A seven-member volunteer Chimacum Ridge Community Forest Board of Managers will oversee the establishment and operation of a community forest following the purchase of Chimacum Ridge Forest by Jefferson Land Trust from EFM by the end of 2023. EFM purchased Chimacum Ridge as our partner to give us the time we needed to to raise the money to purchase the forest.
The volunteer board role offers an exciting opportunity to guide the decision making for a shared community resource that will offer multiple lasting benefits for those living in, working in, and visiting Jefferson County. Working closely with a new staff Forest Manager, the Community Forest Board of Managers will guide recreational, cultural, economic, ecological, and educational planning for the community forest, balancing the many potential uses and benefits that the forest offers.
For the first three years, the Community Forest Board of Managers is expected to participate in the operations of the community forest (a working board), helping with the launch of the Community Forest and with the creation of the processes and policies that will allow the Community Forest to succeed.
The Community Forest Board of Managers is expected to transition to a Governing Board by the end of 2025. Candidates should be able to make a significant time commitment for the first three years (commitment described in detail below).
Jefferson Land Trust seeks to recruit members for the Chimacum Ridge Community Forest Board of Managers that fully represent the multiple interests, lived experiences, and deep expertise of our community. To promote equitable access to all our volunteer opportunities, Jefferson Land Trust has established an Access and Equity Fund that reimburses volunteers for costs such as travel, childcare, and elder care if these are barriers to participation. For a copy of this policy that details eligibility and a summary of the benefits it offers, please contact Blaise Sullivan at Jefferson Land Trust via email at bsullivan[at]saveland.org or by phone at 360.504.0794.
Three additional members of the Board of Managers are needed. If you’re interested in applying to serve on the Community Forest Board of Managers, please:
Tim Lawson moved to Port Townsend in 2004 and set up shop as a furniture maker. In 2007 he co-founded the Port Townsend School of Woodworking and in 2011 became the Executive Director. Since retiring in 2017, Tim continues to teach at the school and helps organize the annual Port Townsend Woodworkers Show.
In prior lives Tim worked as a field geologist in the UK, has done mineral exploration in NW Queensland and led software engineering teams in the UK, Japan, and the U.S.
Tim is a member and vice president of Jefferson Land Trust’s Board of Directors. He is also a member of LEO (the League of Extraordinary Observers) that works to photograph and document conservation projects throughout Jefferson County.
Former Board President of the Land Trust and an experienced nonprofit director, Owen Fairbank worked on a dairy farm in high school; with wetland restoration in Oregon, honing his awareness of issues of protecting native plants and controlling invasive weeds in sensitive habitats; and more recently appreciates continuing to learn about forest management.
Owen and his wife, Sarah, an avid Master Gardener, live in Port Townsend.
Owen is currently co-chair of the Land Trust’s Conservation Projects Committee.
Eric Nagle grew up in Washington D.C. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia and his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Maryland. After earning his law degree, Eric spent 30 years as a federal environmental attorney.
For the first eight years of his legal career, He was a prosecutor in the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., enforcing federal pollution laws. One of Eric’s notable cases was the successful prosecution of Exxon Corporation for the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
After leaving the Department of Justice, Eric worked for the Department of the Interior, spending the majority of his time in the regional office in Portland, Oregon, where he specialized in the Endangered Species Act. Eric’s main client was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and much of his work involved negotiating habitat conservation plans with landowners such as timber companies. He retired in 2017.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Eric was a research assistant with the Environmental Law Institute in Washington D.C., and an instructor with the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, Wyoming.
Eric and his wife, Darby Smith, moved to the Quimper Peninsula in 2018. They lived on Marrowstone Island for the first couple of years and then moved into Port Townsend. Since moving to the area, Eric has devoted much of his time to hiking in the Olympic Mountains, and to volunteer trail work. Darby spends most of her time making art, focusing on the natural world. In 2019, Eric and Darby took the Land Trust’s Tidelands to Timberline course, which gave them a wonderful introduction to their new home and to the work of the Land Trust.
Amy Louise Seidewand is a mother of four and lives in the rural farming community of Chimacum, WA. Amy has a rich educational background and diverse set of work and life experiences.
Amy began her career in conservation biology and forest ecology. She holds a B.S. in Environmental and Forest Biology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and an M.S. in Biology from Winthrop University. Throughout her 10+ years of research, field work, and public outreach she developed a specialty in conservation management of threatened species and mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts.
With the birth of her first daughter, Amy’s career began to transition into the field of midwifery and women’s health. She holds an M.S. in Midwifery from Bastyr University and specialized in maternal health research, botanical medicine, and clinical care. She worked in a high volume birth center and delivered more than 300 babies in Kitsap and Jefferson counties.
After many years of being on call as a midwife, Amy is now focusing on returning to her forestry and ecology roots. Amy has a passion for supporting community-focused projects and is excited to be helping with Chimacum Ridge Community Forest. She is also fostering a newly found passion for woodworking with lumber that’s locally sourced. Amy is in the startup phase of creating a woman-owned and sustainably minded woodworking company.
Amy enjoys hiking in the mountains, fermenting, gardening, sipping a good cup of tea, jumping in the Dosewallips River, and spending time with her family and very large dog.
