Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute
Welcome to the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute's website!   Celebrating seventeen years of 'connecting people, place and community'.
Our main program areas include Watershed Restoration, Environmental Education, Transportation, Community Food Systems, and Energy.  Check them out!
Find out about upcoming events, links to useful websites, local issues, and answers to some of your pressing questions.
Vist the issues and events surrounding some special places around the palouse...
Make a donation, become a PCEI member, sign up to volunteer, or learn about fellow supporters of this rapidly growing organization! Learn about our history, download and read our past newsletters, and find out about possible internships or job openings. Get directions to our office, or contact our board or staff members.
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Our Staff



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(Scroll down page for complete staff list and Program areas)


Thomas C. Lamar, Executive Director
PCEI's Executive Director since 1990. His twenty-eight years of experience in the public interest sector has helped PCEI increase citizen involvement in environmental issues. Tom has also taught Conservation Leadership at the University of Idaho, Conservation Social Sciences Department for the past six years. In 2007 he was elected to the Moscow City Council. Tom holds an MS degree in Environmental Science from Washington State University (1985). He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and Anthropology at the University of Delaware in 1982. While at Delaware and WSU, Tom studied the medicinal use of Plants by the Shipibo Indians of the Peruvian rainforest. Tom's background includes Central American peace organizing in the 1980's. He also worked with the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides for two years as an advocate for pesticide exposure victims. Tom enjoys swimming, running, bicycling, triathlons, and gardening. Email Tom


Greg Fizzell, Education Program Director
Greg earned a MS in Forest Resources from the University of Idaho, a BS in Forestry from the University of Illinois, and has been working in the field of environment and education for fourteen years. In 2001, he co-founded the University of Idaho McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) along with Dr. Steve Hollenhorst. Greg now manages PCEI environmental education efforts and is Program Director for MOSS.
In addition to environmental education, Greg's interests include dogs, guitars, college football, and being outdoors with friends and family.Email Greg


Tracy Brown, Watersheds Program Director
Tracy joined PCEI's Watershed Program in August of 2004. Tracy completed her Masters in Natural Resources (MNR) at the University of Idaho. At UI, Tracy focused her energies and coursework on understanding the ecological, social, political and economic issues surrounding natural resource management. Her final master's project reflects her interest in freshwater management and restoration and involved the development of a monitoring plan for PCEI restoration sites. Prior to living in Moscow, Tracy and her husband, Alan, were enjoying the mountains of Colorado where she completed her undergraduate degree in Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. This degree and her love for wildlife led to numerous jobs in the wildlife research field. One of her most exciting experiences was working with The Peregrine Fund releasing Harpy eagles into the rainforrest of Panama. In May of 2007, Tracy and Alan welcomed their first baby boy into the world. Kobe Finch Stubbs Brown is an amazing new addition to the Brown Family. They hope to include him on all (or most) of their outdoor adventures! Email Tracy


Erin Rishling, AmeriCorps Placement Director
After graduating high school in McLean, Virginia, Erin moved back out west to attend the University of Idaho. She graduated in 2000 with a degree in English Literature and her secondary teaching certificate. For the past four years, she has been teaching Language Arts at Kendrick High School. Erin is now extremely excited to be part of the PCEI team working as an Outreach Program Assistant. The opportunity to travel throughout Idaho, visiting our AmeriCorps members and seeing firsthand their contributions, dedication, and hard work in our Idaho communities is one she greatly appreciates.

In her free time, Erin loves traveling the world, reading good books, attempting to write a publishable children’s book, hot springing, and being with friends and family.

Email Erin

Laurie Gardes, Financial Manager
Originally from San Diego, Laurie has been a Moscow resident since 1990. She holds an MBA from California State University, Sacramento. Her BA is in Diplomacy and World Affairs with an emphasis in economics from Occidental College in LA. She volunteers with numerous community organizations and enjoys running, gardening reading, and biking around town in nice weather.

Laurie and Henry Gardes (see staff picture below) have commuted on foot to PCEI since 1997. Actually, Henry's only been on staff since 2002, but before that Winston Gardes was the PCEI guard dog. With 2 grown children off in college in New Zealand and Hawai'i, Laurie and husband Kevin are spending as much time as possible traveling to see friends and family, and in Sonora, Mexico at La Mariposa Azul, their rental house on the beautiful Sea of Cortez. Laurie appreciates being able to do much of her PCEI work telecommuting from home and from fun places. She might want to be a snowbird once the college tuition bills are paid. Email Laurie


Jen Hiebert, Office Manager
Jen was born and raised in northern Manitoba, Canada, where she developed a love for the outdoors and a commitment to environmental issues. A convoluted career path has led her to her current position at PCEI. She has been a research assistant working with everything from fish eggs to seal pups, has taught self-defense for women, and was a Front End Manager at the Neighborhood Co-op Grocery/ in southern Illinois.

