Denise López is an environmental and social justice advocate passionate about serving and motivating communities to protect their local environments. She has worked with communities of color on a variety of projects like equitable access to green spaces in Portland, Chicago, and Hanoi.
Growing up in Gresham, Oregon, Denise loved showing her family from Los Ángeles and Mexico the gorgeous landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. Prior to joining Friends of the Columbia Gorge in 2021, Denise worked for the Portland Bureau of Planning & Sustainability, the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Chicago, and the Nature Conservancy in Markham, Illinois. She’s driven to be a part of change in her community by encouraging others to join, dream, and accomplish more together. Denise holds a bachelor’s in environmental sociology and public health from Northwestern University. In her her free time she enjoys baking, paddling, chasing after her well-loved cats.