About Us
Forest Defense was founded in 2025 to protect forest health through practical, community-based deer management - and to get sustainably sourced protein to families and food programs that need it. It is entirely volunteer-run. (Read more in US News.)
Masha Zabara
Masha Zabara owns a small business and community space which has raised and distributed over $100,000 for Hudson Valley organizations and individuals. Previously, Masha served as an internship director for the MBA in Sustainability at Bard College, teaching students from around the world about social media’s influence on global discourse.
Belarusian-born, Masha originally moved to the US as a classical cellist and now loves organizing community dinners, neighborhood groups, movie screenings, and musical jams.
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Zoe Evans
Zoe Evans is a native plant lover and community advocate who turns research into practical action. She’s a Cornell Master Naturalist with degrees in neuroscience and translational science, focused on helping communities restore biodiversity and care for the land in their own backyards.
Zoe grew up in New York City reading Boy Scout books and dreaming about the woods. Today she lives in Dutchess County, where she hunts, processes her own meat, and works to evolve a conservation ethic that fits today’s ecological realities.
Co-FounderAdvisory Council
Avalon Bunge
Avalon oversees PollinateHV and the Ecological Restoration Grant program at Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley. Previously, she directed a coastal climate resilience education initiative through NOAA’s Environmental Literacy Program. She co-manages a large landscape in Columbia County, focusing on native meadows, forest health, and deer management; she also has over a decade of farm work experience in New York and Canada. Avalon received an MS in ecosystem restoration from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and a BA in geology from Colgate University. She is completing a PhD in restoration ecology at Antioch University.
Eli Arnow
Eli is a dedicated ecological hunter, land steward, and environmental advocate serving as chair of the Forest Health Task Force at Partners for Climate Action. He has a masters degree from SUNY ESF in Environmental Science with a concentration in ecological restoration and lives in southern Columbia County.
You?
As a fairly new organization, we are building out our team in real time.
Do you have expertise you’d like to offer? We are looking for team members who can help with social media, website development, program building, our newsletter, grant writing, and more. You will get to work with amazing Hudson Valley land stewards, farmers, and experienced hunters.
Specifically looking for: Advisory Council members with deep knowledge of hunting practices Indigenous to the Munsee-Muhheconneok lands.