LNRP
P.O. Box 62
Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
Inquiry@LNRP.org

Founder
John Roberts

John Roberts brings to LNRP his experience as a career dairy veterinarian, part owner of a dairy farm and a passionate concern for the environment. John is a long time resident of both the northern and southern ends of the lakeshore basin. The foundational philosophy of “solutions through community” was his initiative as LNRP’s first president. John is an avid canoeist, kayaker, bird watcher, botanist and has spearheaded the most comprehensive scientific study of any river system in the basin. He understands the people, the agricultural backbone and the local environmental concerns that are part of the fabric of living in this beautiful and productive lakeshore region. He knows that LNRP is an essential and proven way to make things even better.

President
Don Pirrung

Don is a professional engineer and professional hydrologist involved with environmental engineering projects. He is a Senior Engineer at Earth Tech, an engineering consulting firm in Sheboygan, WI. His project experience includes water quality studies, wastewater treatment facility design, landfill evaluation and design, and other water related projects. He has over 30 years of experience in environmental engineering and has a MS and BS in Civil Engineering. For recreation, Don enjoys fishing, hunting and camping. He played a key role as a member of the Friends of Fischer Creek in saving a 130 acre parcel of Lake Michigan shoreline in Manitowoc County from development and creating a park for generations to enjoy. The project was so unique and special that Public Television prepared a documentary on the project which was narrated by singer James Taylor as part of an overview of successful environmental projects within the Great Lakes.

Vice President
Chris Goebel

Chris is the former executive director of Glacial Lakes Conservancy, a Wisconsin nonprofit land conservation organization serving Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Kewaunee, Calumet and Fond du Lac counties.  He is a lawyer by training, and also holds a masters degree in forest management.  An Illinois native and always a Midwesterner at heart, Chris has moved around a bit in his career, among other things serving time in Washington, D.C. as a staff attorney in the U.S. House of Representatives and heading the National Association of Chemical Recyclers, a trade group of hazardous waste management businesses.  Since coming to Wisconsin in 1999, he has negotiated more than fifty conservation easements covering wetlands, forests, working farms, lake and stream shoreland areas and conservation developments.

Treasurer
Ed Douglass

Ed has a Ph.D. in development communications with a minor in cultural anthropology. His work in the last 25 years has been in developing countries, helping colleagues in Africa and the Middle East to design communication strategies that encourage people to adopt and sustain specific behaviors that will improve their health and that of their families. He has worked on a variety of public health challenges from childhood immunizations, to malaria, to drinking water and sanitation. It is from his work in water and sanitation that he has developed an abiding concern for the safety of drinking water in the Lakeshore basin. Ed is one of the founding members of the LNRP. He also served on the board of the Door Property Owners for nine years.

Secretary
Tom Ward

Tom was Department Director for the Manitowoc County Soil & Water Conservation Department for the past 32 years. Prior to arriving in Manitowoc County he worked in the Eau Clair County Zoning office.  After graduating college at UW Steven’s Point with a degree in Natural Resource Management, he dairy farmed with his parents for two years.  Tom has facilitated the development of a number of Citizen Organizations in Manitowoc County such as the Friends of the Branch River, the Manitowoc County Lakes Association, Pigeon River Watershed Monitors, and Ground Water Guardians. He was past State President for the Soil & Water Conservation Society and helped re-organize the State chapter to improve operations, organized and was a charter member of the Great Lakes Non-point Abatement Coalition (GLNAC).  Tom is currently Secretary for the Wisconsin drainage areas of the Great Lakes.  He is also currently assisting with the development of a Great Lakes Coalition of organizations to focus on restoring the Great Lakes.

Directors

Norma Bishop

Norma took the helm as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in June of 2005, following a “tour of duty” as the Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum in California.  Her passion for the environment comes from growing up camping and boating on the Great Lakes.  She believes that the Museum’s mission includes informing the public about the environmental challenges facing the planet’s largest watershed.  An attorney, Ms. Bishop practiced law in Santa Barbara, California and specialized in the law of tax-exempt organizations.  She has provided consulting services to private and public foundations and a variety of public benefit organizations, including charter schools, research organizations, and advocacy groups.  An adjunct professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she taught Nonprofit Finance and Fundraising Law and provided seminars in the subject at the California State Bar Annual Conference.  Ms. Bishop served 21 years on active duty in the United States Navy and subsequently worked for the Department of Defense as community liaison in the base closure process, addressing many of the local communities’ environmental and land use concerns.

Don Schwobe

Don is a retired dairy farmer currently raising heifers, steers and hogs. He is a member of the Calumet county board of supervisors and serving on the finance, public grounds, senior care and rules committees. Don was elected as Calumet county clerk and served for eight years from 1967-1974, he was also elected as township assessor for ten years. Don enjoyed previous membership in the Glacier Land Resource Conservation and Development Council and the Great Lakes non-point Abatement Coalition and was also past president of The Calumet County Fair Association.

