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The mission of the
Southwest Florida Watershed Council is to protect, conserve, manage
and/or restore the land and water resources of the Caloosahatchee and
Big Cypress Watersheds. Through increased awareness, participation and
cooperation among all stakeholders in consensus building, planning and
decision making, we are working to meet the economic, natural and
cultural needs for this and succeeding generations.
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Board
of Directors
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Sharon Arnold |
Sharon is
partner and vice president of the Fort Myers-based marketing and public
relations firm Gravina, Smith and Matte, Inc. With more than two decades of
domestic and international experience in the public relations and marketing
field, she has earned professional recognition for media relations,
advertising, crisis communications and newsletter production. She is
coordinator of the Water Enhancement & Restoration Coalition; tournament
director of the Southwest Florida Watershed Council Open; and is a member of
the Estero Bay Nutrient Management Partnership. Arnold is also a member of
the Public Relations Society of America and the Florida Public Relations
Association. She is a graduate of the University of West Florida.
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John Cassani |
John Cassani is a lifelong
outdoorsman, hanging around lakes and streams and chasing fish and frogs
since childhood. John wears many hats, but spends most of his time
as an aquatic biologist for the Lee County Hyacinth Control District, where
he manages vegetation in the Caloosahatchee River and various waterways
around Lee County. When not kayaking, fishing or listening to frogs,
John occasionally spends some time at FGCU where he teaches Watershed
Analysis and Planning and Limnology. |
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Matt Fisher |
Matt is the
Director of Sales & Marketing for the mitigation banking operations of
EarthMark Companies.
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Jennifer Hecker |
Jennifer is a Natural
Resource Policy Manager for the Conservancy, specializing in water
resource policy, endangered species policy, and environmental lands
acquisition and management. Her educational background includes a
Bachelors in Environmental Studies from Prescott College, a graduate
degree in Tropical Biology and Conservation from University of
Missouri-St. Louis as well as studying environmental law at the North
Carolina Central University School of Law. Prior to joining the
Conservancy, Jennifer was a Project Ecologist for WilsonMiller for
approximately two years and had worked for Hillsborough County, FL for
several years as an Environmental Specialist in their Environmental
Lands Acquisition and Management Program. Having worked for government,
for-profit, and the non-profit sectors, Jennifer embraces the Watershed
Council approach of involving a diverse stakeholder group to improve
water resource policy and preserve our quality of life in Southwest
Florida.
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Tamara Pigott |
Tamara is
the Deputy Director of the
Lee
County Visitor and Convention Bureau. One of her
responsibilities is to manage the funding for improvements to the more
than 50 miles of beaches and 1,000 miles of inland shorelines that
attract millions of visitors to the area. Armed with degrees in
economics and political science from Florida State University, she
oversees and implements the beach & shoreline program and its annual
budget of more than $5 million. Tamara and her family live in
Fort Myers.
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Greg Rawl |
Mr.
Rawl has over 25 years of experience in the fields of water resources,
hydrogeology and geology. He
has managed projects throughout the North American continent within the
realms of these disciplines. He
has a broad base of expertise as a result of his background as the Senior
Vice President of a specialty underground construction firm, a principal
geologist for multi-disciplined engineering firms and a supervising manager
for a regulatory agency directly involved with allocating water resources.
He is recognized as an expert in the design, simulation and
construction of trenched horizontal wells.
Mr.
Rawl’s experience covers large scale analysis of surface water and
groundwater systems throughout all the phases of a project: cost estimates,
design, regulatory permitting, groundwater flow and solute transport
modeling, data evaluation, report preparation, and field supervision.
He has also served as a consultant in areas such as water supply,
groundwater cleanup, remedial action plans, effluent reuse, landfills,
seepage studies, watershed simulation modeling, dewatering and dredge/fill
projects. In addition, he has
served in both a technical and managerial capacity with a regulatory agency
spanning a sixteen-county area of South Florida.
He has been used as an expert witness in cases involving groundwater
and surface water resources. |
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James Evans |
Mr.
Evans is an Environmental
Biologist with the City of Sanibel where he has worked for the last six
years. Prior to that, he worked for the Center for Environmental Studies at
the South Florida Water Management District’s Ft. Myers Service Center
assisting with research on the Caloosahatchee River. He has experience in
freshwater and marine ecosystems, protected species management, land
management, ecological restoration, water quality monitoring, and water
policy issues. James attended Cleveland State University and Florida Gulf
Coast University and has a degree in Environmental Studies and is currently
finishing up his Masters Degree in Environmental Science at FGCU. In his
free time, James enjoys kayaking, fishing, Scuba diving, hiking, camping,
and generally enjoys spending time outdoors in southwest Florida.
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