollution, How to Scrutinize and Strengthen Water Pollution Permits in your State.”

Gayle received her Masters’ degree in resource economics and policy from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences and her Bachelors’ degree in economics from Yale University.

When Gayle is not working, she enjoys time with her husband Scott, their son, Brennan, and their dog Maddie. Her favorite activities with family and friends are river trips, running, biking, hiking, backpacking, backcountry skiing and gardening.