About the Conference Speakers

Dr. Bryan Burgess, "Educating the Younger Generation"

Dr. Bryan Burgess has more than 40 years in management, research and development, marketing, and education.  He holds an MS in engineering from the University of Alabama and a PhD in engineering from the University of Tennessee.  Bryan works with the St. Clair County School System to provide resources for environmental education in its After School Programs and is teaming with Camp McDowell Environmental Education Center to build capacity to offer these services to programs in other counties.  He has raised funds for training teachers and purchasing water test kits, biological test kits, and watershed educational CDs, providing materials to more than 100 teachers and their classrooms in Alabama.

Monica Carmichael, “Fundraising and Special Events Planning”

Monica Carmichael is the Director of Development for the Cahaba River Society.  Monica joined CRS in early 2006.  She holds an MBA with an emphasis in nonprofit management and has more than 10 years experience in fundraising, event planning and environmental management.  Monica is the a Founding Board Member of the Hulsey Little River Trust.

Michael Churchman, "Stewardship of Creation"

Michael Churchman grew up in southern Louisiana where he learned about faith outdoors, before he started learning about it in church.  He pursued ministry for a time in college before working for a large non-profit for more than eight years.  For the last 3 years, he has served on the Alabama Diocese Task Force for the Stewardship of Creation, acting as Secretary and Liaison Coordinator for the last two.  While utilizing his volunteer time on the Task Force for the environment, Michael found a way to combine his passion and his profession as Executive Director of the Alabama Environmental Council (AEC) in 2007.  AEC seeks to protect Alabama’s natural heritage through advocacy, education, and preservation.

Marlon Cook, Water Policy Panel

Marlon Cook is Manager of the Hydrogeology Program for the Geological Survey of Alabama.  One of the most important responsibilities of the Geological Survey of Alabama is to perform research that increases our knowledge of the state’s waters. The Hydrogeology Group investigates the occurrence, availability, and quality of the state's waters by employing hydrologic and geologic expertise for the development and protection of this irreplaceable resource.

Sergio Ruiz-Cordova, "Community-Based Watershed Stewardship…from Alabama Water Watch to Global Water Watch-Mexico"

Sergio grew up in a small town in Guatemala when the country experienced a lot of political unrest.  As a young man, he met an American Peace Corp Volunteer, Evelyn Hawk, and they married.  They moved to Mexico where he studied Marine Biology on the Baja peninsula, and then moved to Alabama in the early 1990s.  Soon after settling in Auburn, he became associated with Alabama Water Watch and the International Center for Aquaculture and Aquatic Environments, while working on his master’s degree in Fisheries at AU.  Sergio has been a key player in the design and development of the AWW and Global Water Watch online databases which have revolutionized the way citizen volunteer water monitors worldwide have been able to enter, analyze, share and retrieve their information.

Dr. Bill Deutsch, "Community-Based Watershed Stewardship…from Alabama Water Watch to Global Water Watch-Mexico"

Dr. Bill Deutsch has been a Research Fellow in the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures at Auburn University for 20 years, with degrees in Zoology, Biology, Anthropology and Aquatic Ecology.  Bill is the co-founder of the citizen volunteer water monitoring program called Alabama Water Watch, begun in 1992. He has worked on several watershed projects of the International Center for Aquaculture and Aquatic Environments and has made about 50 international trips to 20 countries. Bill directs Global Water Watch, a network of international water monitoring groups, and SWaMP, the Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan Implementation Project.

Dan Everson, “Restoration and Reintroduction of Aquatic Species”

Dan Everson is a Biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alabama Ecological Services Field Office in Daphne.  Dan works on grants, forest service work, and stream restorations, amongst other duties. 

April Hall, Alabama Water Agenda Update and Work Session

April is a professional civil-environmental engineer and is the Alabama Rivers Alliance’s Program Director.  She joined the Rivers Alliance in 2002 after more than four years in environmental engineering consulting.  April works on the Rivers Alliance’s technical programs such as NPDES permits for pollution discharges, state and national water policy, Corps of Engineers permits under the Clean Water Act, hydropower relicensing, Alabama Water Agenda, tri-state water wars, and stream and watershed restoration.  She represents the Rivers Alliance on the steering committee of the national Hydropower Reform Coalition and our membership in the Corps Reform Network.  April serves on the board of directors for the Friends of Shades Creek, is a volunteer at the Alabama Wildlife Center, and is a member and former board member of the Birmingham Canoe Club.

