Meet our Board
Board of Directors
OASTL was founded in August 2021, so it is remains young and growing. The Board of Directors sets policy, holds the power to conduct the nonprofit’s business, and delegates power as needed to the organization’s agents. The Board of Directors appoints the President, Secretary, and Treasurer, who serve as the organization’s agents in fulfilling its mission. All these people serve as volunteers: we do this because we care about Oregon's schoolchildren.
We want Board of Directors to bring a diverse set of backgrounds and perspectives to the organization, so we intend to recruit directors with these viewpoints:
Students, such as the Oregon Association of Student Councils or individual students.
Parents, such as the Oregon Parent Teacher Association, local PTA chapters or individual parents.
Teachers, such as the Oregon Education Association or classroom teachers.
School boards, such as the Oregon School Boards Association or local school boards.
Foresters, such as the Oregon Society of American Foresters, Oregon Small Woodlands Association, or individual foresters or tree farm owners.
School Administrators, such as the Oregon Association of School Executives, Coalition of Oregon School Administrators, or individual superintendents or principals.
Government, such as the Oregon Board of Education, Oregon Department of Education, Department of State Lands, or Oregon Department of Forestry, or individual state employees.
Businesses, such as the Oregon Forest and Industries Council, or individual business owners or employees.
If you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors for this embryonic organization, please contact Dave Sullivan using the contact information below.
Dave and Barb Sullivan
Following David Gould's death in early 2024, Dave Sullivan has been serving as OASTL's President. Barb Sullivan has been serving as Treasurer..
Dave is a retired Oregon State University business professor; Barb is retired from the Oregon Department of Corrections. Dave and Barb have spent the last twelve years renovating historic homes (as an example, see NHAllen.Net), building a dream home (see this Google photo album), and promoting the construction and restoration of fire lookout towers (see CougarPass.Org or SandboxDesigns.Org). Dave's prior volunteer activities have included serving on the Corvallis School Board and the Oregon Small Woodlands Board of Directors.
Dave and Barb can be reached through drdavesullivan@gmail.com or barbaraksullivan@yahoo.com or by phoning or texting 541-791-6470.
Bob Zybach, Secretary
Bob Zybach is a member of the board of directors and Secretary for Oregon Advocates for School Trust Lands (OASTL). Bob has a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, which he earned in 2003.
Bob is a staunch advocate of keeping the Elliott State Forest as a School Trust Land and actively managing it to provide revenue for the Common School Fund. He has been involved in the forestry industry for over 20 years and has operated a successful reforestation business from Eddyville, Oregon.
Bob is also an expert in the field of forest and wildfire history. He has conducted extensive research on the pre-contact history and cultural legacy of forest research sites in southwestern Oregon.
Bob also cofounded Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project (ORWW), a non-profit organization that aims to assist Oregon students, teachers, residents, and resource managers in implementing computer technology, historical documentation, scientific reasoning, community consensus building, environmental enhancement projects, and long-term monitoring strategies to help make more informed decisions regarding local natural and cultural resources.
April Diviney, Board Member
April Diviney is a board member, parent and registered nurse. She graduated from the Chemeketa Community College, RN Nursing Program in 2017 and earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Western Governors University in 2019. April has four children, all of whom attended Oregon’s public schools. Three of her children have graduated from high school, and her son currently attends Duniway Middle School in McMinnville, Oregon.
Margaret Bird, Board Member
Margaret R. Bird is an economist and school trust lands activist in Utah. She is the co-founder of the non-profit organization Children’s Land Alliance Supporting Schools (CLASS), which was later renamed to Advocates for School Trust Lands (ASTL). She has served on the Utah Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining and the Utah State Land Board, and is currently a member of the Draper Tree Commission. She led the reform of the land management, championed numerous bills to manage the fund like an endowment, and led the changes that now distribute over $113 million annually to each school, compared to under $5 million previously.
Margaret is a passionate advocate for schools and appreciates the opportunity to advocate for trust lands and funds making a difference in the educational opportunities for every child. She has been named a Friend of the Trust by the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) Board of Trustees for her contributions to the agency and overall growth of the Permanent School Fund.
Margaret is married to Howard E. Bird and is the mother of four children, nine grandchildren, and two horses. She is a highly respected figure in the field of school trust lands and has been instrumental in promoting the effective and prudent management of trust lands and funds for the financial support of common schools. Her work has helped states honor their historic commitment to optimize revenues from school trust lands and manage their permanent funds as an ever-growing, sustainable source of education funding.
David Gould, Recent President
David Gould was the heart and soul of OASTL, and he served as its president throughout 2023. Tragically, he fell, hit his head, and his wife and paramedics were unable to revive him.
David Gould is a great-grandson of the pioneer George and Hattie Gould family. The Gould Family history and their lives at the Elkhorn Ranch in the heart of present-day Elliott State Forest has best been told by family historian Aileen Rickard, in her book The Goulds of Elkhorn.
David Gould retired from Coos Bay Timber Operators, Inc., the family-owned business in 2013. He has been a staunch advocate of keeping the Elliott State Forest as a School Trust Land and actively managing it to provide revenue for the Common School Fund.