STAFF MEMBER

Ruth Valdizon has been working ceremonially with the peyote cactus for more than 20 years and earned her Masters Degree in Special Education while raising five children. During this time, she has been directly witnessing the decline of this plant population as well as the disappearance of its natural habitat, which has inspired her to co-create Morning Star Conservancy with her husband. Throughout her life, Ruth has been an enthusiastic advocate of social justice and human rights. She has worked in major political movements affecting social change; as a community organizer in the United Farm Workers Union, and as an advocate for migrant workers. As a Guatemalan native, she has also worked in various non-profit organizations to stop military aid to Central America, whilst educating the public on human rights abuses there. She brings her passion and vigor to the mission of MSC as an environmentalist, conservationist, and believer in the use of plants as spiritual guides and medicine

CULTIVATION DIRECTOR/LIASON

Leonardo is a practicing ethnobotanist and plant whisperer whose specialty is cacti and succulent propagation. He was professionally trained as nursery manager for the University of Arizona's Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum and in landscape management for the university's main campus. As a former director of a not-for-profit peyote conservation organization and a practicing member of the Native American Church, Leonardo has accumulated decades of observation and personal research into practical methods of propagation of conservatory sacramental gardens.

In his many years as a custodian of peyote gardens in both the US and Canada, Leonardo has served an active advisory role in the establishment of numerous cultivation projects. It is his deeply held belief that assisting others in learning to respectfully and effectively cultivate the medicine is a necessary devotion and continuation of his personal prayers. As cultivation director and liaison for Morningstar Conservancy, Leonardo is eager to share his experience and expertise with other individuals and organizations who share his reverence for the medicine

PRESIDENT

Eric Paul is a proud member of the Diné (Navajo) and Zapotec nations. He was raised by his father in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, where he was surrounded by art, music and community. During his young adult years Eric spent his time travelling and learning from different Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. The peyote has always been a part of his life and continues to help him grow. Through the medicine he has learned to put together traditional instruments and beadwork. He currently resides in Oregon where he is raising his two daughters with his lovely wife

SECRETARY

Lizeth Duenas with a BS Intsl Business Management, UAG Lived in Huejuquilla el Alto, Jalisco working with Wixaritari communities, learning about their traditions and the importance of peyote in their culture. Lived in Estacion Wadley, SLP working with local families. Lizette learned about the challenges of these families of providing a good quality of life for their loved ones and of preserving the natural beauty of Wirikuta. Lizette is the founder of “Bees for Wirikuta”

SPIRITUAL ADVISOR

Harvey Beartrack comes from well-known medicine families from both parents; His father was a Chief of the Southern Cheyenne tribe of Oklahoma and his maternal grandfather was a well-known peyote chief and medicine man of the Kiowa tribe. He also served in the military and is a Vietnam veteran. He has devoted his life being of service as an NAC roadman and medicine man and has helped people from all over the world. Recently Harvey has been studying the “Biology of Belief” by Bruce Lipton, based on scientific discoveries of mind and matter and the connection on how signals affect our health. Harvey beliefs are that our thoughts, conscious and subconscious can help heal our beings because we are the creation. He says, “ This creation wants to know what it can do for you”

SPIRITUAL ADVISOR

Timoteo Ikoshy Montoya was born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1956. He is an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas. Moved to San Francisco, California and developed artistic abilities as a youth. As he made his way through school, his creativity was encouraged by his family and instructors. "When I was growing up in Texas and later in California, my older brother and I spent a lot of time drawing and creating”.

