| In The News | April 24th 2006
Welcome to the FIWG website!If you are having trouble with the site, contact Bruce Hull at hullrb@vt.edu ...Read more » |
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Meet Our Members 1 | Alyx Perry,
| | Alyx Perry is the Coordinator of the Southern Forests Network (SFN), a coalition that brings together people across the South who are committed to conserving forest ecosystems, practicing and facilitating sustainable forestry on private lands, and cultivating sustainable forest-based
economies.
Alyx received a B.S. in Agricultural & Resource Economics from Oregon State University. Since 1995, Alyx has worked with rural landowners, workers, and communities to cultivate farm and forest enterprises that protect ecosystems, enhance local economies, and preserve the South’s land-based heritage. She has previously worked for the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, and Western North Carolina Alliance, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project and the Western NC Nature Center.
A native of the Southern Appalachians, Alyx was born and raised in the hill country of South Carolina and now lives in the North Carolina mountains. |
| 1 | Andrea Krochalis
| | Annie Krochalis is a professional grant writer, serving community based services and conservation interests.She previously served as a department manager for the City of Roanoke, as Program manager of the Crisis Intervention Center. She has worked in the areas of Smart Growth,VCN legislative contact teams, has worked on transportation issues with RailSolution and has attended the Citizen's Planning Academy and VaNRLI.She is on the ExCom for the Roanoke Group of the Sierra Club, serving as Chair for Transportation/Smart Growth, and as a past Political Chair.She is also involved with VOP and Citizens for Smart Growth and began her career as a Welfare Rights organizer.She is currently a SOS monitor and preserve steward for TNC, and a member of the local CSA farm. Annie lives on Bent Mountain, and is a past President of the Bent Mountain Civic League. She is rehabbing a 1910 cottage on about 4 acres. |
| 1 | Beverly Hunter
| | Beverly Hunter is President of Piedmont Research Institute, specializing in geographic information systems for natural resource applications. She is also President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Rappahannock Friends and Lovers of Our Watershed (RappFLOW), a volunteer organization seeking to preserve and protect the watersheds in Rappahannock County.
(www.rappflow.org) She serves as a volunteer GIS expert to the local High School’s geospatial technologies classes, where students produce maps for a variety of community projects. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Targeted Learning Corporation. (www.targetlearn.com) She is a member of the Virginia Conservation Network’s Legislative Contact Teams (LCT). |
| 1 | Britt Boucher
| | Obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry and Wildlife Management and his Master of Science degree in Forest Economics and Management from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Britt’s time as a woodworker gives him his focus on tools, and his experience in the Armed Forces affirm his value of integrity and responsibility to community.
Britt founded Foresters Incorporated with the idea that to care for our forests properly we need balance and understanding. Along with his duties as President of Foresters Incorporated, he manages to find time to design technical tools for forest management, to provide education on forestry, software, and GPS, and to volunteer his assistance on several forestry and land use issues. As an example of the company’s diversity: They assisted the Nature Conservancy in writing their Forest Operations Manual and their
Two Dog Inventory Software is used company wide by Georgia-Pacific.
Britt is a member of the Association of Consulting Foresters (ACF), the Society of American Foresters, the National Woodland Owners Association, and has adopted a highway. He is a registered forester in the state of West Virginia, and certified to write stewardship plans in Virginia and West Virginia.
Britt is currently serving as a working group member for the Forest Stewardship Council developing standards for Forest Certification in the southeast. Britt also serves as a Board Member of the New River Land Alliance helping to protect critical habitat and the view-sheds of the New River Valley. He also lends a hand as a technical advisor to the Friends of Browns Farm… a nature park in Blacksburg. |
| 1 | Bruce Hull
| | R. Bruce Hull is a professor in the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA. He has been on the faculty of the University of Melbourne (Australia) and Texas A&M University. His teaching and research focus on the social dimensions of natural resource management, community-based conservation, and urban-wildland interface forest management. He most recently wrote Infinite Nature, a book about overcoming environmental fundamentalism published by Chicago Press. His website is http://www.cnr.vt.edu/forestry/faculty/hull.html |
| 1 | Bud Watson
| | Bud Watson has over twenty years experience in environmental work, and has pursued these activities in private sector, government, and public interest organizations. He currently is Co-Director of the Model Forest Policy Program (MFPP), which works to promote sustainable forestry practices applicable to the Southeastern states. He is also a member of Virginia
Forest Watch (VAFW), where he has worked to help pass forestry legislation in Virginia and organize the Virginia Forest Issues Work Group. In addition to his work with MFPP and VAFW, he maintains an environmental law and consulting practice that concentrates on evaluating land development impacts on water quality and the development of effective measures to alleviate
these adverse environmental impacts.
He has also served as a forest policy consultant to the Dogwood Alliance, set up the nonprofit Partnership for the Delaware Estuary for EPA Regions II and III and the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and worked for ten years on water quality issues in the Chesapeake Bay. From 1987 to 1989, as executive director of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department, he directed the development of nonpoint source control regulations that are binding on Virginia local governments in Tidewater Virginia. As initial director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Virginia office and its senior attorney during the period 1980 to 1987, he worked at all levels of government to protect Bay water quality, including bringing citizen suits against major polluters and served as the lead
drafter of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act.
