This strong team of dedicated individuals help to protect and preserve our natural land, water and air resources through education and public participation in policy decisions at all levels of business and government.
Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper
“The beauty of rivers is that we all own the water and no one has the right to take away our right for clean healthy water.” ~ Hartwell Carson
Hartwell Carson has worked to protect and defend the French Broad River as the Riverkeeper for the last six years. He has played a key role in reducing sediment pollution, starting and expanding bacteria, sediment, and coal ash monitoring programs, implementing over two miles of stream restoration, and ensuring regulations are adequate and enforced to meet the goals of the Clean Water Act to have all waters be fishable and swimmable. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Georgia studying Recreation and Resource Management. While a student there, he worked with the Outdoor Recreation Center as an environmental educator and guide.
After working for the Forest Service in Colorado, Hartwell earned his Master’s of Science from the University of Montana, where he conducted extensive work examining social and ecological impacts on the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Hartwell has also served as a community advocate on the City of Asheville’s Flood Damage Reduction Task Force and Watershed Policy Committee, and currently serves as the president of Tennessee Riverkeeper, board member of the Asheville Affiliates and North Carolina Paddle Trails Association. Click here to contact Hartwell.
Bob Gale, Ecologist & Public Lands Director
“Not only does my job allow me to use many aspects of my education, I also get to work with creative like-minded folks daily.” ~ Bob Gale
Bob Gale is the Ecologist for the Western North Carolina Alliance, where he has worked since 1998 providing scientific input on issues related to environmental protection of Southern Appalachian mountain forest communities.
Bob was educated at the University of South Carolina where he received a B.S. in Geology and Biology. His special interest is botany, and he has spent his life working in fields related to this subject. He spent 15 years in the landscaping industry and remains a certified Arborist. He also spent 3 years as Director of Field Operations in Wetlands Science for Ballantine Environmental Resources, Inc. at Hilton Head Island, SC, where he lived for 17 years.
While at the coast, Bob studied the Maritime Forest community and gave numerous hikes and presentations about that ecosystem. Since 1981, Bob has been a free-lance nature writer and photographer and has been published in local and national magazines. Upon moving to Asheville in 1996, he was one of four contributing authors of the Highroad Guide to the North Carolina Mountains (Longstreet Press), writing the natural history portions for the book.
Bob has worked voluntarily for environmental protection since 1976, having chaired or founded 3 different local Sierra Club groups in Columbia, SC, Hilton Head Island, and Asheville, NC. He also served at the South Carolina Sierra Chapter and Sierra’s Appalachian Regional Conservation Council levels.
Bob’s work with the WNC Alliance involves National Forest and National Parks issues, air and water quality, and rural lands protection. He heads the exotic invasive species program for the organization and is also editor of Accent, WNCA’s quarterly newsletter.
Current Related Activities: Chair – Asheville Tree Commission, Chair – Alternate Compliance Subcommittee of Tree Commission, Buncombe County Land Conservation Advisory Board Member, North Carolina Forest Legacy Applications Review Committee. Click here to contact Bob.
Joy Irby, AmeriCorps Project Conserve Education and Outings Coordinator
“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” ~ Joy Irby, and Henry David Thoreau
Joy was fortunate to call two places home. Growing up, she spent her winters by the Florida coast, while her family traveled to Western North Carolina and East Tennessee during the summer After spending 13 years as a camper and counselor in the mountains near Cashiers, she has developed a sincere passion for the natural world and everything this region has to offer.
After graduating from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Psychology and Anthropology, she spent time in the Yucatan Peninsula studying Ecology. Her studies were interrupted when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, as she became dedicated to her first term of service with Americorps as a disaster relief volunteer and educator. Since the start of her service, she has coordinated and led multiple trips, fundraisers and educational events for non-profits across the country. Most recently, she earned an M.S in Marine Resource Management with a focus in Environmental Education and Outreach.
As a Project Conserve Americorps volunteer, Joy is excited for her year with the Alliance. She hopes to foster an appreciation for the environment of WNC through her work in the Education and Outings program. She welcomes all suggestions for outdoor, conservation, and educational opportunities. Click here to contact Joy.
Anna Jane Joyner, Community Organizer
Anna Jane is proud to have grown up in the Appalachian Mountains. Her early years climbing apple trees, wading in pristine streams, and witnessing magnificent sunsets over Appalachian peaks rooted in her a deep and abiding love of nature- and in particular, Western North Carolina’s natural treasures. At UNC-Chapel Hill she learned about environmental injustices happening here and around the world, and this love blossomed into anger- and then action. Since then, she has spent her life and career engaged in the art of imagining and working towards a better world- where humans honor our interdependence and all communities, both human and non-human, are able to thrive.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina with a B.A. in Rhetoric and Environmental Studies, Anna Jane worked with the Sierra Club to promote environmental solutions across faith communities, co-authoring “Faith in Action,” a national report, as well as coaching activists on strategic partnership building. In 2008, she co-founded and served as the national coordinator for Renewal, a non-profit that equips college students to lead environmental efforts on faith-based campuses. During this time, she also completed the Midwest Academy’s “Organizing for Social Change” training.
More recently at Restoring Eden, a faith-based environmental advocacy non-profit, Anna Jane led a national campaign to end the tragedy of mountaintop removal coal mining, an issue she remains deeply passionate about owing to her love of the Appalachian Mountains and culture.