Gerrit Jöbsis, “Global Climate Change and the Rivers of the Southeast”

As Director of Southeast Conservation, in the Southeast Regional Office, Gerrit Jöbsis directs American Rivers’ work on Hydropower Reform, Blue Trails, and Restoring Rivers initiatives in the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.  Prior to joining American Rivers in 2005, Gerrit worked for the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League for four years as the Rivers Project Director under a partnership with American Rivers. He also worked for more than a dozen years for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources addressing a broad array of environmental and recreational issues affecting rivers and wetlands.

Paul Johnson, “Restoration and Reintroduction of Aquatic Species”

Paul Johnson is Program Supervisor for the Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Center (AABC) through the Alabama Department of Conservation of Natural Resources.  The Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Center is the largest state non-game recovery program of its kind in the United States. The mission of AABC is to promote the conservation and restoration of rare freshwater species in Alabama waters and in turn, restore cleaner water in Alabama's waterways.

Maggie Wade Johnston, "Educating the Younger Generation"

Maggie Wade Johnston is the Director of McDowell Environmental Center (MEC). The MEC has been educating young people about the world in which they live for 14 years through residential environmental education. Over 77,000 children have been through the program and are helping to spread the word about protecting our Earth. 

Maggie has over 21 years of experience teaching science and environmental education at Alabama School for the Deaf.  She is on the board of the Alabama Sierra Club, and is active in several other outdoor organizations.

Edwin Lamberth, “Environmental Litigation: When to go for it”

Edwin Lamberth is an attorney and serves on the Board of the Alabama Rivers Alliance. He has had major recent successes in a case in Tuscaloosa County implementing the protections of the 303d stream classification for Hurricane Creek.  Edwin’s primary focus in his practice has been in complex litigation, including medical malpractice, products liability, workplace and construction site injuries, toxic torts/environmental law, and fraud and deceit. He has also been counsel in class actions involving consumer fraud and environmental pollution. 

Fred Leslie, "Fish Tissue Monitoring"

Fred Leslie is the Montgomery Branch Chief of the Field Operations Division of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM).  Surface water quality monitoring program activities for the ADEM are primarily conducted by personnel of the Field Operations Division.  Since 1989, Mr. Leslie has served in a variety of water quality monitoring roles for the Department, to include current service as the Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator for the ADEM,  primary involvement in the development of the 2005 State of Alabama Water Quality Monitoring Strategy, primary involvement in the initiation and development of the Rivers and Reservoirs Water Quality Monitoring Program and Fish Tissue Monitoring Program, as well as secondary involvement in development of the Rivers and Streams Monitoring Program.  In addition, Mr. Leslie has served as the Region 4 (Southeast) representative to the National Water Quality Monitoring Council since May 2003.

Stanton (Stan) Mahoney, Jr., “Fundraising and Special Events Planning”

Stan Mahoney is the Executive Director of the Wolf Bay Watershed Watch.  Stan is a retired Navy commander and is a spokesman for organ donation (heart recipient, UAB-1996).  Stan grew up on Wolf Bay and has seen rapid growth in the community (Foley, Gulf Shores, and Orange Beach).  He wants to preserve what he has loved and enjoyed for future generations.

Eartha McGoldrick, "Beyond Websites" 

Eartha is a University of Alabama at Birmingham alumnus with a BS in Women's Studies.  After college, she spent five years working in journalism for The Leeds News, the Birmingham Post-Herald, and The Fresno Bee before returning to Birmingham, where she spent three years in publishing at JS Printing. She has spent the last year as a Realtor with Realty South.  Eartha is the Treasurer and a Founding Board Member of the Hulsey Little River Trust, and also an organizer of the Raindrop Art Auction and Festival, and volunteers as a webmaster for Urban Ministry.

Nick Nichols, Water Policy Panel

Nick Nichols is the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division Fisheries Assistant Chief. The Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division manages, protects, conserves and enhances the freshwater fishing resources of Alabama including 47 reservoirs larger than 500 acres that cover 551,220 acres, 23 Alabama State Public Fishing Lakes, and 77,000 miles of perennial rivers, streams and the Mobile Delta. The Division offers technical assistance to Alabama pond owners.

Jeff Powell, Water Policy Panel

Jeff Powell is a field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Daphne Ecological Services Office.