He has taught environmental courses at the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and George Washington University. This fall he will teach a course in environmental law at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College, holds an M.S. degree in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia, and has a law degree from the University of Richmond. |
| 1 | Carey Whitehead
| | Carey is a native of Nelson County, Virginia, and she believes that meaningful public involvement is one of the most important steps towards protecting our environment for future generations. Before joining the Virginia Conservation Network staff in 2005 (as director), Carey worked as the Assistant Director of Development and Communications at the Piedmont Environmental Council. She is a 2003 graduate of the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute. Carey graduated in 2000 from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in Economics. She enjoys organic farming, hiking, and playing with her two dogs, Saed and Django. |
| 1 | David Robertson,
| | Dr. David P. Robertson conducts research, education, and development projects for a variety of governmental and non-governmental organizations on topics related to sustainable land use, environmental planning, and natural resource management. David has served on the faculty at Virginia Tech, Boston University, Lynchburg College, the International Honors Program, and
the Yestermorrow School of Sustainable Design/Build. He has worked with numerous civic organizations including as a director for the Blue Ridge
Forest Cooperative, Greater Lynchburg Environmental Network, Public Ecology Project, and The LandCare Center. His international experience includes research and teaching in India, South Africa, Brazil, France, and Tanzania. David’s publications appear in the popular, academic, and professional press. David maintains a private consulting practice and serves as an
Associate Landscape Architect at Harvey-Delaney Landscape Architecture and Land Planning in his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia. |
| 1 | Faren R. Wolter
| | Faren started working for the Piedmont Environmental Council in February as the Land Conservation Officer for Culpeper County. She grew up in Orange County and is passionate about conserving Virginia's natural resources and sustaining its rural heritage and agriculture industry, especially in the Piedmont area.
Faren will graduate in May with her PhD in Forestry with a concentration in Society and Ecosystems from the University of Missouri – Columbia. She also holds a B.S. in Aquaculture, Fisheries and Wildlife Biology with minors in Forest Resources Management and Environmental Science and Policy from Clemson University. In between both degrees she attended Vermont Law, taking graduate courses in environmental law. Before joining PEC's staff, Faren worked with landowners in the Missouri Ozarks to encourage collaborative ecosystem stewardship across privately owned forestlands to voluntarily achieve private lands management and conservation practices. Faren is certified as a wildlife biologist through the Wildlife Society and has worked extensively on wildlife studies. She has also taught courses in natural resource management and environmental science at Westminster College and University of Missouri – Columbia. |
| 1 | Gerald (Jerry) Gray
| | Jerry is an attorney who lives in Dickenson County, Virginia. He and his wife Denise, who also manages his law office, live on a 60-acre farm with their two horses and 3 dogs. Jerry is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he majored in Sociology (1970), and the School of Law (1973).
His law office is in Clintwood, where he has maintained a law practice since 1973. He is President and Chair of Virginia Forest Watch, and is on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Conservation Network. In 1999, Jerry and Denise started Wild Animals Rivers and Trees of Dickenson County, in response to a chip-mill locating in their community. Denise collected over
5000 signatures on a petition calling on the governor to require the mill to accept only logs that had been logged using best management practices. |
| 1 | Heather Richards
| | Heather has been with Potomac Conservancy since 2002. As Director of Headwaters Conservation, she oversees all land protection projects and guides strategy for the Shenandoah program and projects in the headwaters region of the Potomac River watershed. Based at the Shenandoah Resource Center in Winchester, Virginia, Heather also oversees the stewardship and
monitoring of all Potomac Conservancy conservation easements. She has extensive experience working with private landowners to achieve conservation outcomes that benefit the landowners, the community and the ecosystem.
Before coming to the Conservancy, Heather developed and managed a Geographic Information System (GIS) for Piedmont Environmental Council in Warrenton, Virginia, and created and managed programs for species conservation at Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, D.C. She holds a Masters of Environmental Management from Yale University’s School of Forestry and
Environmental Studies and a B.A. in Political Science and Environmental Policy from American University
In her time away from the office, Heather enjoys riding and showing her horses, running agility with her dogs, and spending time with her husband. |
| 1 | Jean Lorber
| | Jean Lorber is a forester with The Nature Conservancy based out of their Charlottesville office. His job duties center around the conservation of priority forested areas in the Piedmont of Virginia. He has a M.S. in forestry and a B.S. in wildlife management from Virginia Tech. |
| 1 | Jerry Moles,
| | Jerry Moles has over 30 years of experience in research, teaching, and program management in natural resources. He is currently the Consulting Director of Land Stewardship of the New River Land Trust responsible for introducing LandCare into the New River Basin, Chairman of the Board of the Blue Ridge Forestry Cooperative, member of the Board of the New River Round Table, and Chairman of the Board of the NeoSynthesis Research Centre in Sri Lanka, a NGO researching, designing, and implementing land management programs that protect natural resources and increase biodiversity and land holder incomes. Jerry also serves as a consultant to the Nor-El-Muk, a band of the Northern California Wintu, and manages family forestland in Montgomery County, Virginia.