Andy Wallander

Andy has been the Head and County Conservationist of the Kewaunee County Land & Water Conservation Department for the last 19 years.  He attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Fox Valley Technical College earning a degree in Natural Resources Technology.  Andy started his environmental career at the Sheboygan County Land Conservation Department as an intern and the Conservation Planner for the Farmland Preservation Program.  He also spent some time at the Manitowoc County Soil and Water Conservation Department as a Wildlife Damage Technician for the Wildlife Damage Abatement and Claims Program.  Andy first came to Kewaunee County Land and Water Conservation Department as a Watershed Project Technician.  At work, he’s most proud of the continuing great relationship his department has established with local partner agencies such as the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Farm Service Agency, and of course the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership.

Fred Depies

Fred brings experience related to agriculture and local food systems as well as good business sense.  Fred got involved in agriculture beginning in 2001 when he organized a Sustainable Farm Fair. From 2003, Fred has been producing the Farm Fresh Atlas of Eastern Wisconsin that lists producers and processors that practice sustainable agriculture.  In 2004, Fred was appointed the Calumet County Representative to Glacierland RC&D Coordinating Council where he still retains his seat.  In the same year, he began coordinating the annual Fall Food and Energy Fest at the Ledge View Nature Center.  In the last two year, Fred has been a Technical Service and Education Provider for Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) grant.  He also has been the project manager for GLCI research projects on Fish Foliar Spray and Compost Tea.  He has started NEW Food, a regional food development organization, and the Sheboygan Area Local Food Alliance (SALFA).  Finally, in April 2008, Fred was appointed to Wisconsin’s Buy Local Buy Wisconsin Legislative Advisory Committee.

Kelley O'Connor

Kelley grew up on small dairy farm near Pulaski, Wisconsin on what she calls a typical Irish Catholic family farm.  Her parents had 7 children plus hired teenage farmhands since her father also worked full-time for the Brown County Library for 30 years driving the Bookmobile.  She says she appreciates the fact that her father not only taught her about hard work and farming, but always kept her and her siblings well supplied with books to read! Kelley has spent most of her professional life with state agencies in environmental management positions.  For the last three years, she has been the Lakeshore Basin Watershed Supervisor at the Department of Natural Resources and is responsible for all watershed activities in Door, Kewaunee, and Manitowoc Counties.  Kelley received her bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources Management and Soils from UW-Stevens Point and then continued her education getting her master’s in Environmental Science and Policy from UW-Green Bay.  Before becoming the Watershed Supervisor, Kelley had three other positions at the DNR and previously worked as a DOT/DNR Liaison.  She started her professional career with Brown County Soil and Water as their first County Conservationist.

Rock Anderson

Rock grew up in Chilton, WI, a river rat, fishing, exploring and waterfowl hunting on the Manitowoc River. After high school, he attended the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Wildlife Management. His first job out of college was a Conservation Technician for the Calumet Co. Soil and Water Conservation District. In 1978 he became the first County Conservationist for Calumet County. In the 1980’s he managed some of the first watershed protection projects in the state, The Winnebago East Shore and the South Branch of the Manitowoc. In 1993, Rock accepted a position as Environmental Engineering Specialist with the Wi. Dept of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.  In NE Wisconsin, Rock worked with other engineers in 14 different counties, assisting in the design of large water quality projects on large farms and in situations where the local government entity felt additional expertise was necessary. One of them was the development of miles of additional sturgeon spawning habitat in the Wolf River basin. Rock retired from state service in 2008 and as a confirmed “small town” guy, still lives with his wife Sherrill in Chilton. He now works part time as a design specialist for a private engineering consultant.

Staff

James Kettler
Executive Director

As an ecologist with special interests restoration ecology, agroecology, and ecosystem management, James received a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Georgia and a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. From 1985 - 1995, he worked at the interface of land management issues examining potential improvements of traditional agricultural systems and restoration of degraded pastures in Costa Rica, working with traditional farmers on inland fisheries development in West Africa, serving as an ecologist for the Nooksack Indian Tribe in western Washington State, and conducting training workshops on sustainable agriculture for agricultural extension agents in the state of Georgia.

James also taught at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Bard College. From 1996-2006, he was involved with the International Honors Program, as Traveling Faculty, as Academic Director, and Executive Director. Jim and his family live in an environmentally designed home using geothermal, passive solar, and a wood stove in the town of Centerville in Manitowoc County.

P.O. Box 62 Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 • Inquiry@LNRP.org • 920.304.1919

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