Board of Directors

Officers:

Mr. Henry Hughes, President

Cahaba River Basin

Henry worked in Alabama for 25 years in forestry and horticultural research, teaching, and consulting before joining the Birmingham Botanical Gardens as director of education in 2008. He is a member of numerous environmental groups and is executive director of  Friends of Shades Creek. He is a graduate of the University of the South (Sewanee,) the University of Kentucky and Texas A&M University. He is particularly interested in the role of forests in protecting watersheds and water quality.

Ms. Eartha S. McGoldrick, Vice President

Birmingham, AL

Cahaba River Basin

Eartha began her career in daily newspapers, and later returned to Birmingham to become an educator. After earning a Master's in Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she now teaches at Clay-Chalkville Middle School. She is a founding member and current board member of the Hulsey Little River Trust. She enjoys cooking, reading, walking her dogs, and swimming - preferably in a creek or river!"

Mrs. Terra Mortensen, Secretary

Dora, AL

Black Warrior Basin

Terra is an account executive and the public relations director at Lawler Ballard Van Durand, a Birmingham-based advertising agency. She has a bachelor's degree in public relations from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and is a long-time member and current officer on the Public Relations Council of Alabama Birmingham chapter. She is a life-long tree-hugger and spends much of her free time exploring Alabama's creeks and woods with her husband, Tim Rooks, and little boy, River. 

Ms. Jamie Plott, Treasurer

Birmingham, AL

Black Warrior River Basin

Mr. E. Alston Ray, Past President 
Birmingham, AL
Cahaba River Basin
Alston is an attorney practicing with the firm of Johnston Barton Proctor & Powell, LLP in Birmingham. Alston is also a fly fisherman. 

Directors:

Dr. Rob Angus

Birmingham, AL
Cahaba River Basin 
Rob is a recently retired former professor of biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In addition to serving on the biard if the Alabama Rivers Alliance, Rob also serves on the Advisory Board of the Black Warrior Riverkeepers and on the Board of the Valley Lake Association. Rob, his colleagues, and his students have engaged in considerable research evaluating the effects of urban development on stream fish and invertebrate populations. Rob is a fisherman and musician who enjoys playing the banjo and hammered dulcimer.

Dr. David Branham
Huntsville, AL
Tennessee River Basin
David is currently the Chief of the G-4 (Logistics) Office for the Army’s Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command. David is an avid paddler on streams all over Alabama and the southeast.

Mr. Edwin Lamberth

Mobile, AL

Mobile River Basin

Edwin is an attorney with Cunningham, Bounds, Crowder, Brown & Breedlove, LLC. He is a 1994 graduate of the University of Virginia with a major in Government and Foreign Affairs. He attended Cumberland School of Law of Samford University, receiving his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, in 1998. After receiving his JD, Mr. Lamberth served as law clerk to Justice Champ Lyons, Jr. of the Supreme Court of Alabama from May 1998 to August 1999. During that time, he was also admitted to the Alabama State Bar. After his clerkship, he entered private practice. Mr. Lamberth is married to the former Kelley Pirnie of Montgomery, Alabama, and they have two daughters, Key and Libba, and a son, Win. 

Mr. James Lowery

Birmingham, AL

Cahaba River Basin

James is retired from the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he was the Director of Management Support Services, and he considers himself an “Amateur Scientist” and an “Environmental Enthusiast.”  He is active in environmental education as a member of nine environmental and science related Boards of Directors, serving as an officer on five.  James’ widespread involvement in Alabama non-profit organizations was featured in the August 28, 2005, Birmingham News edition of “Good Work.”  Along with countless environmental awards including ARA’s Volunteer of the Decade Award, James has been honored three times as a vigilant member of Alabama’s Civil Air Patrol, Squadron 01090.  James gives excellent presentations concerning constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment, as well as about urban streams he has walked.  He is also an experienced speaker about Antarctica and about the Netherlands and leads guided tours of Alabama’s Wetumpka Astrobleme (Impact Crater).  During rare breaks in his multifaceted community service, James enjoys paddling whitewater rivers as a member of the Birmingham Canoe Club.

Ms. Sheree Martin

Birmingham, AL

Cahaba River Basin

Sheree is currently an assistant professor in the department of journalism and mass communication at Samford University. She has also been a faculty member in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at Oklahoma State University. Prior to pursuing an academic career, Sheree was a practicing attorney. As a child, Sheree wanted to become a wildlife conservationist but a high school fascination with the U.S. Constitution and a love of history led her to initially pursue a legal career. She received a B.A., J.D. and Ph.D. from The University of Alabama and an LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Florida.

Ms. Michelle Reynolds

Black Warrior River Basin

Michelle Reynolds is a native plant enthusiast on a mission to teach others how to put nature back into the urban landscape. She has spent the last three years spearheading the native plant restoration and rain garden projects at the LEED certified Ruffner Mountain Nature Center, where she serves on the Board of Directors. She is on the Advisory Board of Birmingham Audubon Society and is an Outdoor Classroom Consultant for the Alabama Wildlife Federation. As a contributing writer and blogger for Alabama Gardener Magazine, she hopes to reach readers and help them connect to larger ecological issues. When she is not talking, working, writing, or thinking about gardening, she is designing and making slipcovers and nature inspired fabric art in the studio behind her house. Lately, her business, Coverings, has taken a back seat to her more naturalist leanings.

