WildPlaces' staff is the core group that make our restoration and education goals a reality.

Bio/Career:

Mehmet was born in Sinop, Turkey, his mother’s family heritage being many generation Turk. His father is American and he grew up in Louisiana and now lives in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Educated at Louisiana State University, Mehmet earned a B.S. in Zoology and a B.S. in Chemistry in 1989. After being employed as a Hazardous Waste Remediation Consultant for three years by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and concurrently volunteering for local greening organizations in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mehmet resigned from his position with hopes of effecting change through grassroots activism.

In 1992, McMillan opened Bean Tree Coffees and Teas, a small business and coffee shop/performance art theatre offering Baton Rouge a forum for social, environmental as well as artistic thought. Operating for two years, this endeavor brought business sense and community relations into McMillan’s toolbox.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1994 and took the position of Urban Forestry Manager at TreePeople, a 27 year old urban greening and education organization based In Los Angeles. There, he began his career as a grassroots organizer, working for one year as the Urban Forestry Manager before taking the position of Mountain Forestry Manager in 1995 - 2000.

As Mountain Forestry Manager, Mehmet offered TreePeople volunteers diverse mountain planting experiences while rehabilitating native ecosystems that have been negatively impacted by human activity such as unsustainable agricultural and ranch practices, poor urban planning and over development, road construction, fire suppression, logging, mining. Projects range from upper elevation montane areas down through riparian zones and oak woodland habitat to dune and wetland areas in the Los Angeles watershed. Culture and indigenous protection and education also mark his goals as activist and community organizer.

In January 2001, McMillan launched WildPlaces Ecological Restoration and Education, a 501(c) 3 non-profit volunteer-based effort whose mission is to restore and protect California's wild and rural places and assist its peoples through volunteer-driven restoration projects, education, cultural identity career development and advocacy. With WildPlaces, Mr. McMillan coordinates, designs and implements restoration projects combined with youth experiential outdoor programs that offer volunteers a window into America's rich natural and cultural history. It is his desire to offer its peoples avenues of action to ensure a greater, greener and more empowered future for all peoples.

In 1997, Mr. McMillan co-founded the Burma Humanitarian Mission (www.burmamission.org) and continues his commitment (and that of the Burma Humanitarian Mission) to provide urgently needed medical supplies to the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP's) of Burma. By going annually to the border regions of Burma and negotiating positive relations with the Karen and the Thai people there, he is able to bear personal witness to the Karen’s struggle for freedom, health care and safety.

He is also an involved member/participant of the Action Resource Center in Los Angeles, Greenpeace USA, Dolores Huerta Foundation, LA Unified School District, U.S.F.S, CA Dept. of Fish and Game, CA Native Plant Society, Sequoia Mountain Rescue, Monache Intertribal Association, Kern River Paiute Council, Audubon’s Kern River Preserve, Sierra Nevada Alliance, Ruckus and many other community and grassroots organizations.

Mr. McMillan is a certified and trained EMT-I and is a Tech I Rescue Climber certified through the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department and working as a volunteer with Tulare County Fire Department, Camp Nelson Volunteer Ambulance Team and Sequoia Mountain Rescue, an all volunteer high angle rescue organization serving outdoor enthusiasts living in and visiting Tulare County.