Staff

Carol Vander Meer, Executive Director

When Carol arrived in Humboldt County from Nebraska in 1994, she was immediately drawn to the coastal dunes. They were curiously reminiscent of the Nebraska sandhills where she did her Master’s work on the ecology of the Niobrara River valley. Carol brought with her experience as a high school biology teacher, a nature center director and naturalist. She started with Friends of the Dunes as a volunteer docent while she worked as a park ranger at Redwood National Park, and later as the Education Coordinator at the HSU Natural History museum. Gradually, her volunteer service turned into a part-time job and eventually a position as full-time position as Executive Director.

Carol lives in Manila along the shores of Humboldt Bay with her husband Steven. When the tide is high, they enjoy paddling the waters of the bay and up into the Mad River Slough.

Maggie Stoudnour, Education Coordinator

Maggie grew up in Maine where she spent many hours beachcombing and tidepooling. Some kids dream of being astronauts or fire fighters. Maggie announced to her parents at the age of 7 or 8 that she wanted to be a beachcomber when she grew up. Maggie had an appreciation for nature instilled in her at a very young age and believes that kids of all ages (including the adult ones) should spend time playing and learning in the great outdoors. Her love of teaching combined with a deep interest in the natural world led her to the field of environmental education, and she has worked in this field for the past 10 years. She moved to Humboldt County in 2003 and fell in love with the beauty of the beaches and dunes here. She first became involved with Friends of the Dunes as a volunteer for the Bay to Dunes school education program in 2003. She has a B.A. in Human Ecology from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana and an M.A. in Social Science in the Environment and Community program at Humboldt State University.

Maggie lives in Bayside with her husband Brian, baby son Griffin and two large beach-loving dogs. She enjoys gardening, writing, playing music and yes, beachcombing, in her spare time.

Emily Walter, Restoration Coordinator

Emily has been with Friends of the Dunes since interning as a Humboldt State University student in 2001. Emily enjoys working with the community to help them connect to the coast through restoration activities. Her education includes a B.S. from HSU in Natural Resources Planning and Interpretation with a soon to be completed M.S. Prior to working for Friends of the Dunes she worked for teh U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Nature Conservancy. She can't get enough of the dunes during the work week and can often be found exploring them on her days off.

Suzie Fortner, Bay to Dunes Coordinator

Suzie spent a lot of time tide pooling as a child – collecting shells and poking anemones. She went on to earn her Bachelor's degree in Marine Biology at UC Santa Cruz, where she enjoyed swimming at the many pocket beaches and collecting, identifying, and pressing algae. After slowly making her way up the California coast to Humboldt County, she is now pursuing a Social Science Master’s degree in the Environment and Community Program at Humboldt State University, with a focus on nature education. Her belief that children need and deserve real experiences in nature brought her to Friends of the Dunes to explore our beautiful coastal habitats with young Humboldt County students. Suzie spends most of her free time enjoying Humboldt’s diverse outdoor areas, and making things from yarn and fabric.

Denise Seeger, Coastal Naturalist Coordinator

Denise grew up in Marin County, CA and did not realize the rest of the world was not covered with redwood trees and had quick access to rugged and sandy beaches until she turned twelve and her family moved to the Sacramento Valley. After attending many Mrs Elizabeth Terwilliger nature walks, she decided that was what she would do when she “grew up”, lead nature walks. She came to Humboldt County in 1984 to attend HSU’s Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation program. She worked with California State Parks and cooperating interpretive associations for about 14 years, mostly at Humboldt Redwoods State Park. In 2002, she was presented with the opportunity to become the Friends of the Dunes Volunteer & Program Manager. Denise met the love of her life while doing Share the Beach Outreach. Their son’s middle name is Plover. Denise is very happy to be working with all the fantastic people associated with north coast resource conservation and education efforts.

Pamela Bell, Bookkeeper

Pamela is a self-employed bookkeeper with over four years of bookkeeping and financial management experience with businesses and non profits. Experienced in QuickBooks, Excel and Microsoft Word.

John St. Marie, Facilities Manager (volunteer)

Lisa Hoover, Land Trust Committee Chair (volunteer)

Lisa has a B.A. in Botany from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, M.S. Humboldt State University, Natural Resources, Active volunteer with FOD since 1984, past president. Forest Botanist, with U.S. Forest Service, Six Rivers National Forest, 1991-present.

Coastal environments are close to Lisa's heart as she grew up venturing from Virginia (her birthright) to the barrier islands off of North Carolina with her family. She continues that sojourn there at least once a year (see photo). Upon arriving in Humboldt County, her interest in conservation and her inclination toward coastal settings lead her to FOD where she remains to this day.

Steven Vander Meer, Webmaster (volunteer)

Steven has a B.F.A. from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design and is the owner/artist of Meer Image Fine Art Rubber Stamps. He is a self-taught HTML and CSS coder and makes arduous hand drawn animated films in his spare time.