SEACC’s board of directors gives the organization solid governance and unparalleled connections to the land, waters and communities in and around the Tongass National Forest.

All of SEACC’s board members live in Southeast Alaska, many for decades or even their entire lives.

As fishermen, biologists, entrepreneurs, small timber operators and more, the SEACC board brings SEACC the diverse knowledge and experience necessary to recognize, understand and resolve many of the issues facing the forest and the communities which depend on it.

SEACC "Get to Know Us" ads  featuring board members

2009

Member Group Representatives

Alaska Society of American Forest Dwellers—Joe Sebastian, Kupreanof. Since 1978, Joe has been a commercial fisherman in Southeast Alaska, mostly in Pt. Baker on Prince of Wales Island. With his wife, he raised two children, now grown, in remote homes and on his fishing boat. Joe played an integral role in getting Congress to preclude logging corporations from clear-cutting within 100 feet of a Tongass salmon stream.

Chichagof Conservation Council—Steve Lewis, Tenakee Springs.  Steve feeds his passion for the underground Tongass by spending significant amounts of time exploring and mapping the karst and cave resources on Prince of Wales and elsewhere in Southeast Alaska. He is a wildlife biologist by trade, and has studied Sitka Black-tail deer on Coronation Island, bats on Prince of Wales Island, and since the late 1990s, has worked with whales throughout Southeast Alaska, and Steller's Sea Lions on Lowrie Island, west of Dall Island in the southern Tongass.  When he’s not on a boat or in a cave, Steve is working to maintain his wilderness home outside Tenakee, chopping firewood, hiking or kayaking. Steve says the Tongass is his favorite place because it is still a relatively connected and intact system—isolated beauty spots don’t make a functioning ecosystem.  “We have to maintain connectivity among all the special places if they are to stay that way.”

Customary and Traditional Gathering Council of Kake—vacant.

Friends of Berners Bay—vacant

Friends of Glacier Bay—Bill Brown, Gustavus.  Historian and long-time National Park Service (NPS) employee Bill Brown came to Alaska in 1975 as part of the NPS d-2 Task Force. On passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980, Bill became the Alaska Regional Historian and later park historian for Denali and Gates of the Arctic National Parks. His book, This Last Treasure, Alaska National Parklands, was first published in 1981, and re-issued in a large format edition in 2005, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of ANILCA. Bill is enjoying his retirement in Gustavus, and two of his sons, an ER doctor and a fisheries biologist, still live in Alaska.

Juneau Alaska Youth for Environmental Action—Hannah Wilson, Juneau. Hannah Wilson is a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School. She was born in Southeast Alaska and has lived here all her life. She spends much of her time exploring around Tenakee Springs.

Juneau Audubon Society—Meg Cartwright, Juneau.

Lynn Canal Conservation—Eric Kocher, (Secretary) Haines. Eric moved to Haines in the summer of 2007 so he could experience and explore Alaska’s wild and beautiful places, or just step outside and “touch the mountains.”  In 1981, he climbed Denali along the seldom-traveled South Buttress route and he has twice competed in the Yukon River Quest, the world’s longest annual canoe and kayak marathon. A public interest attorney before moving to Southeast Alaska, Eric accepts court appointments to represent those who cannot afford an attorney, but he spends most of his time outside the courtroom guiding raft and kayak trips, volunteering on an ambulance crew, and spinning jazz and country music on local public radio.

Narrows Conservation Coalition—Eric Lee, Petersburg. Eric’s family has been a fishing family in Petersburg, Alaska for over a hundred years.  Eric was born in Petersburg, has lived there most of his life and is now carrying on the family tradition as a commercial fisherman and SEACC board member. When he’s not fishing, he spends time at his cabin, bar-be-ques seafood for friends and hunts for deer in the forest.

Prince of Wales Conservation League—Mike McKimens (Treasurer), Craig. Mike McKimens was the Public Works Director for the City of Craig on Prince of Wales Island for over 20 years. He recently helped the city heat three buildings with wood waste. Now semi-retired, Mike works part time for a local engineering firm, helps developing countries improve their water and wastewater utilities and runs a marine charter business. Mike worked with the Forest Service, local mills and Prince of Wales Island communities to design the micro-sale timber program that supplies affordable and sustainable timber to dozens of small mills.