Jen also has a B.Sc. in Ecology and a Master’s in Watershed Ecosystems. She has enjoyed living in many places (including France and New Zealand) but thinks Moscow is the perfect picnic spot. Jen loves cold weather, photography, music, spending time with her husband and family, and spoiling her dog, AJ. Email Jen


Sara Robson Cucksey, Watersheds Project Manager
Sara is no stranger to PCEI, she worked with PCEI as a watershed restoration technician during the 2003 field seasons. A 2005 graduate of the University of Idaho with an M.S. in Rangeland Ecology and Managment with an emphasis in restoration ecology, Cucksey re-joined the PCEI watershed team in April 2006. Robson has a diversity of experience including serving in the Peace Corps in Nepal from 2000-2002 and working with the Whitman County Noxious Weed Control Board Assistant Coordinator from 1999-2000.

At home in Moscow, Sara’s allies include husband, Ellis, daughter, Camas (born July 2009),Jaeger, Henna, and G.G--the fourleggers. Like any good ecological restoration specialist, Sara enjoys growing and planting native plants, and getting really dirty. In her spare time she enjoys reading, learning new plants and birds, knitting, and cooking. Email Sara



Jenica Wood-Beauchamp, Education Program Manager
Jenica’s roots lie in upstate New York, where she grew up playing outside and spending long hours exploring her family’s garden, pond, and stream. After earning her B.S. in Natural Resources Planning and Interpretation at Humboldt State University, Jenica taught at several non-formal education settings: two residential outdoor schools, Yellowstone National Park, Mount St. Helens, the Santa Barbara Zoo, and the Pacific Science Center. In 2005 Jenica returned to school for her M.Ed. in Environmental Education through Western Washington University. This program included a year-long professional residency at the North Cascades Institute’s Environmental Learning Center in which she lived, worked, learned, and played within sight of glaciers. Jenica joined the PCEI community in August 2007. When she’s not working in the office, you might catch her hiking, plunking away on her guitar, knitting Christmas presents, or practicing her cake decorating skills through Jenica's Caketastic Creations. You can also email Jenica


Luke Sheneman, IT Consultant
Luke Joined PCEI in the summer of 2007 as a part-time IT consultant. He is responsible for maintaining the entire computing and telephony
infrastructure at PCEI. Luke earned his bachelor's degree in Computer
Science from the University of Idaho in 1996 and subsequently gained
valuable industry experience while living and working in Silicon
Valley. While in self-imposed exile in California, Luke did IT work for
companies such as Netscape and Inktomi (acquired by Yahoo!). More
recently, Luke earned his Ph.D in Bioinformatics and Computational
Biology from the University of Idaho in late 2008.

With a keen interest in woodworking and timber framing, Luke has helped build several unique structures for PCEI over the years including a timber framed Artist Studio and several pedestrian bridges. Luke enjoys playing the cello, moving unusually heavy things, building with massive timbers, and spending as much time as possible outdoors. Luke is the proud father of two amazing daughters and one young puppy.


Laura Milewski, Volunteer Coordinator
Laura's roots lie in the beautiful and lively city of Chicago. It was as an undergrad at Lawrence University in northern Wisconsin that she fully developed her passion for environmental work, social activism and educational event planning! During her last year at LU, she worked in the Volunteer & Community Service Center as a coordinator of environmental and social justice programs. This experience, along with her work as a quasi-environmental educator through Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program, fueled her passions and Laura now strongly believes that she really can begin to change the world. She worked as an AmeriCorps member in the role of Community Outreach Specialist at PCEI for 1 1/2 years before transitioning to Volunteer Coordinator. Overall, Laura enjoys rocking out on her flute, keeping in contact with her little brother and sister back home, playing with her beautiful and oh-so intelligent dog Mya, spending time with her wonderful fiancé, and stargazing. Most of all, she hopes to someday do service work in Africa. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~ Gandhi Email Laura