Jerry has served as a founding board member of the Watershed Research & Training Center in Hayfork, California, mediator between the timber industry and the environmental community on behalf of the California Resources Agency and the Berkeley campus of the University of California over the implementation of the Endangered Species Act Spotted Owl), consultant to Save-the-Redwoods League creating the structure for a master plan for the future of the California redwoods, negotiator for the International Liaison Group (global environmental
NGOs) on the UN conventions on biodiversity, responsible for collecting and editing statements of the world's indigenous communities on biodiversity for the UN Global Biodiversity Assessment, and consultant to other organizations and agencies.
Jerry has taught at the Berkeley and Davis campuses of the University of California, Stanford University, and Pomona College. He was graduated from Stanford University with a M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology with a specialization in cultural ecology. |
| 1 | Joe Szakos
| | Joe Szakos has been the executive director of the Virginia Organizing Project since 1994. He was the founding coordinator of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and the founder of the Environmental Partnership in Hungary. He has also done community organizing in Chicago and has been an organizing consultant to groups throughout the United States. Joe and his wife,
Kristin, are co-authors of a book that will be published by Vanderbilt University Press in 2007, WE MAKE CHANGE: COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY DO — AND WHY. |
| 1 | Mark Miller
| | Mark has worked for the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition for four years. During this time he has worked almost exclusively on Wilderness and roadless issues in Virginia. He is the vice-president for Virginia Wilderness Committee an organization dedicated to the preservation of
wilderness in Virginia since 1969. Mark is also a board member for the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council.
Mark along with co-author Steven Carroll has written four hiking guides including two on wilderness and roadless areas in Virginia. Mark has enjoyed hiking in the outdoors from a very young age, including his first solo hike into the woods behind his house in Tower, Minnesota at the ripe old age of four and a half. He has also hiked in many wilderness areas across the country. Mark lives in Lexington, Virginia with his wife and three daughters and and exchange students from Slovakia and Spain. |
| 1 | Matt Gilchrist
| | Matt Gilchrist is a vice-president of Northland Forest Products Inc., a hardwood lumber company based in Kingston N.H. with a large hardwood drying operation in Troy,Virginia. Matt has worked in the hardwood industry since graduating from Paul Smiths College in 1980, the last 20 years with Northland Forest Products. Northland Forest Products Inc has been a leader in promoting Forest Stewardship Council certification and was one of the first hardwood lumber companies to obtain chain of custody certification. Matt is on the steering committee of the Model Forest Policy Program and the Southern Forest Network. He is involved in local land use issues and is a past member of the Orange County Planning Commission, the Orange County
Economic Development Authority and the Town Council of Gordonsville. |
| 1 | Sarah A. Francisco
| | Sarah is a graduate of Mary Baldwin College and earned her law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law. Sarah has practiced with the Southern Environmental Law Center as a staff attorney since 2002, primarily working to improve the management of the National Forests in the Southern Appalachians through various means, including administrative appeals and litigation. During law school, Sarah worked for SELC and for the Virginia office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Richmond. |
| 1 | Steve Brooks
| | Steve is director of Virginia Forest Watch which he helped organized in 1998. He first began organizing around welfare and environmental issues as a VISTA Volunteer in Eastern Kentucky in 1968. After working three years for a mental health agency he and his wife moved to SW Virginia in 1975 where he worked as a tenet farmer and became active in forest issues. He and his wife now live on a 210 acre mountain farm in Scott County which they have placed into a conservation easement with management assistance by the 500 Year Forest Foundation.
Steve worked for the Rural Area Development Association from 1977 to 1997 as director of a five county weatherization program. He helped form the Coalition for Jobs and the Environment in 1989 and The Clinch Coalition in
1998. Steve serves on the board of the Southern Appalachian Forest
Coalition, Southern Forest Network and the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable. |
| 1 | Suzanne Ankrum
| | Suzanne Ankrum is a native Virginian who recently joined the Virginia Conservation Network as their Program Coordinator. Before joining VCN, Suzanne worked for Williamsburg Environmental Group as a Regulatory Assistant. She has also worked as a Desert Wildlife Field Biology Intern with the University of Nevada-Reno on desert tortoise population studies. Suzanne graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.A in Environmental Studies as well as a B.A. in Theatre in 2004. |
| 1 | Tammy Belinsky
| | Tammy Belinsky joined WildLaw as a full-time staff attorney in 2005 after serving as part-time counsel for WildLaw in Virginia for over four years. Ms. Belinsky earned a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Science and Engineering from Virginia Tech, a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina, and an Associate of Applied Science degree from Paul Smith's College. Ms. Belinsky was an environmental regulator with the Commonwealth of Virginia before earning her law degree at the University of Richmond. Her science background informs her legal career in which she primarily works on forest issues on both public and private lands in Virginia. Service as the Secretary to the Board of Directors for Appalachian Voices, Secretary to the Board of Directors to the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, Vice Chair of Virginia Forest Watch, and Secretary to the Floyd County Bar Association also enriches Ms. Belinsky's dedication to environmental protection. |
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