Mr. Michael Sellers

Birmingham, AL

Cahaba River Basin 

Michael is co-owner of Good People Brewing Company in Birmingham, Alabama.  

Mr. Robert Tate

Birmingham, AL

Cahaba River Basin

Mr. Alex Varner

Leeds, AL 

Kelly Creek/Coosa Watershed

Alex is the President Co-Founder Higher Ground Coffee Roasters. He attended Auburn University and went to high school/junior high in St. Clair County Alabama, which he considers to be his hometown. He is a founding Member and currently serves on the board of Friends of Big Canoe Creek, and currently serves on the board of the Watershed Identity Foundation and the advisory board of Black Warrior Riverkeeper. He also volunteers with The Nature Conservancy's burn crew for prescribed fires in and around the state. He enjoys most outdoor pursuits and loves to paddle,hunt, fish, hike, backpack, swim, wander, wade, and run through the forests and streams and prairies of this place. He was a forest activist in the Northern Rockies for a couple of years before returning to my own bioregion to help things out here. He currently resides in the Kelly Creek/Coosa watershed in Shelby County.

Ms. L. Simone Washington, Esq.

Mobile, AL

Mobile Bay Basin

Simone is the principal attorney and mediator at The Law Office of  L. Simone Washington LLC. She is a gradate of the University of South Alabama ('01) and Cumberland School of Law at Samford University ('05). Prior to entering into private practice Simone served as Policy Analyst for Arise Citizens' Policy Project and as Senior Policy Fellow with South Partners Fund. Simone is an Academy for Educational Development New Voices Fellowship Alum (2008-2010) and a dedicated social justice activist.

 Advisory Board:

 Dr. Ramble Ankumah

Tuskeegee, AL

Chatahoochee River Basin

Ramble teaches environmental sciences at Tuskegee University. Dr. Ankumah is originally from Ghana, Africa.

Mrs. Karan Bailey

Shorter, AL

Tallappoosa River Basin

Karan is a consulting field biologist who has spent a considerable amount of her energies tracking the conservation status of the federally endangered flattened musk turtle in the Black Warrior River Basin.

Mr. Bill Bennett

Birmingham, AL

Cahaba River Basin

Dr. Ben Ferrill

Huntsville, AL

Tennessee River Basin

Ben is a geologist and city planner with the City of Huntsville , an active paddler, and a local conservationist who is active with the Flint River Conservation Association.

Mr. Randy Haddock

Birmingham, AL

Cahaba River Basin

 Randy is Field Director for the Cahaba River Society.

Rev. Mark Johnston

Nauvoo, AL

Black Warrior River Basin

Mark is the Executive Director of Camp McDowell, an Episcopal Church Camp and Conference Center near the Bankhead Forest and Alabama's Smith Lake.  Mark is a priest in the Episcopal Church and a graduate of University of the South.

Mr. Joseph B. Mays

Birmingham, AL

Cahaba River Basin

Mr. Michael Mullen

Troy, Alabama

Choctawhatchee River Basin

Michael is the Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper. He holds a BS in Chemistry and Biology from Athens College, an MS in Chemistry from the University of Arkansas, and an MS in Biology from the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He holds an AS Certificate in Environmental Science from the University of  Alabama, Huntsville, is certified in Watershed Management  from the University of British Columbia - IRES, and is a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC) - Cert. # 2129. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Alabama Water Watch. During his spare time he enjoys playing golf, fishing, and canoeing.

Mr. John Scott

Montgomery, AL

Alabama River Basin

John is a retired attorney who has been active for many years in conservation work, including service on the boards of Southern Environmental Law Center, The Nature Conservancy of Alabama, and Forever Wild.

Mrs. Beth Young

Birmingham, AL

Cahaba River Basin

Beth Maynor Young is an accomplished conservation photographer who has spent much of her life chronicling the natural beauty and remnant wild places of the contemporary South. In 1990, she founded Cahaba River Publishing, a conservation-motivated firm that supports her life's passion—nature and landscape photography. Today, Beth’s photographs give us a moving vision of the natural world and speak quietly yet deeply of our need to preserve the South's unique environmental heritage.

Beth’s conservation photography is part of many private and corporate art collections across the country. Her renown and popularity is a testament to the importance of environmental issues and the caliber of her photography. 

 Of Counsel: 

Mr. William L. Andreen (Bill), esq.
Tuscaloosa, AL
Black Warrior River Basin
Bill is the Edgar L. Clarkson Professor of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law.  He previously served as Assistant Regional Counsel for Region IV of the US Environmental Protection Agency in Atlanta, Georgia and is a graduate of Columbia Law School and the College of Wooster. He is a Scholar Member of the Center for Progressive Reform in Washington, DC and a Member of the Commission on Environmental Law and World Conservation Union.