Board of Directors

Are you called to serve?

EcoForesters is currently seeking two dedicated community members to join our board. If you are interested in our mission to conserve and restore Appalachian forests and would like to learn more about serving on our Board of Directors, please email lang@ecoforesters.org for more information.

Linda Tatsapaugh

Board President | Co-Owner and Operator of Talisman Programs

Linda has specialized for over 25 years in serving young people on the autism spectrum or other special needs and their families.  In her tenure in residential programming, Linda has created and run summer camps, schools, and a young adult program, providing services for ages 8 to 24 with executive functioning and social communication disorders.  A 1990 A.T. Thru-hiker, her other true love is the mountains, woodlands – pretty much everything outdoors – and she is passionate about conserving our wild places.  Having served on the board of MountainTrue, she is excited now to help EcoForesters lead the way in private land conservation.

Rob Lamb

Treasurer | Former Consulting Forester/Business owner

Rob founded EcoForesters in 2015 out of a desire to increase the large scale restoration of degraded Appalachian forests through the use of positive impact forestry. As co-founder and Executive Director of Forest Stewards at Western Carolina University from 2006 to 2014, Rob worked on thousands of acres and with hundreds of landowners, seeing the urgent need to restore ecological resilience to our forests first hand. In addition to the Appalachian region, he has also worked for forestry and conservation organizations in Ecuador, Colorado, and New England. When he doesn’t have his head in the trees professionally, Rob enjoys getting out in the woods with his three kids and playing music with friends. Rob’s love for forests goes back to a childhood with a lot of time spent escaping the urban confines of Atlanta and backpacking in the southern Appalachians, culminating in his 2001 thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

Dr. Alex J. Finkral

Vice President | President & CEO, Eastwood Forests

Alex is President and CEO at Eastwood Forests, a company dedicated to forestland investments that generate competitive financial returns and positive ecological impacts. Prior to that, Alex was the Chief Forester at The Forestland Group,  an Assistant Professor of Forest Management at Northern Arizona University’s School of Forestry and before that, he was the manager of the Yale Forests at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Alex has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Tech and serves on the USDA Forestry Research Advisory Council. As vice president, Alex brings a wealth of forestry knowledge and strong leadership skills to help guide EcoForesters’ future. In his spare time he takes pride in managing a modest wood pile and attempts to heat his home with wood as much as possible.

Rebekah Robinson

Assistant Director for Programs, Conserving Carolina

Rebekah grew up in Alabama and earned a BA in Anthropology from Auburn University and a JD from Tulane Law School with a certificate in Environmental Law. She first fell in love with the mountains of western North Carolina at a summer camp in the Asheville area. As a law student she interned with the Southeast’s leading non-profit environmental law firm and represented community organizations as part of Tulane’s Environmental Law Clinic. After briefly practicing law in Raleigh, Rebekah returned to the non-profit world when she joined Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy (now Conserving Carolina) in 2009 with AmeriCorps Project Conserve. She now fulfills roles of grant administration and land protection, particularly projects with public recreation access. Rebekah enjoys exploring the mountains and rivers of North Carolina and beyond, kickball, reading, and cooking.

Josh Kelly

Public Lands Field Biologist, MountainTrue

Josh was born in Madison County, N.C., and went to school at UNC Asheville, earning a degree in biology. He then worked for the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, where he focused on identifying remnant old-growth forests on public land, and at WildLaw, where he worked to promote ecological restoration as the new paradigm of National Forest management. Josh has also helped the Forest Service conduct rare plant surveys and save hemlocks from hemlock woolly adelgid. At MountainTrue, Josh monitors logging and development issues on public land and provide site-specific, scientific information to promote ecological restoration and oppose ecologically damaging management. “We live in a time when the human footprint on the planet is bigger than ever and our need to come together to solve environmental problems is urgent. Public lands comprise the largest and highest quality natural areas in this great country and are truly priceless. The most rewarding work I have done has involved helping to steer Forest Service management towards a paradigm where we as a society give back to the land, rather than just take”, says Josh.

Jay Lanier

Key Account Director, Interface, Inc.

Jay is a Key Account Director with Interface, the world’s leading commercial flooring manufacturer and a globally-recognized pioneer in the field of industrial sustainability. He serves on the boards of The National Wildlife Federation, Muddy Sneakers, EcoForesters, the NextGen committee of the Ray C. Anderson foundation and the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Next30 committee. Jay is passionate about continuing the legacy of his grandfather, Ray Anderson, the founder of Interface, who dedicated his career to demonstrating the business logic of sustainability. Originally from Atlanta, he now lives in Asheville, NC with his wife, son and birddog. Jay graduated from Wake Forest University in 2005 with a BA in English and is an avid fly angler, outdoorsman and naturalist.

Pat Snyder

Land Broker/Managing Broker, National Land Realty

Pat is the managing broker of National Land Realty’s Western North Carolina office, a retired military officer, and a Rotarian. He specializes in the sale of large acreage land tracts for homestead, conservation, investment, recreation, agricultural, and family estate uses. Most of the clients he supports have conservation and sustainability goals. By connecting them with EcoForesters and local Land Trusts, these owners are empowered to be better stewards of the land and can understand how to best protect our unique ecosystems in the mountains. Pat has lived in many parts of the world and experienced many diverse environments and cultures but chose to move to the Asheville area because of the mountains, community, and access to nature. Pat is also a REALTOR Land Institute Member, and on the board of directors of the Rotary Club of Asheville, and Blue Ridge Honor Flight.

Desirae Abella

Conservation Outreach Coordinator for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Natural Resources Department

Desirae is an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and of Omaha descent. She has a BS in Plant and Environmental Science from Clemson University and a MS in Plant Sciences from The University of Arizona. Desirae is the Conservation Outreach Coordinator for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Natural Resources Department and serves as a liaison between EBCI and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) providing outreach, conservation planning, and technical assistance to the tribe and tribal members.  Desirae also manages the Sochan Gathering Program,  issuing permits to enrolled EBCI tribal members to harvest sochan for Traditional Purposes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Tracy Eames

CEO of TEAMES & CO

Tracy Eames is the CEO of TEAMES & CO, a boutique consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations reach their most ambitious growth goals. With a passion for transformative projects, Tracy is committed to leveraging her experience amplifying brands, developing innovative products and leading organizations through game-changing growth to help nonprofit organizations achieve their missions. Tracy is a member of the Asheville Rotary Club, the past President of the Research Triangle Rotary Club, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Rotarian Action Group for Community & Economic Development as well as Camp Susan Curtis. While Tracy grew up on the ocean as the daughter of a commercial fisherman, she is now an avid hiker, and one of her favorite parts of living in Asheville is enjoying the beautiful forest trails. She holds a MBA from ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon.