Pictured left to right, top to bottom: Beth Peluso, Buck Lindekugel, Erika Bjorum, Russell Heath, Laura Vidic, Michelle Kaelke, Sue Schrader, Katya Kirsch, Emily Ferry, Rob Cadmus.

Russell Heath, Executive Director. Russell was Executive Director of the Alaska Environmental Lobby in the 1990s, where he was the spokesperson for Alaska's conservation community in the state legislature and organizer of many successful campaigns for and against bills affecting Alaska's environment. He also comes to SEACC with experience in systems analysis, project management, and fiction writing. He is responsible for strategy, administration, and staff and financial oversight.

Katya Kirsch, Senior Associate Director.  A skilled facilitator, Katya has over 25 years of experience with Alaska conservation issues, including more than 3 years as SEACC’s Executive Director and 8 years as SEACC’s Board President. Katya helps with SEACC’s fundraising, financial management, special projects, transboundary issues, and more.

• Foundation fundraising
• Member group fundraising assistance
• Financial management assistance
• Special projects (trainings, workshops, publications, etc.)
• Coalition efforts (Rivers Without Borders)
• Meeting facilitation

Buck Lindekugel, Conservation Director and Staff Attorney. A graduate of the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark in Portland , Buck was in private practice before joining SEACC’s staff in 1990. In 1989, Buck won a landmark injunction that directly led to the provisions in the 1990 Tongass Timber Reform Act requiring buffer strips along all salmon spawning streams on the Tongass National Forest. Buck oversees SEACC’s grassroots legal program and coordinates activities of SEACC’s grassroots organizers.  In 2007, Buck received one of the Alaska Conservation Foundation’s prestigious Conservation Achievement Awards, the 0laus Murie Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions.

• Legal advice
• Tongass Land Management Plan
• Timber sale appeals
• Log dumps
• Outfitter guides
• State land issues
  

Emily Ferry, Campaigns Director.  Emily worked on Alaska conservation issues as a volunteer while earning her BS in Environmental Conservation at the University of New Hampshire.  She worked with SEACC for 2 years as a grassroots organizer, then in 2005 she helped develop and coordinate the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project, bringing the "bridges to nowhere" to national fame.  This fall, Emily returned to SEACC after spending a year abroad working with the School for Renewable Energy Science in Iceland.  Emily's responsibilities include:

• Coordinating efforts to protect Tongass wildlands
• Overseeing SEACC's grassroots outreach on forest and transportation issues

Michelle Kaelke, Administrative Coordinator. Michelle has been with SEACC for over 10 years. She handles the accounting, finances, and general office management issues, as well as lending her historical knowledge to the grassroots efforts of SEACC’s strategy.

• Financial records and reports
• Computer oversight
• Communication with SEACC board
• General office management

Laura Vidic, Publication Specialist/Membership Director. Laura has lived in Alaska since 1989 and holds a degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Idaho, Moscow . She also completed numerous graduate courses in environmental science from Alaska Pacific University. Laura previously worked with The Nature Conservancy of Alaska as a conservation planning intern. She maintains the SEACC web site, and produces and edits SEACC’s newsletter, The Ravencall, action alerts and other publications. She also handles SEACC’s membership program.

• Membership
• Fundraising
• Publications
• Website
• Volunteer coordinator
• Special events
• Products
• Image library

Rob Cadmus, Water Quality/Mining Organizer.  Joining SEACC’s staff in May 2006, Rob completed his B.S. in ecology at Northern Michigan University and a M.Sc. in ecology at the University of Otago, specializing in wetland and water quality restoration.  He has worked on mining related issues and as a grassroots organizer in the Upper Great Lakes, New Zealand, and the Interior of Alaska.

• Kensington Mine
• Water quality (Federal Clean Water Act, Alaska Water Quality Standards, etc.)
• Taku and Stikine Rivers Watersheds
• Arial Spraying of Pesticides
• Alaskans for Responsible Mining (ARM)
• Mineral prospecting and exploration throughout southeast Alaska (e.g. Union Bay, Woewodski Island, etc.)

Susan Schrader, Research Associate/Paralegal. Sue was Executive Director of the Alaska Environmental Lobby, Conservation Advocate for Alaska Conservation Alliance, and a paralegal for Earthjustice. A retired veterinarian, she holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a doctorate in veterinary medicine from The Ohio State University. Sue melds her knowledge of biological sciences with her paralegal skills in her legal and factual research work at SEACC.

• Legal and factual research
• SEACC representative to Alaska Conservation Alliance’s Issues Policy Council
• Coordinator of SEACC’s work on renewable energy issues

Melanie Sands, Grassroots Community Organizer.  Originally from Rogersville, Pennsylvania, Melanie recently joined the SEACC staff after completing her Master’s of Environmental Science & Policy from Clark University in Massachusetts.  Her previous environmental experience includes organizing the remediation and revitalization of mine-scarred lands in West Virginia, leading environmental explorations as a field instructor in New England, and studying the health and environmental risk perceptions of residents near her home in Greene County. As a community organizer for SEACC, Melanie will be working with the communities on Prince of Wales Island as well as Ketchikan.

• Local issues such as: Small timber sales, Sealaska, Pesticides, and Restoration
• Activist Workshop