Aly Lamar, Membership Coordinator
Aly is a proud Colorado native. Studying in Durango, Colorado (where Aly received her BA in Political Science) increased her passion for the outdoors, leading her to work in wilderness areas throughout the Northwest, Southwest and Alaska. She has served as a Youth Corps Leader for 3 years, guiding outdoor work projects in trail construction and watershed and habitat restoration. Aly is an accomplished backpacking and mountain biking instructor having treked extensively on the Colorado Trail and in Copper Canyon, Mexico. Aly is also the founder our Women's Mountain Biking Clinics and on her days off from PCEI, she can be found working part-time at B & L Bicycles. Aly has served as an Environmental Educator at PCEI for 2 years, our first Volunteer Coordinator and now as our first Membership Coordinator. Aly Lamar spends her free time triathloning and running, mountain biking, swimming , playing hockey, teleing, and snowshoeing. She is an active member of the Moscow community, serving on the boards of the League of Women Voters of Idaho, the and the League of Women Voters of Moscow. Aly is a proud member of the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute, the Moscow Food Co-op, the Moscow Giving Circle, the Latah County Historical Society. Friends of the Clearwater, Radio Free Moscow and the Moscow Area Mountain Biking Association .
Email Aly Lamar at aly@pcei.org.


Sandi Billings, Grants Coordinator
Sandi Billings has been a non-profit fund developer and manager for more than 15 years. Other than that, she’s never concentrated on one area for too long—there’s too much more to do. She’s part space cadet, with a masters’ degree in planetary science and undergraduate in space science; part river rat, having worked as a guide on the Salmon River; and part earth mother, with a love for animals, seasons, and places with few humans per acre. From KRFP Moscow, Sandi produces and hosts Yin Radio, a syndicated community talk show featuring women’s voices, stories, and concerns. She lives in Moscow in a household of two people, two cats, and two dogs. Email Sandi


Colleen McColl, AmeriCorps Placement Coordinator
Colleen grew up in Southern California where she learned the value of water at an early age. Water resource quality and quantity continue to be major points of interest for her. She has received a Master’s in Soil, Water, and Environmental Science from the University of Arizona and a Bachelor’s in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from Ball State University. In her free time, Colleen enjoys spending time outdoors, dancing, and singing karaoke in the comfort of her own home.

Email Colleen

Daniella Drader
Daniella (also known as Donna) Drader started volunteering for PCEI in 2004 while she was working in the Nez Perce Tribe’s Forestry/Fire Division. She became a PCEI member during her master’s program in Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University. Donna is thrilled to now join the PCEI team as a staff member promoting the AmeriCorps program!

Donna has completed two joint AmeriCorps/Student Conservation Association (SCA) projects and has held leadership positions within Roots & Shoots and the Natural Leaders Network. She is dedicated to serving in her local and global community, particularly when it involves getting outside. Originally from Romania (but growing up in Ohio), she likes cooking (or trying to cook) Eastern European food, Transylvania (where her family is from!), and confusing her husband with half-English/half-Romanian conversations. Donna is fascinated by people’s passions and will try almost anything once. This fascination has kept her path adventurous.

Adrienne Boland - MOSS Program Coordinator
Adrienne is a Moscow, Idaho native that started out as an art major and turned to science. After a tour of many colleges in the west she came back to Moscow to finish her degree. She came to McCall to participate in the Graduate Residency in Environmental Education program at MOSS. She has completed two AmeriCorps positions through Friends of the Clearwater and PCEI, both of Moscow, Idaho. The last two summers have been spent monitoring Coeur d’Alene Salamanders in the Clearwater National Forest. She has a passion for learning and research and passes this along to all that she meets. Adrienne enjoys hiking, biking, rock climbing, mountaineering, snowboarding, skiing, knitting and art. One day she would like to guide women’s adventures. She hopes to continue her schooling and study salamanders or alpine ecology. Email Adrienne



Laura Sass, Environmental Educator AmeriCorps Member
Laura grew up in Ohio and received her B.S. in Secondary Life Science Education from the University of Findlay. During college she studied abroad through Semester at Sea traveling to 12 different countries around the world. Also, she participated in whale research in Baja California Sur, Mexico. She enjoys football (Go Bucks!), alpine skiing, camping, and live music. Last year Laura spent a year as a field instructor at the McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS). There she received some great experience in environmental education as well as took graduate classes. After her year at MOSS, she wanted to further her experience in environmental/outdoor education so she signed up for a second year of AmeriCorps and is now an environmental educator for PCEI. She looks forward to getting to know Moscow and gaining additional experience teaching. Email Laura

Jonathan Fortner, AmeriCorps Member, Environmental Educator
Jonathan was born and raised in Livermore, California. He has spent much of his life in the outdoors enjoying the beautiful landscapes of California, Alaska, Canada, South America and New Zealand. He graduated with a degree in Child Development and with a minor in psychology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Jonathan has a passion for the environment and sharing its wonders with children. He is happy and excited to be bringing this passion to his AmeriCorps position at PCEI as an Environmental Educator. He enjoys kayaking, rafting, rock climbing, cycling, gardening, and anything else that takes him outside. Jonathan hopes to someday work in the non- profit sector continuing his work for our environment and youth.

