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 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. Clickhere 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 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 Sierras Appalachian Regional Conservation Council levels.
Bobs 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, WNCAs 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.
Anna Jane Joyner, Campaign Coordinator
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 campaign coordinator.
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.Clickhereto contact Anna Jane.
Josh Kelly, Public Lands Field Biologist
Josh was born in Madison County, N.C., 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.
Donna Lisenby, Watauga Riverkeeper
Donnas role represents the expansion of our commitment to protect clean water in the region, and her work will complement that of our long-standing chapter, the Watauga River Partners, who work to protect water quality in the Watauga basin through workshops, trainings and hands-on activities.
By adding a second Riverkeeper program to serve our 23-county region, we are enhancing WNCAs ability to protect the biologically diverse and incredibly important headwaters streams of Western North Carolina.
Donna brings vast experience and knowledge to our organization, having served as the Catawba Riverkeeper from 1998 to 2008 and as the Watauga Riverkeeper since 2008. She is North Carolinas most veteran Riverkeeper, with 14 years of experience advocating for the protection, preservation and restoration of our waterways.
She has played a key role in changing the states interbasin transfer law to be more protective of water quantity and was the first environmental advocate to report and blow the whistle on leaking coal ash ponds across the state.
Donna is the recipient of 12 awards for her work to engage citizens and reduce industrial, sewage and sediment pollution. In recognition of her leadership, she was elected by her peers 198 Waterkeepers worldwide to serve as one of only three Waterkeepers on the Waterkeeper Alliance Board of Directors where she works with well known environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Clemson University and two beautiful grandchildren who motivate her work to ensure a healthy environment for future generations. We are fortunate to add another highly respected Riverkeeper to our staff and look forward to her contributions to further the Alliances mission of marshaling grassroots support to keep our water clean and our communities vibrant. Click here to contact Donna.
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 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 hereto contact Julie.
Rachel Moore, AmeriCorps Education and Outings Coordinator
Rachel was raised in Atlanta and spent many summers of her childhood backpacking sections of the Appalachian Trail. Weekend trips took her family to North Georgia and during their summer vacations they traveled to New Hampshire to hike in the White Mountains. While still in high school, Rachel spent a semester living and studying in the Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland. Rachel later attended the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where she received her B.A. in Environmental Education and Sustainability Studies.
Rachel’s favorite course at Evergreen was “Protected Areas.” Her culminating project in this course was a research paper entitled, “Sacred Spaces and Biodiversity Conservation: How Does Religion/Spirituality Influence the Protection of Official and Unofficial Protected Areas?” This paper allowed her to assimilate her academic knowledge and practical lessons learned about large-scale reforestation while studying at the Auroville Ecovillage in Southern India. After realizing that a community’s spiritual orientation has an enormous impact on the protection extended to its bioregion, Rachel knew that she wanted to work on a grassroots level to promote the preservation of wild areas.
After graduating from Evergreen, Rachel served with AmeriCorps, working at the El Malpais National Conservation Area in New Mexico. Here, she created outdoor experiential education programs to connect elementary school students with their natural surroundings. Rachel then completed a second AmeriCorps term of service with the Rio Grande Community Farm, which is a 150-acre organic urban farm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Returning to the Southeast to serve with the Western North Carolina Alliance, Rachel strives to bring members of the Asheville community into the outdoors to inspire their participation in the local conservation movement.
In her free time Rachel finds her bliss in vegan cooking, rock climbing, backpacking, Vinyasa yoga, organic wild farming, and being the mother of her dog, Orion.
Clickhereto contact Rachel.
“People may disagree about the role of government, which religion has the truth, and who is going to win March Madness, however, I think we all agree that we want to enjoy clean and spectacular rivers, to hike in healthy forests, and to live in vibrant communities.”
With a business degree from Wake Forest University, 12 years overseeing house building programs in Africa with Habitat for Humanity and the last nine years working the Community Foundation to strengthen nonprofits in Western North Carolina, Bob is excited to be part of the Alliance team.
While working with the Community Foundation Bob spearheaded WNC’s Mountain Landscapes Initiative bringing land use planning and decision making tools to government officials, developers and private citizens. He also served as chair of WNC Nonprofit Pathways.
Bob grew up in Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay where he enjoyed fishing, crabbing, and developed a deep appreciation for the environment.
He joined the Alliance in 2013 and his interests include spending time with his wife and two boys, hiking, most sports, videography, coaching, and travel.
Click here to contact Bob.
Sabrina Wells, Development Associate
Sabrina joined the WNCA team in October 2012. She recently came back to her southern roots after 10 years of living out west and New York and is originally from Wise County, Va., and Charleston.
Sabrina comes to the Alliance with broad experience in the environmental field. She graduated from Prescott College with a B.A. in environmental policy and attended graduate school at SUNY Albany for Latin American Studies and Environmental History. She was a 2008 fellow for the Women in Public Policy Fellowship during which time she worked at the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation examining climate change and environmental justice. Sabrina has also worked for the Hudson Riverkeeper as watchdog program coordinator, Citizens’ Environmental Coalition and the New York State Senate as energy policy analyst where she was lead advisor on the Green Jobs/Green NY Act.
At the Alliance, Sabrina will write grants, help with fundraising events, and continue to build and strengthen relationships with our members and funders. She’s very excited to step into this role and hopes her knowledge of environmental issues and passion for protecting trees and rivers will support her work.
Click here to contact Sabrina.
Melissa Williams, Communications Manager
Melissa is a native of Central New York State and a graduate of Hamilton College (Clinton, N.Y.) 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.
In These Pages
During its 30-year history, WNCA has twice prevented logging in the Asheville Watershed, first in 1990 and again in 2004. Eventually, the City of Asheville placed a conservation easement over 17,356 acres of the watershed.