About The Gorge Refuge Stewards
Who We Are and What We Do
About The Gorge Refuge Stewards
Who We Are and What We Do
The mission of the Gorge Refuge Stewards is to connect the regional community to the Gorge Refuges through partnership, public education, advocacy, and habitat restoration. We envision an engaged community that actively values natural areas.
We believe in the power of nature to teach, inspire, transform, enrich our lives, and feed our souls. And that we carry a great responsibility to protect, preserve, enhance, and restore natural areas to keep them healthy and safe for future generations to experience. We believe in exploring while restoring and sharing our passion to protect nature with our family, friends, and community.
We were founded in 2006 by Gay Leslie who had a vision and a desire to support the US Fish and Wildlife Service's efforts to conserve wildlife on the 3 wildlife refuges on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. Working closely with then Refuge Manager, Jim Clapp, Ms. Leslie convened a group of like-minded community members to volunteer their time as advocates for the Refuges, and thus the Refuge Stewards were born. Now 12+ years later, the Refuge Stewards have grown and changed from a handful of dedicated Board members to an organization which hosts yearly events like the Youth Photo Contest, and EcoBlitz, supports hundreds of volunteers who have provided over 3000 hours of their time a year, and even hired our first employee, our Volunteer Coordinator, in 2015.
Current Board Members
Randy Fortish, Co-President
Brette Greenwood-Wing, Co-President
Dave Miller, President-Elect
Dave Pinkernell, Past President
Rick Jones, Treasurer
Bruce McFadden, Secretary
Chris Chappell
Sherene Huntzinger
Larry Stryker
Refuge Stewards Staff
Jared Strawderman, Stewardship & Community Engagement Coordinator
Committee Chairs
Sherene Huntzinger - Business Committee
Jared Strawderman - Community Connections Committee
Jared Strawderman - Diveristy, Equity, and Inclusion
Brette Greenwood-Wing & Randy Fortish- Executive Committee
Dave Pinkernell - Governance Committee
Dave Miller - Habitat Committee
Partnerships
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The mission of the Gorge Refuge Stewards is to preserve and enhance the native species of Steigerwald Lake, Franz Lake and Pierce National Wildlife Refuges through public education, advocacy and habitat restoration.
We believe in the power of nature to teach, inspire, transform, enrich our lives, and feed our souls. And that we carry a great responsibility to protect, preserve, enhance, and restore natural areas to keep them healthy and safe for future generations to experience. We believe in exploring while restoring and sharing our passion to protect nature with our family, friends, and community.
We were founded in 2006 by Gay Leslie who had a vision and a desire to support the US Fish and Wildlife Service's efforts to conserve wildlife on the 3 wildlife refuges on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. Working closely with then Refuge Manager, Jim Clapp, Ms. Leslie convened a group of like-minded community members to volunteer their time as advocates for the Refuges, and thus the Refuge Stewards were born. Now 12+ years later, the Refuge Stewards have grown and changed from a handful of dedicated Board members to an organization which hosts yearly events like the Youth Photo Contest, and EcoBlitz, supports hundreds of volunteers who have provided over 3000 hours of their time a year, and even hired our first employee, our Volunteer Coordinator, in 2015.
Current Board Members
Randy Fortish, Co-President
Brette Greenwood-Wing, Co-President
Dave Miller, President-Elect
Dave Pinkernell, Past President
Rick Jones, Treasurer
Bruce McFadden, Secretary
Chris Chappell
Sherene Huntzinger
Larry Stryker
Refuge Stewards Staff
Jared Strawderman, Stewardship & Community Engagement Coordinator
Committee Chairs
Sherene Huntzinger - Business Committee
Jared Strawderman - Community Connections Committee
Jared Strawderman - Diveristy, Equity, and Inclusion
Brette Greenwood-Wing & Randy Fortish- Executive Committee
Dave Pinkernell - Governance Committee
Dave Miller - Habitat Committee
Partnerships
United States Fish and Wildlife Service