Kathryn Neal, Chair Jefferson County
Kathryn moved back to the Peninsula in 2002, after a 15-year stint as a Professional Engineer (Civil), designing and constructing salmon habitat restoration projects in King County. She grew up in Port Angeles, and feels that the Olympic Peninsula is her true home. She lives on Discovery Bay, and spent ten years commuting back to Port Angeles where she served as the Civil Engineering Manager for the City. In that time, she came to know of the exceptional quality of the Salmon Coalition’s habitat work. She started volunteering at tree planting events, and interacting with the 7th-graders in the Real Learning Real Work program — all very enjoyable!. Since 2019, she has also been volunteering on the Board of Directors. She is proud to be associated with the Salmon Coalition, because of the tremendous impact we are making on North Olympic Peninsula’s salmon habitat, the partnerships that make the Coalitions’s work possible, the community-mindedness that underlays all our efforts, and the beautiful contributions that all of the volunteers make! Her career was in public works design and construction, and being involved with restoration work is most inspiring. Kathryn especially enjoys being part of the changes in how we inhabit the land, in such a way that it maintains its vitality. Kathryn also loves hiking and kayaking, and is kind of an omnivorous reader.
Jim Pearson Jefferson County
Jim came to the Olympic Peninsula in the early 1970s and fell in love with it's mountains, forests, and rivers. He’s lived here ever since. He’s been a long time NOSC volunteer, participating in beach seining, restoration planting, the Real Learning/Real Work education program, and coho salmon surveys. His favorite volunteer activity has been conducting chum salmon surveys on Chimacum Creek that allows him to share his love and knowledge of his home creek with other NOSC volunteers. Jim has a Masters in Public Administration and had a career in Jefferson County government. He administered the County’s Shoreline Management Program, authored the County’s Surface Water Management Plan, and was involved in wetlands protection, stormwater management, and non-motorized transportation. Jim was an avid white water kayaker who paddled most of the Olympic Peninsula’s rivers. In addition to the excitement and scenery, kayaking enabled him to observe over time the dynamic interplay of forests, hydrology, and geology that creates salmon habitat. He’s been deeply impressed by the skill and commitment of the NOSC staff and their capacity to plan, finance, and carry out landscape scale projects such as the Marrowstone Island bridge/Kilisut Harbor channel restoration.
Vern Bessey, Secretary Jefferson County
Vern was born and raised in Port Angeles, where he developed a love for the outdoors camping with the family and backpacking in the Olympics. He left in his early 20’s and worked for the US Forest Service, BLM, and National Park Service before settling into a job with a city as environmental programs manager. During those working years he completed a BS degree in Environmental Science and a Masters in Environmental Management. Upon retirement, Vern and Vida returned to the Olympic Peninsula and settled in Port Townsend. Vern has been a NOSC volunteer since 2016, participating in chum and coho salmon surveys and habitat restoration projects. He enjoys gardening, live music, hiking, and exploring wild places. Vern believes strongly in NOSC’s mission to restore salmon habitat and help educate the next generation and looks forward to helping support this important work.
Sarah Hadlock Jefferson County
Sarah joined the NOSC board at the end of 2021. She is a CPA and the owner of The Business Guides, an accounting firm focused on small businesses and their owners. Sarah studied studio art, economics, and accounting at Linfield College, and following graduation, moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and traveled in India before returning to the Northwest. After several years in fundraising in Seattle, she and her husband Justin relocated to Port Townsend. When she’s not at the office, Sarah and Justin are likely out looking for birds to add to their life list (700+) or dreaming up travel plans to tropical environments. In fair weather she joins Justin on their Rustler 31 sailboat out on Port Townsend Bay or on trips to the San Juan Islands.
Hansi Hals, Vice Chair Director of Natural Resources, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Hansi has always had a love of the outdoors and wild places. It was only natural to study plants and work toward conservation and ecological restoration. She spent years studying ozone pollution and its effects on timber along the eastern seaboard. Now, Hansi works on multiple natural resource management issues for Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe including improving water quality and salmon habitat. Hansi’s experience includes field work, grant writing, project management; and patience and persistence for getting through meetings and process. She holds a BS. from Colby College and MS. From the University of New Hampshire.
Andy Brastad Clallam County
Andy and his wife moved from Gainesville Florida to Port Angeles in August 1979. He had numerous jobs from 1979 to 1985 working for NOAA in the Foreign Observer program monitoring fish catchments on Korean and Japanese stern trawlers; helping with a halibut population study (i.e. documenting catch data on an antiquated long-liner) in the Kodiak/Seward area for the International Halibut Commission; tracking salmon with radio transmitters sewed into their gut for a study on the importance of log jams in the salmon life cycle (WDNR); and documenting the smolt migration patterns, physical damage, and motility rates through two dams on the Elwha river (ONP). From 1985 to 2020 he was employed by Clallam County working in natural resources programs, environmental health and human services. His work included watershed management planning, ground and surface water programs, instream flow rule development, water quality protection strategies for shellfish growing areas and he also represented Clallam County in numerous natural resource planning committees. He retired in August 2020 as the Director of the Health and Human Service Department. In his personal life he likes to fill his free time doing physical activities. He enjoys hiking, bicycling, riding and fixing his Harley which he has been doing for over 40 years. For relaxation he practices Qi Gong, an ancient Chinese meditation practice to improve heath, and once a week he teaches Qi Gong at the Port Angeles Senior Center.
Scott Chitwood Port Angeles
Scott became solidly connected to the aquatic world while growing up in northern Virginia. From the age of 12, all of his free time was spent on a river and a large reservoir close to his home. He attended the University of Washington and earned his B.S. in Fisheries Management in 1978. He worked many seasonal jobs with the UW, WA Dept. Fisheries and National Marine Fisheries Service. His first permanent position was with the Quileute Tribe where he served as Technical Services Manager in the Fisheries Department. He worked for a brief time at the Makah Tribe managing river fisheries. Scott became immersed in state-tribal co-management while working for the Quinault Indian Nation as the Senior Biologist in the Fisheries Division. In 2001 Scott was hired as the Fisheries Manager for the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe. Soon after, he was asked to take on the role of Natural Resources Director where he remained until retirement in 2018.
Cheryl Lowe Port Townsend
Cheryl grew up playing in the woods, camping with her family and exploring the outdoors. She has been involved in conservation and natural resources for most of her career, with an emphasis on plant communities, habitat restoration, and community engagement. She worked for land trusts, a native plant botanic garden and most recently, Jefferson County WSU Extension’s Water Programs, where she coordinated projects and introduced adult learners to the many opportunities for volunteering with local organizations like NOSC. Cheryl has been a dedicated NOSC volunteer since 2013, when she was first introduced to fyke netting at Discovery Bay. Over the years, she has participated in spawner surveys, numerous plantings, education programs and writing articles for the NOSC newsletter. When not hiking, gardening or volunteering with NOSC, she leads field trips with the Natural History Society and participates in other local conservation efforts. She holds a BS from Cornell University and an MS from University of Delaware.
Lexi Wagor Port Angeles
Born and raised in and around Seattle, Lexi developed a deep respect for the world around them. Lexi holds a B.A. from the Evergreen State College, where their studies focused on the intersections of human culture and the natural environment. As a member of the Washington Conservation Corps, Lexi served on a crew in Olympia that conducted forage fish spawning surveys all over the Salish Sea and later as NOSC's Education and Outreach individual placement. Drawn to community-centered conservation through their time working with NOSC, Lexi now works to help others build stronger relationships with the landscapes that nourish them as the Community Relations Manager at North Olympic Land Trust.