Advisory Committee | Essex Land Trust

The Science and Technical Advisory Committee

The Essex Land Trust Science and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) was established in 2020 to provide the land trust stewards and the Board of Directors with information and guidance on a wide range of scientific considerations, for the purposes of supporting more informed decisions and better management of ELT preserves. In recent years, the STAC has helped the land trust in numerous areas. Examples of their activities are:

– Advised stewards on maintenance of meadow and shrubland habitats and invasive species control along waterways, such as at Pond Meadow Preserve

– Created a riparian evaluation survey and worked with Valley HS students on its use

– Helped to characterize the key natural resource features and challenges of recently acquired properties such as Turtle Creek and Toby Hill Ridge

– Reviewed land trust Nature Guides for accuracy before publication

Chet Arnold coordinates the STAC and serves as liaison between the STAC the land trust Board and the Preserve Management Director. Chet is the Director of Special Projects and is currently on his second tour of duty with the Board, having served previously from 1995-2011. He also serves as a member of the STAC, bringing expertise in water resources management from his 34-year career at UConn as a Water Quality Extension Educator and the co-founder and Director of the Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR). At CLEAR. Chet’s work focused on innovative stormwater management (“green infrastructure”), and the use of GIS and remote sensing technologies to track changes in the Connecticut landscape.

Dr. Juliana Barrett is a retired Extension Educator at UConn and a faculty member of both the Connecticut Sea Grant Program and the Center for Land Use Education and Research. Juliana is a coastal ecologist, specializing in the restoration of coastal habitats in the face of climate change and invasive species. In the later part of her career, she developed and co-taught an undergraduate course at UConn focused on impacts of, and responses to, climate change in Connecticut towns. She is co-author of the book The Vegetation of Connecticut. She has helped ELT out on numerous occasions, walking potential acquisitions to give us her advice and assessment of the properties, and, most recently, advising the stewards on plantings in the Millrace preserve in Ivoryton.

Steve Gephard, retired fisheries biologist from a 42-year career with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), is an internationally known expert on anadromous fish (fish that spend their life in the ocean and return to fresh water to spawn, such as Atlantic Salmon and River Herring). Steve was a key player in the construction of the fishways on the Falls River, including the newest one at the spillway behind Centerbrook Architects, and has worked with ELT on each project. Steve is on the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut River Conservancy and is a columnist for Estuary magazine.

Leslie Kane is the former Director of Center Operations and Business Planning for the Audubon CT and Audubon NY programs. In that role, she was in charge of Audubon’s 700-acre Bent of the River preserve in Southbury and served for many years on the Board of Directors of the Southbury Land Trust. Leslie was trained as a landscape architect and has expertise in the management and enhancement of bird habitat. She now works as a part-time consultant on parks, recreation, open space, and trails master planning. Before working for Audubon, her career included serving as the Environmental Planner for Guilford, CT, working on the Eight Mile River watershed project as an educator at UConn, and a stint with The Nature Conservancy/Connecticut Chapter.

Anne Penniman is a registered landscape architect and the recently retired principal of Anne Penniman Associates LLC, which she founded in 1991. Anne has implemented designs that range in scale from private contemplative gardens to public park master planning, infusing her projects with native plant species and habitat development as well as collaborations with New England-based ecologists. Many of her projects have received regional awards and recognition. Anne received her B.A. from Yale University and her Masters in Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia, that included an intensive urban design program in Vicenza, Italy. Anne is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a registered Landscape Architect in Connecticut and New York. She formerly served on the Boards of the Essex Land Trust, the Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound and the State of Connecticut Board of Landscape Architects.

Bob Russo is a Certified Soil Scientist and Environmental Scientist with CLA Engineers, Inc. in Norwich, CT. Mr. Russo has been involved with wetland and environmental investigations and permitting throughout Connecticut since 1990. His experience includes utility, roadway, commercial and residential projects. He is familiar with permitting requirements on the local, State and Federal levels. He has also provided on-call soil scientist, permitting and inspection services to several municipalities in Eastern Connecticut. Bob lives in Ivoryton and has conducted vernal pool walks for the land trust in past years.

Lisa Wahle is a retired wildlife habitat biologist who worked for more than a decade with the Wildlife Management Institute, CT DEEP, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and CT landowners to restore populations of the imperiled New England cottontail (NEC) and other young-forest dependent species. She provided technical expertise to the DEEP Wildlife Division for statewide NEC project planning and implementation, as well as population monitoring and reporting. Prior to that she worked with CT DEEP in water quality monitoring, reporting and education. Lisa chairs the Chester Conservation Commission, serves on the Board of the Connecticut Botanical Society and participates in various bird surveys and conservation efforts in Connecticut.

Tom Worthley is an Extension Professor and Forester and has been at UConn for more than 25 years. In addition to teaching undergrads on the basics of forestry, Tom works with landowners on the management of their forest land. In recent years he has been quoted widely in the press for his explanations of ash tree die-offs related to the emerald ash borer, and the oak mortality related to spongy moth infestations. Tom also works with the Eversource Center at UConn on forestry practices that can reduce power outages during severe storms. In his private life, Tom is a longstanding member of the Haddam Land Trust.