I moved to Arden in July 2018 and became a member of the Forest Committee soon after that (November 2020). I am a biologist by training (Ph.D., 1990) and I continue to expand my knowledge by taking advantage of many courses and other resources offered by the Delaware Cooperative Extension, Mt. Cuba Center and Penn State Extension. I have completed online courses in Plant Identification and Forest Stewardship, Plant Pathology and Entomology. In addition I have participated in webinar series on Invasive Species, Storm Water Management, Stream Repair, Assessment and Mitigation of Deer Impact on Wooded Areas, Soil Ecology, Tree Pests and Diseases and most recently a series of webinars about the diseases affecting our beech trees. I completed the Tree Tenders Training offered by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and in May 2023 I became a certified pesticide application through the Delaware Department of Agriculture.
I truly love being and working in our woods and I have a prodigious amount of energy for that work. As a member of the Forest Committee, I have taken responsibility for organizing our weekly volunteer sessions to remove invasive species, plant native species and maintain the trail, among other activities. My primary focus as a member of the Forest Committee has been on control and removal of invasive species. I plan to continue these efforts if re-elected to the Forest Committee. In addition, I have considerable experience in grantsmanship. In 2022 I co-authored the grant proposal, “Deer Impact on native regeneration after invasive species removal” that was submitted to and funded by the Delaware Invasive Species Council. In 2023 I helped prepare the Civic and Forest Committee’s Community Water Quality Implementation Grant for a bioretention garden, which was funded for $75,000.
I hope to continue my work as a member of the Forest Committee and would appreciate you vote on March 23.
DATE: 3/10/2026