Tabitha Ayres, Executive Director
Cathy Poshard, Program Manager
Dr. Mike Baltz
Mike is the former southern Illinois Area Director for the Nature Conservancy and is currently the Let the Sun Shine In program coordinator. He has a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Miami University and a PhD from the University of Missouri. His research area of expertise is migrant songbird ecology and conservation.
David Allen
David was born in raised in Saline County, IL. He holds a B.S. in Forestry from SIU, and an M.S. in Forestry from Penn State. He has spent 5 seasons fighting fires with the forest service, and 29 years as the District Forester with IDNR at the Dixon Springs facility. He has worked in numerous states and on many federal and state grants.
Jesse Riechman
A Southern Illinois native, Riechman holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Miami University in Ohio and a master’s in Forestry from Southern Illinois University where he published his research on the challenges facing prescribed burn practitioners. Jesse became the coordinator for the Southern Illinois Prescribed Burn Association (SIPBA) in 2012, where as an Illinois certified prescribed burn manager he oversees burns in the 11 southernmost counties of Illinois. Riechman has served as the State Chair of the Society of American Foresters and as board member for the Friends of Touch of Nature and Friends of the Cache River. He served on the Makanda Township Fire Department for 13 years, and is a wildland firefighter and engine boss with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Nicholas Seaton
Nicholas moved to southern Illinois from Kankakee, Illinois in 2010 to pursue a degree in forestry from SIU. After graduating, he worked with The Nature Conservancy on the Invasive Species Strike Team managing invasive plant populations throughout southern Illinois. He then returned to SIU to pursue a graduate degree in plant biology. Following his completion of his degree, he joined the RC&D as coordinator for the CWMA.