Andy has served as Executive Director for the Watershed Center since January 2007.  “We have been strong supporters of the Watershed Center since moving here in 2004,” Andy says.  “Grand Traverse Bay provides our quality of life in this region, and the Watershed Center is the only organization whose sole mission is to protect the Bay and its beautiful watershed.  I am honored to continue building this absolutely vital organization.”

Andy served as Environmental Stewardship Director at the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians from 2004 to 2006.  He launched the Mercury Deposition Monitoring Project and Renewable Energy Feasibility Study, and orchestrated the 7^th National Tribal Conference on Environmental Management.

Prior to that, Andy worked as Air and Energy Policy Director for the Hoosier Environmental Council, Indiana’s largest environmental organization, from 1992 to 2004.  He helped organize the broadest and most diverse coalition of citizens supporting environmentally and fiscally responsible alternatives to a new-terrain extension of Interstate 69.  His work on this campaign has been featured on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.

Andy led a campaign convincing the Indiana Air Pollution Control Board to adopt a rule to reduce power plant nitrogen oxide emissions by 63 percent.  The rule included an innovative energy efficiency and renewable energy program, which was one of only six in the U.S. at the time.  Andy also coordinated campaigns that blocked the construction of three coal-fired power plants, two of which would have belched inordinate amounts of mercury due to being fueled with coal mine waste.

Andy began his career as an Environmental Manager and Environmental Scientist at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management from 1985 to 1992.  He developed statewide regulations, policies, compliance and enforcement programs in the Office of Air Quality.  He served as compliance inspector and enforcement case manager.  Andy holds a B.A. in Geography from Indiana University in 1985, with a certificate in Environmental Studies.

Andy is drawn to the wetlands near East Bay.  “I love the Seven Bridges area,” Andy says.  “It’s absolutely magical.  I also love exploring Ptobego Creek watershed because the lower pond is a great example of a drowned river mouth wetland, geologically speaking.”

Andy can be reached at 231~935~1514, ext. 1 or aknott@gtbay.org. 

Sarah U’Ren has worked for the Watershed Center since 2002.  She authored the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Protection Plan and administers its many grant-related programs.  Sarah also directs the Watershed Center’s beach and volunteer monitoring programs, and she launched its Stream Search program in 2003.

Before moving to Traverse City, Sarah was employed by the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University and authored the initial version of the Muskegon River Watershed Management Plan.

Sarah holds a Bachelors degree in Science from Alma College and a Masters in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland. 

Sarah loves Grand Traverse Bay watershed landscapes and being able to work with rivers, wetlands, forests, urban downtowns, small creeks and inland lakes.  She enjoys walking trails at the Commons and along the TART trail near Clinch Park marina.  Sarah likes taking her young daughters to the Garfield Township park on Long Lake, the beaches in Suttons Bay and Elk Rapids, and to Moomers to eat ice cream while watching the cows.  She loves scenic drives in Leelanau County, especially in spring when the cherry blossoms are blooming and in fall.  She enjoys attending the Farmer’s Market in downtown Traverse City to get fresh veggies and apples.

Her favorite views of the Grand Traverse Bay watershed are sitting on the breakwall at Clinch Park marina, the lookout about halfway up Old Mission peninsula, and from the deck of the Inland Seas schoolship while it’s on the Bay.

Sarah can be reached at 231~935~1514, ext. 2 or suren@gtbay.org.

John has served as Grand Traverse Baykeeper since 2001.  John’s roots are five generations deep in the Leelanau County region.  John earned a Masters in Science Education from the University of Michigan in 1971.  He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, served five years of active duty, served 15 years in the Naval Air Reserve, and retired as a Commander in 1986.

John taught in public schools in South Portland, Maine for 28 years, retiring in 1997. While living in Maine he raised a very special daughter with his former wife Linda.  John served as an elected official in Freeport, Maine for 17 years. He served on the school board for three terms and as chairperson for two years. He served on the Town Council for three terms and chaired it for two years. The Greater Portland Council of Governments honored him in 1993 as Citizen of the Year. John served on the Governor's Regional Transportation Advisory Council in Maine from 1992 to 1996.

John returned to Traverse City in 1997 to live with his wife Lynne. He is a board member of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council and serves on the Garfield Township Planning Commission.  John is one of the few members of the Grand Vision Coordinating Group who has served continuously since its inception in 2005.  He is also on the Executive Committee of the Traverse City Transportation and Land Use Study.

John says, “This special place has nurtured me in my life.  My dad was born and raised at Point Betsie and the Manitou Islands.  I grew up on the beach of Grand Traverse Bay in a cottage hand-built by my great grandfather in Northport.  The Watershed Center is an important, independent and influential organization allowing me to give back to this wonderful place and help protect the waters that define it.”

