Our Santa Fe River, Inc. would like to welcome five new board members. Together we will inspire and empower each other and our community to become better stewards of our waters.
Matthew Albritton combines his expertise in geographic information systems (GIS) with a deep appreciation for the natural world. His work supports efforts to protect and preserve our environment, from tracking invasive species to optimizing emergency response systems. Outside of work, Matthew enjoys discovering hidden gems like the springs of North Florida, and exploring the great outdoors with his family.
Eric Anderson was born in Minnesota and has been loving Nature since he could walk. He has traveled to more than 25 countries which usually involves nature conservation and research. After moving to Gainesville in 1986 to attend the Santa Fe College Zoological Parks training program he started working with over 30 species of venomous snakes at a local collection. He worked at Morningside Nature Center back in the 80’s and then went to Environmental Science and Engineering for 8 years testing water and soil samples. After helping a local Landscape Designer build and create the Butterfly Rainforest at FLMNH he started his own Landscape Design & Installation business, ECOrestoration LLC, which he has been operating for 19 yrs. He likes to flats fish out of his kayak and is a Naturalist at heart. Ask him about insects, or other creatures and he will get excited!
Rennie Mills is a long term Alachua resident having moved to Gainesville in 1981 from South-West Florida. Alachua county provided an expansive tree canopy and plenty of outdoor activities which was a nice change from South Florida. She has found it a wonderful place to raise her three children, and now there is another generation coming up in Gainesville. She graduated from The University of Florida with a Bachelors of Science in Medicine and practiced as a physician assistant for 22 years. In 2017 she completed her Master’s in HealthCare administration from Western Governors University. Shortly after completing her education she transitioned to a new career in Real Estate. Shortly before this she and her husband moved to their home along the Santa Fe River in order to spend more time on the river. Since their move in 2015 they have been active in river clean up anytime they are out on the river. They are dedicated to working to keep the Santa Fe river as pristine as possible.
Dr. Valle-Levinson is a Professor in the Civil and Coastal Engineering Department.
He was awarded the prestigious CAREER award by the National Science Foundation. He has received research and visiting fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, from the Mexican Academy of Sciences, from the University of Western Australia, from Utrecht University, from the Chilean Science and Technology Council, from the University of Bordeaux, from Kyushu University, from the University of Pernambuco, Brazil and from University of Padua, Italy. He is an author of 230+ peer-reviewed publications in international journals. His research on coastal hydrodynamics is recognized worldwide, specifically in the areas of morphologic effects on estuarine and coastal circulation, and on wind-driven, tidally driven and density-driven circulation. An estuary of southern Chile, off Aysen fjord, was named in his honor (‘Estero Arnoldo’). In 2012, he became one of the <100 worldwide Corresponding Members of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. He is Chief Editor of Continental Shelf Research, and Associate Editor of Estuaries and Coasts, and Journal of Oceanography. He has published a textbook on estuarine hydrodynamics.
Dr. Steve Walsh is retired from the U.S. Geological Survey, where he was a research scientist for over 30 years. His interests are in the area of conservation biology, biodiversity, and ecology of aquatic organisms, primarily fishes and invertebrates. He has worked in freshwater and marine ecosystems including in the southeastern and central U.S., Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Islands, Neotropics, Southeast Asia, Western Pacific, and Africa. He has a bachelor’s degree in Biology from St. Louis University, a master’s degree in Zoology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and doctorate in Zoology (now Biology) from the University of Florida, where he currently has courtesy faculty appointments in the School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, and the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH). In addition to his current board service on the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute and Ichetucknee Alliance, he has served in numerous other professional capacities with the American Fisheries Society, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Association of Southeastern Biologists, and Southeastern Fishes Council. In his retirement, Steve enjoys traveling, tennis, swimming, kayaking, reading, photography, gardening, and curating butterflies at the incredible FLMNH Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity.
We want to thank our current and past board members for their contributions as we welcome our new board members.
Kudos to the excellent line up of new board members. My heartfelt thanks go out to all who have and are presently serving the needs of our river.