Meet Your Hawks Haven Neighbors

Hal Brill

Hiking with Hal is quite an adventure. Enthusiastic and idealistic, he'll lead you up a heart-pounding steep ridge in search of a beautiful view—and it'll be worth it. He brings these same qualities to his business as co-founder of Natural Investments. Hal works as a values-based investment consultant helping clients make money while making a positive difference in the world. Perhaps you've even read Investing with Your Values: Making Money and Making a Difference, the book Hal and his father, Jack, wrote with Cliff Feigenbaum.

Hal hadn't planned on working in the financial field. After earning his degree in cultural geography at the University of California, Berkeley, he started his career as an environmental educator working with inner-city children in California. And then, while living in Santa Fe during the mid-1980s, Hal poured his energy into a variety of non-profit organizations that were all working towards what is now called "sustainability." One such organization is the New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund where Hal served as a founding board member.

"I believe we are here to take care of the land and learn to live in harmony with each other and all of life," says Hal. When he isn't helping clients or volunteering time with local environmental groups such as Western Slope Environmental Resource Council, he likes to unwind in nature. In the summer he hikes or mountain bikes nearby trails, many on or adjacent to Hawks Haven. In the winter he loves to cross country and downhill ski. When the weather's uncooperative, you might even find Hal in the local hot yoga studio, sweating and smiling. Hal also loves to travel, and has explored Europe, the Middle East, and South America. In the not-too-distant past Hal played upright bass with another Hawks Haven partner, Jeff, in a local jazz group.

Allison Elliot

A life-long explorer of science and nature, Allison has made her living as a native plants landscaper, a docent at the world-renowned science museum The Exploratorium, and as a rafting guide for Environmental Traveling Companions taking urban and disabled youth on river and outdoor adventures.

No matter her job or location, Allison always finds time to volunteer in her local community. For seven years she led Sierra Club work/learn trips in California and other Western states. When she first arrived in Paonia, Colorado, she jumped right in by helping a high school student film a documentary about Delta County's new alternative school program called Vision.

When Allison can squeeze in creative free time, she enjoys ceramic sculpture and watercolor painting. Mostly though, she enjoys escaping to the exhilaration and quiet of nature, which is easy to do from her base at Hawks Haven. In winter she hits the nearby trails on her cross-country skis and in summer she walks them in her hiking boots. You might even spot her rafting down the North Fork of the Gunnison.

Allison graduated with a bachelor's degree in Environmental Planning and Design. That degree is coming in handy right now as Allison co-designs Hawks Haven's community garden and open spaces.

Jeff Regan

Jeff celebrated his high school graduation by buying a motorcycle and heading west. Although he intended to land in California, he found himself waylaid in Boulder, Colorado. "I arrived in the summer of 1980," he says, "if you can imagine what that was like for a guy coming from Jersey!"

A year later Jeff hit the road again, this time traveling to Europe where he fully expected to live as an expatriate in southern Greece. After three years, though, Jeff returned to Boulder. One summer, he and several friends drove through Paonia, "and I fell in love." He bought his first place up on Garvin Mesa west of town, and hauled a house to the site. "I was married on the same mesa and my daughter was born in the home there," Jeff says.

Jeff spent the next 16 years living around Paonia, where he worked in agriculture and construction, played in several bands, and hosted a jazz radio program on KVNF, a community radio station serving Western Colorado. A homebuilder, Jeff built the first straw bale structure in Delta County—a 120-square-foot bathhouse still in use today.

When Jeff joined Hawks Haven, he moved his hogan and solar panels onto his lot. He then left for Santa Barbara, Calif., to earn a living building high-end homes. When he's not building, you'll find him playing sax in the Montecito Jazz Project or mentoring youth. Several times a year Jeff returns to Hawks Haven to relax and reconnect with the community. "My long-term goal is to move back to Paonia and develop my lot at Hawks Haven to where I have a year-round living situation." (Jeff's hogan can get a bit chilly in the winter!)