Adam Hein, Americorps Member, Restoration Technician
Adam grew up in Pullman, WA then moved to Butte, MT to study engineering at Montana Tech. He took a break from school to build homes and work with volunteers during an Americorps term in North Carolina. After spending some time on the Gulf Coast to help with hurricane Katrina recovery, he returned to Butte and recieved his B.S. in Environmental Engineering in December of 2009. It was during his time in Butte (a heavily impacted mining area) that Adam developed an interest in environmental restoration. He is glad to be back working in the Palouse and hopes that his experience with PCEI will lead to an exciting life of environmental service. Adam enjoys flyfishing, mountain biking, backpacking, and is an avid rugby player.

Lee Wicker, AmeriCorps Member, Restoration Technician
Lee Wicker is from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. His love of the outdoors and nature started from birth. Growing up he enjoyed biking, canoeing, fishing, and catching anything that moves. These interested carried on into college. He attended North Carolina State University and received a BS in Natural Resources. His work background is diverse including forestry, entomology, and wildlife research for North Carolina State University, and sage grouse research for the University of Wyoming and University of Nevada Reno. He is now working with PCEI as a stream restoration technician where he hopes continue learning and serve those he works with and those he works for.

Sasha Podolak, AmeriCorps Member, Restoration Technician
Sasha is a Colorado native and spent her childhood exploring the Rocky Mountains. She continued her passion for the outdoors at Colorado State University where she earned a degree in Natural Resource Management and a minor in Watershed Science. During her time in college Sasha started playing ultimate frisbee and continues to enjoy this along with snowboarding, fly-fishing, rock-climbing, and riding her bike. Her recent work has been with the USDA conducting vegetation studies on the rangelands of Colorado and as part of a stream survey crew with the USFS. She is always eager to learn new hobbies and is excited about getting to know the Inland Pacific Northwest. Sasha hopes to link past teaching experiences with future work concerning rivers.

Zach Johnson, AmeriCorps Member, Restoration Technician
Zach grew up in Northern Idaho around Coeur d’Alene. Living and playing in the mountains has significantly shaped his life and outlook. Hiking, mountain biking, disc golf, and snowboarding are some of his favorite activities; he also loves relax and listen to music. He enjoys working outdoors and has been involved in construction work most of his life. He hopes to continue working somewhere along the lines of designing and shaping the landscape/environment/community in some way. Zach believes that life itself can be under-rated at times so… “live today like its gonna be your last.”

Henry Gardes, Director of Chewing
Henry has his work cut out for him at PCEI, he chews. Currently he is working on a large chunk of rawhide expected to last for about a week or two.
(Scroll up page for staff photos and bios)

Administration
Executive Director Thomas C. Lamar lamar@pcei.org
Financial Manager Laurie Gardes gardes@pcei.org
Grants Coordinator Sandi Billings sandi@pcei.org
Membership Coordinator Aly Lamar aly@pcei.org
Volunteer Coordinator Laura Milewski laura@pcei.org
Office Manager Jen Hiebert jen@pcei.org

Watersheds
WS Program Director Tracy Brown tracy@pcei.org
WS Project Manager Sara Cucksey sara@pcei.org
Restoration Technician (*AC) Adam Hein adam@pcei.org
Restoration Technician (*AC) Zach Johnson zach@pcei.org
Restoration Technician (*AC) Sasha Podolak sasha@pcei.org
Restoration Technician (*AC) Lee Wicker lee@pcei.org

Education
Education Program Director Greg Fizzell fizzell@pcei.org
MOSS Director of Education Karla Bradley karla@pcei.org
MOSS Program Coordinator Adrienne Boland adrienne@pcei.org
Education Program Manager Jenica Wood-Beauchamp jenica@pcei.org
Environmental Educator(*AC) Jonathan Fortner jonathan@pcei.org
Environmental Educator(*AC) Laura Sass sass@pcei.org

AmeriCorps Placement
AC Placement Director Erin Rishling rishling@pcei.org
AC Placement Coordinator Colleen McColl colleen@pcei.org

(*AC)=AmeriCorps Members


last update: 2/2/2010

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Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute
P.O. Box 8596 • Moscow ID 83843 • (208) 882-1444 • info@pcei.orghttp://www.pcei.org