Staff

Chris Winter – Co-Executive Director & Staff Attorney

Tel:  (503) 525-2725

Chris Winter received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1994 and then graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1998, where he focused on enviromental and natural resources law. For three years he practiced environmental law at Stoel Rives LLP in Portland, Oregon, representing large corporate clients on complex issues relating to investigation and cleanup of contaminated industrial sites and regulatory compliance.

In 2001, he gave up private practice and founded the Crag Law Center to provide affordable legal assistance to groups working on environmental and natural resource issues. Since that time, we has helped dozens of groups throughout Oregon, Washington and Alaska, including municipal and tribal governments, conservation organizations, citizen groups, recreational clubs and individual activists. His current practice focuses on Arctic oil and gas leasing on behalf of Inupiat Eskimos, salmon habitat and water quality regulation, and public land management. He is a member of the Oregon, Washington and Alaska Bars and is admitted to practice in the District of Oregon, the Western and Eastern Districts of Washington, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

When Chris isn’t working, he spends time in the mountains. His passion for high, wild places has led him across the continental United States and to remote locations in Asia, Africa and Europe. He loves the mountains and wilderness of the Pacific Northwest for their unmatched opportunities for adventure and solitude.

Ralph Bloemers – Co-Executive Director & Staff Attorney

Tel:  (503) 525-2727
Ralph grew up on a cheese farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. After high school he left for Colorado’s Rocky Mountains to study Political Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He then worked abroad in Munich, Germany, and after that moved to Salem, Oregon, to attend law school at Willamette University. He completed an externship at 1000 Friends and a fellowship at the Nature Conservancy where he learned about environmental, land use and natural resources work. He studied international environmental law in Holland and then returned to Willamette to graduate Cum Laude in 1998. After law school, he practiced Intellectual Property, Securities and Finance law at an established Portland law firm for almost three years. Through representation of new technology, entrepreneurs and inventors, the insane demand created by the Internet “boom” and a healthy measure of initiative, Ralph gained extensive experience with the nuts and bolts of practicing law. Ralph left to commit his energy to build upon his pro bono endeavors and progressive causes and founded the Crag Law Center.

Courtney Johnson - Staff Attorney

Tel:  (503) 525-2728
Courtney attended law school at Lewis & Clark College of Law and while in her first year she interned with the Crag Law Center.  While in law school, Courtney worked in the Office of Compliance and Enforcement at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). She was an Environmental Law Specialist Intern which allowed her to utilize her environmental and administrative law knowledge.  She very much enjoyed working with the people at DEQ.  Before joining Crag, she worked in the summer for San Francisco Baykeeper and for a district court judge in Ketchican, Alaska.  She joined the Crag Law Center in 2008 and focuses her energy on the Coastal Law Project.  When she is not working, Courtney enjoys spending time with her husband on the rivers and in the mountains of Oregon.

Megan Hooker -Paralegal & Office Manager

Tel:  (503) 525-2724

Originally from Arizona, Megan moved to Oregon by way of Vermont in 2004. While she misses the red rocks of the desert southwest, she loves the rivers and landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Since earning a master’s degree in environmental law from Vermont Law School, she has worked with several non-profit groups on clean water issues. When she’s not behind the computer, you’re likely to find her on her yoga mat or getting her feet and hands dirty in her garden.

Tanya Sanerib -Staff Attorney

Tel:  (503) 525-2722

Tanya joined the Crag Law Center in 2009 after moving back to Portland from Washington D.C. where she was a partner at the public interest law firm Meyer Glitzenstein and Crystal. For six and a half years, Tanya worked with the dedicated lawyers at MG&C representing a wide variety of clients on a whole host of matters in state and federal courts as well as in the international arena. Tanya is a member of the Oregon and District of Columbia bars.

It was Tanya’s passion for the natural world that originally got her involved with environmental causes in high school in Wisconsin, led her to Colorado College to study environmental science, and eventually convinced her to pursue environmental law. Arriving in Seattle after college, Tanya worked with the Washington Forest Law Center before attending law school at Lewis & Clark in Portland. She volunteered with a number of Pacific Northwest environmental groups throughout her time in Seattle and Portland and quickly came to call the Cascades home. Graduating with a certificate in environmental and natural resources law and an environmental moot court championship under her belt, Tanya moved east for the time in her life. While her D.C. experience was remarkable, Tanya is happy to be back in the Pacific NW where she can backpack and hike in the diverse and wild places that are so abundant throughout the region. When she is not working Tanya also enjoys biking and running, gardening, dancing, traveling, cooking and sharing food with friends, knitting, and otherwise learning about life and how to enjoy it from her and Andrew’s dog Neptune.