Outreach Director

Member of FMR staff since: June 1999

Duties: Outreach program development and strategic planning, event coordination, communications and supervision of outreach staff. River corridor education, advocacy, community assistance and citizen organizing.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in biology from University of Minnesota, with an emphasis on ecology, evolution and behavior.

Professional experience: Twenty years of environmental work as a naturalist, education program manager, communications specialist, and community organizer.

FMR accomplishment most proud of: “The Mississippi Gorge Stewards Project — taking it from a neighborhood concept to a program that engaged over 1,000 people in education and volunteer activities in 2006.”

Connection to natural world: Grew up near Minnehaha Creek, enjoyed the outdoors as a child, shaping her lifelong passion for protecting the environment.

Hobbies: Gardening, hiking, dog-sitting, local politics, cooking and wine tasting

Other Affiliations: Member, Sierra Club Northstar Chapter, Executive Committee; Longfellow Community Council River Gorge committee.

Favorite Animal: German Shepherd. Dogs are the only species on earth that would ever choose humans as their favorite animal.

Favorite books: Fiction — Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien; Non-Fiction — Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris

Last book you read that you really loved: Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Favorite music: “Blue Grass or Motown, depending on my mood.”

Favorite location on the river: Grey Cloud Island Township

Last big vacation: Caribbean Islands

Conservation/environmental heroes: R.T. Rybak, Keith Ellison and anyone else who puts environmental protection front and center in their political campaign strategy.