Meet the Team

Tisha McCombs is a staunch advocate of America’s public lands and has worked to help protect, manage, and steward trails and access to public lands for many years. She has held leadership roles working with our national parks, land managed by the USFS and BLM, and land owned by state, county, and city governments. In addition to managing and stewarding the land itself, Tisha is very passionate about engaging with and educating trail users that are accessing these lands for various outdoor hobbies, which is evidenced by her public engagement through channels such as podcasts and speaking at events, her work as a co-author of the official guidebook for The Colorado Trail, and her sharing her passion for public lands through personal life essays, blog posts, and occasional columns in local newspapers and outdoors magazines.

Most recently, Tisha held the role of Executive Director overseeing The Colorado Trail, a 567-mile trail stretching across Colorado, with over 300 miles co-located with the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. At The Colorado Trail Foundation, Tisha managed a staff comprised of full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees. She managed operations for approximately 1,000 annual volunteers from across the United States completing over 20,000 volunteer hours each year in Colorado. In her time at CTF, Tisha was most known for transforming CTF’s internal systems that included the database, website, and financial tracking and reporting; diversifying CTF’s funding sources and dramatically increasing funding from partners, grants, and earned revenue; and addressing long-standing challenges affecting volunteer recruitment, which ultimately led to volunteer programs being at 100% capacity with waiting lists.

While Tisha has been out west for 20 years, she was born and raised in Savannah, GA, so coming to Gainesville feels a bit like coming home. When not in the office or working on a trail, you will always find Tisha outside. Whether it’s enjoying her favorite iced coffee in the sunshine, reading a book under a tree, paddling a river, hiking a trail, fly fishing a stream, or sleeping under the stars, being outside is a necessary part of Tisha’s life and will always be at the core of who she is. Other important things in her life are constantly seeking ways to help others and be of service, spending time with her son and his fiancée, and traveling to new places in search of the best bakeries. Don’t forget, she’s always looking for recommendations!