Sitka Conservation Society—Marian Allen, Sitka. Marian is a longtime educator in Southeast Alaska and currently helps develop online professional training courses and teaches as an adjunct faculty member at the Sitka campus of the University of Alaska Southeast. After traveling the Inside Passage by ferry in 1978, Marian moved to a small island in Sitka Sound in 1979 where she raised her family and taught, tutored and developed curricula mostly on cold water safety and survival. These jobs provided Marian opportunities to travel extensively in Southeast Alaska. With “the sea in her blood” and a longstanding love for the mountains and trees, Marian enjoys hiking, sailing, and subsistence fishing from her skiff, and getting away to the wilderness as often as she can.

Wrangell Resource Council—Stephen Todd (Co-Vice-President), Wrangell. Stephen is a fisheries technician on the Stikine River for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He has also worked on commercial fishing boats, as a carpenter and as a trip leader for youth-at-risk wilderness programs. He and his wife enjoy raising chickens, eating off the land and sea, and remodeling their storied old home. They get out hiking or canoeing when they can. Stephen has lived in Southeast Alaska since 1996 and in Wrangell since 1999.

Yakutat Resource Conservation Council—Ray Sensmeier, Yakutat.

At-Large Representatives

Clay Frick, Juneau.

Paul Barnes, Gustavus. Paul is a commercial fisherman and avid outdoorsman. He spends most of his time in Icy Strait long lining for halibut, in his cabin mending gear or in the woods outside Gustavus hunting moose.

Vicki LeCornu, (Co-Vice-President) Hydaburg. Vicki’s family has lived on Prince of Wales Island for generations. She belongs to the Haida Beaver, Sculpin, and Frog clans in the Eagle moiety and has been a traditional Haida weaver since the 1980's. She cares deeply about the rights, pride and culture of her people and has put that passion into action as a member of the federal subsistence board and in both city and tribal administrations. She is an original Sealaska shareholder and is dedicated to revitalizing and sharing Haida language, art and subsistence traditions. Learn more about Vicki and her art at MyHydaburg.org.

Joan McBeen (President), Tenakee Springs. Joan “Joanie” moved to Alaska in the mid-1970s after falling in love with the incredible beauty and wildlife of the Tongass. Joan lives a subsistence lifestyle in Tenakee Springs with her husband Jed where they eat primarily from what they can grow, catch or hunt. A retired commercial fisher and sport lodge owner, Joan enjoys exploring Southeast Alaska and fly fishing whenever possible.

Mike Sallee, Ketchikan. Mike was born in Ketchikan and, with the exception of college in Fairbanks and three years in the Army, he’s lived in Southeast Alaska ever since. An adventurer at heart not afraid of hard work, Mike spent much of his life as a deck hand on a variety of commercial fishing vessels in Southeast waters and as far away as Monterey to the south and the Aleutian Islands to the north and west. In between, he’s done extended solo kayak trips around Southeast Alaska, climbed Denali and skied the Iditarod trail. Now, Mike harvest dives for sea cucumbers in the fall and owns and operates a small sawmill the rest of the year.

Wayne Weihing, Ketchikan. Wayne has lived in Ketchikan most of his life. A jack of all trades, Wayne has worked for the Ketchikan Pulp Company, fished and a variety of other work. He currently crafts top-quality wood products and is increasingly enjoying working with alder wood.

Bart Koehler, Juneau. Bart Koehler was twice SEACC’s executive director and as such helped enact the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990, protecting more than 1.4 million acres of prime Tongass wildlands. In his long conservation career, Bart has played a leading role in the lasting protection of more than 8 million acres of wild places including recent successes in Nevada, Montana, Virginia, New Hampshire, Vermont, South Dakota, Puerto Rico, and Oregon. Bart received his B.A. in Geography from the State University of New York at Albany and his M.S. in Natural Resource Management and Planning from the University of Wyoming. He also worked as a ranch hand for several years and has recorded two albums of original music with his band, the Coyote Angels.

Larry Edwards, Sitka. Larry came to Alaska in 1976 as a project engineer for the Alaska Pulp Company in Sitka. He retired from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as a biologist with many years of field surveys under his belt and has owned a kayak shop and worked several seasons in cold storage facilities in and around Sitka. Larry still bushwhacks through the wilds, eats as much from the land as he can and works to right wrongs done and not yet done to the Tongass.

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