He attended College of the Redwoods and enrolled into the Native American Studies Program, and began his involvement with other native peoples in securing their culture and history. He also began to paint using acrylics and was inspired by the native environment. His art, represents the evolution of immersion in native teachings by elders, the sweat lodge, ceremonies, and everyday personal life. Ikoshy He currently lives with his wife Patricia, in the community of Brackettville, Texas. His art has been featured in documentary videos about Native America, periodicals, book covers, and Native American Church CD jackets

Board Member

David Marbain has been involved with environmental protection work since his youth, when he engaged in reforestation projects in Canada. He is an ardent advocate of the conservation of our natural resources, species, habitats, and indigenous cultures and their native languages. As a close ally of many different indigenous ways, David is a passionate supporter of ceremonial and traditional uses of plant medicines. He has personally conducted ceremonies for more than 30 years and lives by the belief that the spirituality of the land and all that is living upon it as inextricably connected and created. He is a family man, a father and grandfather, and feel deeply fortunate to have learned from and been in the presence of some of the the most notable teachers of ceremonial ways in the country

Board Member

Dedra White Eagle is an enrolled member of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe located in Durango, Colorado. She has been a “water woman” praying for Native people all over the country for the past nineteen years. Crawford Larry White, Jr. and the White Eagle family, Northern Arapahoe Tribal members, was her point of reference for the sacred teachings of the Native American Church. It was an honor to be married to the road man, praying like two eagles, for the purpose of the meetings. Her continued devotion to the sacred medicine, Peyote, is a testament to her belief in this spiritual connection to the Creator and Turtle Island. Spirituality is the most important aspect of her life and includes; sweat lodge, Sundance, and Roman Catholicism. The Morning Star Conservancy is a priority and working toward the goals of conservation so that medicine will be available for generations to come

Board Member

Joey Santore is a botanist, artist, science communicator, author and YouTube educator who has produced over 400 episodes on plant ecology and evolution featuring plant species from all over the world for the YouTube channel Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't. In his videos, Santore travels internationally to habitats in order to film the ecologies of the plants that grow there. He moved to South Texas in 2020 and two years later formed Thornscrub Sanctuary, an organization dedicated to land conservation for the unique habitat of the South Texas Borderlands known as Tamaulipan Thornscrub. Thornscrub Sanctuary is purchasing a parcel of land to restore native habitat and propagate threatened species. The goals of this project are to both to conserve and propagate rare native plants for reintroduction into habitat as well as to serve as a research station to host school groups and visiting researchers. Santore has been featured in numerous articles, interviews and publications for his photography, video and documentation of rare plants and plant habitat

Board Member

Curtis Robinson as a two legged strives to be a part of reality with all his relations. Indigenous of the Juaneño, local to southern California and informed by his uncle and aunt Jimi and Jeanette Castillo of the Tongva and Diné (Navajo). Curtis has watched his homeland erode from the once fertile land of his ancestors to an oppressive urban environment. A trend he has observed in all aspects of society. Committed to changing the tide of neglect and mismanagement of our Mother Earth, Curtis devotes his time, energy, and resources to visiting and talking to plants, gathering and procuring seeds, creating native gardens, and planting. He hopes to inspire through his actions, art, and photography to reconnect with the spirit of all of our relations, creating a caring world, in tune and with less impact on nature and each other

SPIRITUAL ADVISOR

Randolph Thompson Jr. born, July 17 1944. He passed to the other side at the age of 79, September 3, 2023. Randolph was better known as Jr. Thompson. He was raised on the Navajo Reservation, under the ancient and sacred monolith, Tsé Bitʼaʼí, or "winged rock", known as Shiprock. As a boy he played, rode horses, and his first song came from the wind while herding sheep in this semi-arid desert. At night he slept on sheepskins in his family Hogan, sometimes awoken by his grandmother with teachings & stories of spirit and life while the others slept. He was chosen from his generation by his community of elders to hold the cultural traditions of his people. His good nature, keen memory, love of stories, and ability to learn and sing with a strong spiritual aptitude formed a lifelong foundation for these teachings. Emersed in this deeply spiritual culture, Jr. was subjected to, informed by, and initiated into ceremonies so old their beginnings are legends. His generation actually saw feathers being levitated with these fading songs, and the newly incoming peyote altars being formed