Stephanie Pacheco ’97 (M.S. environmental studies) has shown herself to be an “angel of mercy” for the Orange County environment.
Pacheco, president of the Environmental Coalition for the Great Park, leads the citizens advisory committee aiming to keep the project ecologically sensitive. She heads a coalition of 18 different regional environmental groups interested in sustainable and regenerative ecological design, cleaner air quality, planting of California native plants, increased natural habitats and wildlife diversity, health and education.
“It all started when I went out to the Great Park with a bunch of my friends,” she recalls. “We wanted to continue to watch it – and they elected me president. Our first meeting was in March.
“The coalition supports environmentally friendly practices to make it a better park,” Pacheco explains. “We want a good, sustainable design.”
But Pacheco’s efforts go even further than the Great Park: She is on the board of the county’s Friends of Harbors Beaches and Parks, serves as vice chair of the Orange County Sierra Club’s political committee and is founder and former president of the Shipley Nature Center. She has planted a National Wildlife Garden in her backyard and serves as vice president of the League of Conservation Voters. In her spare time, she leads hikes with the Sierra Club and helps environmentally friendly politicians get elected.
Her environmentalism began in her native Marin County in Northern California, where she joined Sierra Club hikes in high school to “go out and enjoy nature.” From there, things escalated. “I just feel that environmental issues are important to the health of all of us. It’s a people issue and a nature issue.” 
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