Andrew Thoms, Executive Director, Andrew Thoms grew up in rural Western New York State. After studying Environmental Sciences at SUNY Plattsburgh, he went to Latin America and worked as an environmental specialist in international development projects.  Most of his projects focused on the interface between the sustainable use of natural resources and the conservation of tropical biodiversity.  One of his favorite jobs was developing and integrating new techniques for cultivating coffee in an environmentally sustainable way on a Guatemalan Coffee farm that he managed for a few years. Andrew recently completed a Master's degree in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development at the University of Wisconsin.  He is coming to Sitka after a short time in Bolivia where he worked with indigenous communities developing plans for community-based tourism projects.

Scott Harris, Conservation Solutions Coordinator, inaugurates a new position at SCS to engage the community, policymakers, researchers, and partners in developing pro-active solutions to meet our long-range conservation goals.  He comes to SCS with a background in wilderness education, and conservation and wildlife research.  He has extensive experience in the temperate rainforests of the Western Hemisphere leading wilderness expeditions for the National Outdoor Leadership School in Alaska and Chilean Patagonia.  He completed a Master’s Degree in Natural Resources Management at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  In his spare time, Scott runs a kayak outfitting company - Alaska Coast Wilderness Expeditions - and enjoys spending time in the Sitka Community Use Area with his wife and young son, deepening his family’s connection to the Alaska wilderness.
 

Clarice Johnson Reid (right), Office Manager, is a Tlingit Alaska Native, born and raised in Sitka.  She previously worked for the Sitka Native Education Program and fished commercially for salmon and halibut in Southeast Alaska for over 27 years.  Clarice is a former Sitka Conservation Society board member and treasurer for Friends of Southeast's Future.  

Lexi Fish, (right) Community Sustainability Organizer

Lexi returns to her Baranof Island roots to work for the Sitka Conservation Society, after spending the Summer of 2009 as SCS' Community Sustainability Intern. Growing up in Port Alexander and Sitka, Alaska, she learned the importance of taking care of the land that provides everything for us. In 2007, Lexi graduated with honors from Willamette University, double majoring in Spanish and International Studies. Since then, Lexi has worked for several state and national-based nonprofits, with a focus on renewable energy and climate change issues. For the past 10 years, Lexi has commercial fished for halibut and black cod in SE Alaska. Outside of work, Lexi lives for outdoor adventures, and loves yoga, hiking, traveling, farmers markets, and spending time with friends and family.

Natalie Sattler, Community Outreach Coordinator
Natalie grew up on a farm in rural Colorado and received her BA in Anthropology from the University of Colorado.  After several years of working as an archaeologist and with environmental non-profits, she went back to school and finished her MS in Natural Science Education/Environment and Natural Resources with the University of Wyoming and the Teton Science School. Her master's project focused on helping students to solve natural resource issues through the collaborative process. Natalie first moved to Sitka to work with Raven's Way, an adventure based substance abuse treatment program for adolescents. In her free time, Natalie enjoys hiking, fishing, skiing, and exploring wild, new places.

Ground-truthing Field Team and GIS Mapping:

Bob Christensen (left), GIS Support/ Field Team
Bob is the president of Southeast Alaska Wilderness Education, Analysis, and Discovery, or SEAWEAD, and has been living in Southeast Alaska on a remote Wilderness island for about ten years. Bob has extensive experience with kayak expeditions in southeast Alaska and British Columbia, tracking bears and their use of habitat, documenting humpback whale/boat encounters, finding big tree stands, surveying for amphibians, and more. He produces our GIS maps, helps us with web stuff, and is one of our Groundtruthing Field Project team leaders.    

Richard Carstensen (right) is one the Tongass's leading naturalists, with extensive experience noting the details of all things great and small that crawl or stand tall. He assists us with landscape analysis and GIS. Richard is the lead naturalist behind the Landmark Tree Project, and is a Groundtruthing field leader.