Peter Raabe, “Global Climate Change and the Rivers of the Southeast”

Peter is the Southeast Director for Government Affairs and Outreach in the American Rivers Southeast Regional office.  He joined American Rivers in September 2001.  Peter started in the American Rivers Washington, DC office as the River Restoration Finance Associate, developing and coordinating the American Rivers river restoration grant program. In 2002, he took on responsibilities coordinating and advocating for federal appropriations priorities. In 2004, he co-chaired the environmental community’s budget and Appropriations Committee. In January 2008, he moved to Durham, North Carolina and transitioned into the roll of directing the policy work and community outreach for the Southeast Regional Office.  Prior to American Rivers, Peter worked for River Network in Washington, DC, focusing on organizational development and policy coordination of watershed groups throughout the country.

Gil Rogers, Alabama Water Agenda Update and Work Session

Southern Environmental Law Center Attorney, Gil Rogers, accepted the Georgia Water Conservationist of the Year award in 2005. Gil's work with the Georgia Water Coalition, an alliance of 118 environmental, recreational and civic groups, has yielded major victories in the Georgia legislature, including the defeat of a bill that would have privatized the water market.  Gil's commitment to promoting the sound management and protection of Georgia's and Alabama’s water quality/ management and water resources resounds in his efforts to create water conservation policies for the states.  Gil attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

Dr. Neil Sass, “Fish Tissue Monitoring”

Dr. Neil Sass is the state toxicologist for the AL Department of Public Health and the State Counterterrorism Coordinator, operating out of the Alabama Department of Public Health, in Montgomery. In this capacity, Dr. Sass has the responsibility of overseeing the possible impact on the health of Alabama citizens from assorted sources of contaminants, e.g., from inhalation of materials due to a leak from an industrial or transportation source, or from ingestion through contaminants entering the food/water supply.

Charles Scribner, “Fundraisers and Special Events Planning”

Charles Scribner is Development Director and works to raise the funds that support the organization as well as organizing events and publishing newsletters for public outreach.  Charlie was so inspired by reading The Riverkeepers in 2003 that he took a summer internship with the co-author, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at Hudson Riverkeeper.  He then volunteered as a student researcher and fundraiser for Waterkeeper Alliance, Hudson Riverkeeper and Black Warrior Riverkeeper until June 2005.  Charlie attended high school at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, where he broke school fundraising records and gained a passion for ecology and canoeing.  He spent summers fishing on the Tennessee River with his cousin from Lookout Mountain.  Charlie graduated with a History degree from Princeton in 2005 after writing a 94-page History of Waterkeeper Alliance.  He also received an Environmental Studies Certificate from Princeton Environmental Institute.  Charlie and his wife Elizabeth serve Alabama's Episcopal Diocese as volunteer leaders on its Task Force for the Stewardship of Creation.

Wendy Seesock, “Putting Your Local Government to Work for You”

Wendy serves on the board for the Alabama Rivers Alliance and as the Senior Research Associate for the rivers and reservoirs section of the Department of Fisheries at Auburn University. She is involved in many grassroots watershed organizations in and around the Auburn area, Alabama Water Watch, the Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan and serving as the President of the Save Our Saugahatchee Watershed Organization and Board Member of the Alabama Rivers Alliance.

Tricia Sheets, "Putting Your Local Government to Work for You"

Tricia Sheets, Director of Administration for the Cahaba River Society (CRS), works on policy, water quality programs, and oversees the CRS’s financial and personnel management systems. From 1994 to 2000, she served on the Federal Advisory Committee in Washington D.C. as a member of the Public Health/Environmental caucus advising the Clinton Administration on sanitary sewer overflow problems. She also served as the CRS representative on Jefferson County’s Environmental Services Advisory Committee. She leads all work related to the County sewer program and investigates point source pollution problems in the field and through document research. Tricia joined the staff of the Cahaba River Society in 1991.

Diana Toledo, Further Action Closing Plenary

Diana Toledo is Organizational Development Southeastern Program Manager for River Network.  River Network is a national nonprofit organization working for clean and healthy waters. While rivers are their focal point, they are interested in the quality of all fresh waters and the health of all people and ecosystems dependent upon them. They are unique among national organizations, because their mission is to support grassroots groups working for watershed protection.

Simone Washington, “Environmental Justice or Injustice”

Simone is a policy analyst with Alabama Arise and a board member of the Alabama Rivers Alliance.  Simone has been especially active in the issues surrounding the destruction of homes in Hurricane Katrina’s wake. 

John Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper, "Beyond Websites" 

John Wathen is an amazing activist and advocate for Hurricane Creek.  He has been working for over twenty years to protect the creek from the many varied sources of pollution threatening its life and health.  John is the lead investigator for the Friends of Hurricane Creek as their Creekkeeper, and Hurricane Creekkeeper is a member of the International Waterkeeper Alliance.