Board of Director terms and duties are outlined in SERNW’s by-laws, Article V
Executive Committee
President | Regina Wandler
As the Stewardship Manager at Skagit Land Trust, Regina is responsible for monitoring and managing over 8,000 acres of conservation land across Skagit County. She began serving on SERNW’s board in 2015 while completing her Masters in Environmental Horticulture at the University of Washington, and is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner In Training (CERPIT). She also serves on the board of her family’s tree farm (Clyde Tree Farm), which is in Kitsap County, WA. She is passionate about engaging community members in caring for natural places.
Program Vice President | Kerrie MacArthur
Kerrie joined SER in 2012 and became a board member in 2018. Kerrie is a senior biologist at Confluence Environmental, with 24 years of wide-ranging experience as a natural resources professional in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Kerrie specializes in assessing impacts to fish and wetlands (freshwater and marine). She routinely conducts wetland reconnaissance and delineations, aquatic and terrestrial habitat evaluation, wildlife research projects, biological assessments of threatened and endangered species, fisheries surveys, functional assessment of aquatic ecosystems, stream-channel characterization. Kerrie designs wetland mitigation/restoration plans, oversees their construction and conducts mitigation monitoring to ensure their success.
Treasurer | Rolf Gersonde
Rolf is a forest ecologist working on landscape scale forest restoration projects in Seattle’s mountain watersheds. He is interested in climate adaptation and natural history. Rolf has worked with SERNW since 2012, has organized several regional conferences, and filled different board functions for the chapter. His current focus is on board development and chapter policies. He is involved in organizing the Restoration Professional Program in collaboration with the UW Botanic Gardens. Rolf lives at the foot of the Cascade Range and enjoys exploring the mountain wilderness.
Secretary | Amy Sacry
Amy is a restoration ecologist/biologist and Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioners (CERP). She lives in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley and is a partner at Geum Environmental Consulting, a small local consulting firm focused on ecological restoration. For the last 15 years, Amy has focused her work on riparian and floodplain restoration in Montana and Idaho. Her main interests are working with creative interdisciplinary teams, integrating ecological structure and diversity into projects at all scales, and creating interdisciplinary networks for advancing ecological restoration in western Montana.
Student / Emerging Professional | Kyle Lemle
Kyle Lemle (he/him) recently received his Masters in Forestry from the Yale School of Environment specializing in Natural Climate Solutions. He is a Wyss Scholar for Conservation in the American West, and a Kerry Fellow supporting John Kerry on forests and climate policy. Before Yale, Kyle spent nine years managing community and urban forestry projects from the streets of San Francisco to the pine forests of the Himalayas, to the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. Kyle also spent a number of years as a climate justice organizer with SustainUS and GreenFaith, organizing youth and people of faith to transform the climate movement locally and at the United Nations. Channeling art and spirit into his environmental work, Kyle also transforms guns into shovels to plant trees as Co-Founder of Lead to Life, and brings justice music to the streets as founder of Thrive Choir. (www.kylelemle.com // @lemle)
Sub-Regional Representatives
Director at Large Position 1 | Sue Bishop
Sue is a plant ecologist who has been involved in land rehabilitation research and practice in Alaska and northern Canada for over 30 years. Since 1997, she has worked for ABR, Inc.—Environmental Research & Services, which is based in Fairbanks. Sue’s work with ABR has focused on developing innovative, cost-effective responses to the unique challenges of land restoration in the far North, including permafrost, short growing seasons, and the lack of commercial sources for plant materials. Sue is new to the board and looking forward to learning more about SERNW’s activities and programs.
Director at Large Position 2 | Jeff Barna
Student Grants Committee – Joined 2016 – Jeff is an ecologist with a wide-ranging research background focusing on plants and wildlife, as well as wetland and riparian ecology. Jeff currently works for Environmental Science Associates, an employee-owned natural resource management and restoration design company. He has worked throughout the U.S., but is now happily based in the Northwest, and lives in Portland. Jeff is very passionate about engaging young people, particularly those interested in becoming ecologists because of the importance of supporting the next generation of restoration scientists.
Director at Large Position 3 | Hugh McGee
Hugh McGee has been designing and implementing ecological restoration projects throughout the western United States for over 20 years. He is currently a Restoration Ecologist and the owner of Native Ecosystems, Inc., a full service ecological restoration design and construction firm located in Arcata, CA. He also currently serves as the Ecosystem Restoration Program Director at the Mattole Restoration Council, a non-profit organization founded in 1983 focused on restoration of the Mattole River Watershed. Hugh brings extensive experience designing and managing restoration projects and has managed many large scale riparian, grasslands, oak woodland, native plant, and salmonid habitat restoration projects with multiple private, non-profit and agency partners. He specializes in native plant restoration design and implementation in riparian and grassland ecosystems. He has managed the installation of over 1.5 million native plants and several miles of willow baffle installation and floodplain restoration treatments. Over the past several years he has played a key role in designing forest health and grassland restoration projects in the Mattole and Eel River Watersheds. After attending UVM, he worked for private ecological restoration firms in Montana and California, the National Park Service, and as a private consultant. He is certified by the Society of Ecological Restoration as a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner and is a California Licensed Contractor. When not in the trenches with restoration crew, he spends his time with his two sons and wife hiking, biking, and exploring the beautiful wildlands of the west coast and looking for the perfect patch of willow cuttings.
Director at Large Position 4 | Aimee Kelly
Aimee began her education and career in restoration at the University of Montana in Missoula majoring in Ecological Restoration & Resource Conservation in addition to studying climate change, small-scale agriculture and art. Following a short-lived stint in seasonal field work across the US, she found herself as the owner/operator of Great Bear Native Plants. GBNP is a native plant nursery focused on the Rocky Intermountain West of the US. GBNP grows containerized plants for restoration, reclamation, habitat conservation and the landscaping/retail nursery industry. Aimee is particularly passionate about conservation and restoration efforts to support insects and working with farmers and the general public to increase pollinator habitat in rural and urban environments.
Director at Large Position 5 | Robin Henderson
Robin is a freshwater ecologist with a research background focusing on evaluating the effectiveness of stream restoration projects using benthic macroinvertebrates as ecological indicators. Robin currently works for the Army Corps of Engineers at the Juvenile Fish Facility of Lower Monumental Dam and is a partner at Black Rock Geosciences LLC, a small local consulting firm with a focus on ecological restoration. While Robin has worked throughout the U.S., she is now based in Eastern Washington. Her main interests are integrating ecological structure and diversity into restoration projects in Washington.
Open Board Positions for the 2023 Elections
President | Open for 2023
Executive Vice President | Open for 2023
Secretary | Open for 2023
Director at Large 1 | Open for 2023
Director at Large 2 | Open for 2023
Web Manager | This position is not currently filled