These days, she couldn’t be more thrilled to focus on protecting our mountains, rivers, and communities right here in Western North Carolina by serving as WNCA’s community organizer.
When she’s not trying to save the planet (or at least our mountains), Anna Jane enjoys reading and writing poetry, live music, yoga, playing with her pups Pi and Beau, the art of vegetarian cooking, and spending time with friends, family, and the love of her life, Forrest. Click here to contact Anna Jane.
Josh Kelly, Public Lands Field Biologist
The Alliance has recently added Josh Kelly to its staff in the role of Public Lands Field Biologist. Josh was born in Madison County, NC and went to school at UNC Asheville, earning a degree in biology. He then worked for the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, where he focused on identifying remnant old-growth forests on public land, and at WildLaw, where he worked to promote ecological restoration as the new paradigm of National Forest management. Josh has also helped the Forest Service conduct rare plant surveys and save hemlocks from hemlock woolly adelgid.
At the Alliance, Josh will monitor logging and development issues on public land and provide site-specific, scientific information to promote ecological restoration and oppose ecologically damaging management. “We live in a time when the human footprint on the planet is bigger than ever and our need to come together to solve environmental problems is urgent. Public lands comprise the largest and highest quality natural areas in this great country and are truly priceless. The most rewarding work I have done has involved helping to steer Forest Service management towards a paradigm where we as a society give back to the land, rather than just take”, says Josh. Click here to contact Josh.
Julie Mayfield, Executive Director
“I am so fortunate to be living in Western North Carolina and working to protect one of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse regions in our country.” ~ Julie Mayfield
Julie Mayfield is the Alliance’s executive director. She came to the Alliance in June 2008 from Atlanta where she was most recently a Sustainability Scholar in Residence at Emory University, researching renewable energy and carbon offsets.
From 2003 to early 2008, she was Vice President and General Counsel for the Georgia Conservancy, a statewide environmental advocacy organization. In that role, she worked on policy issues in the areas of air and water quality, land conservation, growth management, and coastal conservation.
Prior to working at the Conservancy, she was the director of the Turner Environmental Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law where she represented environmental groups, civic associations, and individuals in public interest environmental law cases. She is a graduate of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership and a graduate of Leadership Atlanta.
She has also practiced environmental law with the firm of Kilpatrick Stockton and clerked for Judge Robert J. Castellani in DeKalb County Superior Court. Before attending law school, she worked for Amnesty International and other non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting human rights, community service, and social justice.
She received her undergraduate degree in religion from Davidson College in 1989 and her law degree in 1996 from Emory University School of Law, where she was a Woodruff Fellow. Click here to contact Julie.
Nick Rose, AmeriCorps Project Conserve Assistant Riverkeeper
Nick Rose grew up in South Carolina and graduated from a marine biology and aquaculture magnet high school after moving to Connecticut. Exploring the great outdoors has been Nick’s biggest interest since as long as he can remember. As a kid, he spent many days exploring the pine forests and creeks outside Columbia, S.C., and after moving to New England, he developed a keen interest in fishing, and exploring the rivers and woods of the northeast. In 2002, Nick was selected to represent the state of Connecticut with three other students for the Youth Watershed Summit, marking the 30th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
Nick attended Lynchburg College in central Virginia, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science in 2010, with minors in Political Science and International Relations. During his time in Lynchburg, in addition to school, he learned the James River, and launched his johnboat after class as often as possible. In 2008, Nick served as an intern with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Oklahoma at the Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery. In 2009, Nick served as the field assistant to a geologist, seeking geologic formations in remote areas of Montana and Wyoming.
Since moving to Asheville, Nick has worked as an invasive-exotic plants intern with Bob Gale, and led volunteer groups to treat and remove noxious weeds from ecologically significant areas. During this time as an intern, he developed WNC’s “Do Not Buy List” with input from WNCA staff, the Southern Appalachian Cooperative Weed Management Partnership and the U.S. Forest Service.
As the Assistant Riverkeeper, Nick has been working on the WNCA’s water quality projects, such as Get the Poop Out! and Muddy Water Watch, and working on building campsites for the French Broad River Paddle Trail.
Nick is thrilled to be at the WNCA through AmeriCorps Project Conserve, and enjoys working toward protecting the great natural resources of the southern Appalachians. Click here to contact Nick.
Melissa Williams, Communications Manager
Melissa Williams is a native of Central New York State and a graduate of Hamilton College (Clinton, NY) and Miami University of Ohio (Oxford, Ohio), where she earned both her B.A. and M.A. in Creative Writing/Poetry (with an undergraduate minor at Hamilton in Religion/Biblical Studies.)
She joined the Alliance staff in January 2012. Melissa moved to Asheville in 1998 and has worked in media and communications for the majority of that time, including several years as a city and county government reporter and then as First Amendment and Government Editor with the Citizen-Times, where she was also the news editor for the Sunday edition. She spent the last few years handling website and media communications for the Asheville Police Department and later for the City of Asheville.
Melissa spends her her free time running, gardening, reading biographies and cooking. She takes her WNCA “Do Not Buy Guide” about exotic invasive species on every trip to local garden centers, tailgate markets and nurseries. Click here to contact Melissa.