Advisory Council

Jeff is a marine and freshwater biologist at Washington Sea Grant within the University of Washington College of the Environment. His naturalist passion is discovering, interpreting, and sharing the amazing natural and human history stories of aquatic life. Jeff also serves on Vashon Nature Center’s Advisory Council, and acts as a link between the board and council.

Charlotte Basch-Lin is an enrolled member of the Puyallup Tribe, with family ties to the Clatsop-Nehalem and Siletz tribes of Oregon. She has worked for tribal and non-tribal organizations in education, museums, and cultural resources. In her current role, Charlotte continues to disrupt historically inaccessible spaces through addressing power inequities and redistributing resources. Charlotte holds a MA in museum anthropology and a BA in anthropology-sociology with a minor in Indigenous studies. Outside of work, you can find her in the mountains with her cocker spaniel Brody. Charlotte is the skipper for the swaq̓ʷsəb Canoe Family and a Level I certified Lushootseed Language Instructor.

John Browne moved to Vashon in 1982, but first visited the islands in 1949. He is a Washington native and self-described left-handed hippie, college dropout, tree planter, native plant fancier and nurseryman, parent and grandparent, occasional musician, community volunteer, amateur naturalist, emergency midwife, and omnivore. John has relied on wood heat exclusively since 1969 and hopes that his undying curiosity is inheritable.

Derek Churchill is a forester and scientist whose focus is applying ecological knowledge to on-the-ground forest management challenges across the Pacific Northwest, including on Vashon. In his postdoctoral work in the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Derek taught silviculture and used LiDAR to guide multiscale resilience management research in the Sierra Nevada and Colville National Forests. He is currently forest health scientist at Washington Department of Natural Resources.

Tom Devries, PhD, retired in 2014 after inspiring Vashon High School science students for 22 years. He maintains an active paleontological research program in Peru, where he has conducted field work since 1980. He earned his doctorate in geology at Ohio State University and did postdoctoral work in the School of Oceanography at Oregon State University. Tom is a member of the Island Union of Geologists and helped create the geology section of the Natural Wonder exhibit curated by Vashon Nature Center at the Vashon Heritage Museum from 2021–2023.

Angela Dillon is an enrolled member of the Puyallup Tribe born and raised in the Puyallup Valley. She graduated from the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences at the University of Washington and completed a master’s thesis on juvenile salmon diets, restoration, and invertebrate prey resources on Clear Creek in Puyallup. After working as a field biologist monitoring the health of juvenile salmon, Angela was hired as the water quality manager for the Puyallup Tribe Fisheries Department. In her free time, she volunteers for the tribe’s sustainability working group and the City of Puyallup.

Karen Fevold has an MS in ecosystems analysis and conservation from the University of Washington School of Forestry–ask her about the hyporheic zone! She has also inventoried salmon habitat, freshwater mussels, birds and plant communities on several King County rivers, streams, and the adjacent properties. Karen volunteers as a classroom mentor with the Vashon Nature Center sixth grade stream invertebrate program and leads bird walks as a board member of Vashon Bird Alliance.

Tessa Francis, PhD, is an aquatic ecologist whose research focuses on the conservation and restoration of aquatic ecosystems and consequences for socio-ecological systems. She was formerly a research scientist at the University of Washington Tacoma and chief of staff for the National Nature assessment.

Bob Fuerstenberg is a retired King County Department of Natural Resources lead aquatic ecologist who has had a decades long career focusing on the conservation and restoration of streams and salmon in the Pacific Northwest, and specifically King County. He lives on Vashon and has most recently co-authored a paper in the American Fisheries Society journal Fisheries addressing salmon habitat restoration in the Pacific Northwest.   

Ellen Kritzman has an MS in zoology and library science, and retired curator of mammals at the Puget Sound Museum of Natural History at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. She has authored several articles, and the field guide “Little Mammals of the Pacific Northwest” in 1977 published by Pacific Search Press. Ellen recently self-published a Guide to the Mammals of Vashon in 2023 and continues to be interested in sharing her passion for evolution, and biodiversity with other Islanders.

Heidi Hans Petersen, PhD, became fascinated with insects as a young girl while collecting caddisfly larvae to use as steelhead bait. Her passion is the interface between people and biology. Heidi has a BS in biology from North Park University, and an MS in plant pathology and PhD in entomology from University of Florida. As an agricultural ecologist, she builds partnerships with low-resource farmers to develop sustainable strategies to enhance production and food security. She enjoys teaching, tromping through Dockton woods, and paddling or pedaling anywhere.

John H. Rupp is an emeritus curator of the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma and has lived on Vashon since 1985. He holds an MS in marine biology from the University of Guam Marine Science Center and a BS in zoology from Science University of Utah. His academic specialty is elasmobranch fish (sharks, skates and rays), and his areas of interest include apex predator biology, ecology, and behavior. John helped establish our Vashon Wildcam Network.

Gary Shugart is head curator of collections at Puget Sound Museum of Natural History at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma where he helped compile a bird wing and tail image collection that is used internationally. He can identify nearly any animal from virtually any remains or a photo.

Kathryn True is a freelance writer and naturalist. She helped launch Vashon Nature Center’s first BioBlitz in 2012 and has volunteered with us ever since–consulting on community science programs, writing for the blog and other publications, and managing our Facebook group. She is a founding member of the Dockton Dock Foulers Union and loves photographing nudibranchs and sea cucumbers. She co-authored Seattle Field Guide to be published by Mountaineers Books in 2026.