John can be reached at 231~935~1514, ext. 3. 

Denise graduated cum laude from Indiana University in 1989 with a double major in Journalism and English.  She puts those communications skills to work protecting Grand Traverse Bay.  Denise has served as Advancement Director for the Watershed Center since June 2008.

Denise served as Assistant Development Director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, Indiana’s largest environmental non-profit organization, from 1997 to 2004.  She launched Monitor, Indiana’s environmental magazine, and served as its Managing Editor from 1990 to 2006.  She also served as Administration Director from 1990 to 1994 and as Board Member from 1994 to 1996.

Denise moved to Interlochen in 2004 so her daughter could attend Interlochen Arts Academy.  She is the humbled mom of Ariadne, an award-winning playwright who had a play produced at the Kennedy Center at the tender age of 17.

Denise has owned SmartypantsWrite.com, a freelance copywriting and graphic design marketing business, since 2004.  She worked for the Watershed Center from 2004 to 2008 as an independent contractor and volunteer on direct mail fundraising and educational brochures.

She also serves as Managing Editor of Dunes Review literary journal and as a board member of Michigan Writers.

“I immediately knew when we first moved to the area that the Watershed Center would be my number one focus of support,” Denise says.  “I was remarkably impressed by how much such a small-staffed organization with such a modest budget had accomplished to protect gorgeous Grand Traverse Bay.”

Denise loves to stand on the very tippy edge of Old Mission peninsula and inhale the entire Grand Traverse Bay watershed.  She also says, “I love to stare at the cerulean waters of West Bay from the Watershed Center office deck.  Every day, I give thanks that we are blessed with Grand Traverse Bay’s beauty, and that I have the opportunity to protect this magnificent portion of Mother Earth.”

Denise can be reached at dbaker@gtbay.org or 231~935~1514, ext. 4.

Ellen Kohler has been an attorney for 16 years, specializing in natural resources, environmental and land use law.  She holds a Master's degree from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, and a law degree from the University of Colorado.

After working as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, on wildlife matters, she moved to northern Michigan and began working in private practice.  Her clients have included the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians for natural resources and fisheries issues; Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council for water resources policy; the National Wildlife Federation for wetlands litigation; plus numerous other local non-profits and private citizens.

Ellen is the author of A Citizen's Guide to Water Quality Permitting: Understanding the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program and its Role in Michigan and co-author of What is a Taking?  Exploring the Boundary Between Public Interest and Private Property.  She has also authored law review articles about the role of the public in environmental decisionmaking in Michigan, developments in groundwater management, and tribal legal interests in Great Lakes waters.  She has served on the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Environmental Advisory Council and is a board member for the Great Lakes Leadership Academy.

She served on the board for the Watershed Center for four years.  She works on a contract basis for the Watershed Center on policy and legal matters.

Ellen lives in Traverse City with her husband, Matt, a science and math teacher, her two children Anna and Peter, and several animals.

Ellen loves paddling the Boardman with her children, swimming in the Bay, and exploring the Bay when its frozen.  "It becomes like a community playground with people fishing and skating and skiing and ice boating," she says.  "I love to listen to the sounds of the ice and the different kinds of ice that form.  We see lots of fox tracks from the shore, over the ice, out to the water.  And we see Bald Eagles, young and old."

"I love the commitment of the folks that work here at the Watershed Center, I love the amount we get done with a small staff and a small budget,"  Ellen says.  "I love the sense of possibility and engagement I feel here.   And I love that I get to work on both legal and policy issues -- trying to figure out how to make something that is important to protect water quality into good policy that works in the community that understands the importance of its water resources, the way the people who live here do."

Ellen can be reached at 231~935~1514 or ekohler@gtbay.org.

Deb grew up half a mile up the road from the Watershed Center office on West Bay.  She is part fish and LOVES the water.  She’s married to Mike, a member of the Fabulous HornDogs.  Deb is the mom of Katy and Kellie; Kellie holds an environmental degree from MSU and has taught her much.  Deb is also a canner, gardener, tree hugging, dirt, sun and beach worshipper.  She’s been a bookkeeper most of her life.

Deb LOVES the mitten of Michigan, especially the little finger, and the waters that surround it.  She also loves camping, cooking, gardening, the most amazing Black Labby in the universe, Leelanau County, her profession, the environment, Oberon, butter and chocolate!  She is proud to participate in her way in protecting what she holds dear.

Deb can be reached at 231~935~1514 on Thursday mornings.