Mission:
The Paint Rock Forest Research Center is a non-profit established to create, coordinate and guide an international forest research center at Paint Rock that:
- Provides vital new information on how forests and other ecosystems work and how they survive in the face of changing climate and human use;
- Involves and trains a new and more diverse generation of scientists who can carry on this research;
- Uses its research and resources to help develop and implement a major new conservation model across the Southern Cumberlands that better integrates human needs and resilient, biologically diverse landscapes.
The concept was developed in 2007 and the non-profit established in 2017, embodying the vision of its founding partners — UCLA distinguished professors Stephen Hubbell and Patty Gowaty; the late E.O. Wilson of Harvard University; and writer and natural historian Bill Finch.
Staff
Founding & Executive Director
Bill Finch – Founding Director
Bill has been involved in Alabama conservation for more than 30 years. He acts as if the world revolves around plants (which of course it does).
251-591-2215
Nathan Paris
His passion for plants was cultivated at a young age while exploring the natural history of Jackson County.This botanical zeal propelled him into academia where he earned a bachelor’s degree in botany and a master’s investigating Price’s Potatoe Bean from Auburn University. Since then he has worked and botanized every physiographic province in the state.Despite the vast botanical allures he has answered the siren’s call of the Jackson County Mountains in search of the botanical wonders and the barefoot boy who set him on this path.
Sakora Smeby
Sakora was born in Missouri where her love for the outdoors originated and grew up in Texas. She later moved to Alabama for college, initially planning to study marine biology, but, upon discovering how incredibly beautiful and biodiverse the state is, changed her degree to forestry and wildlife at Alabama A&M University. Sakora started as a research intern tagging and measuring trees. Her creative energy and interest in learning new things has advanced her to part time communications and outreach for the research center. She now manages the newsletter and social media. Her talents are endless; she sings, has an interest in having a farm one day, has become a serious photographer, and will try anything. “I feel very lucky to have such valuable and uncommon experiences so early on in my life.”
Landon Rakestraw
Landon was born and raised in Cullman, AL and graduated from Auburn University in 2019 with a bachelors in wildlife ecology and management. He has always loved the outdoors and nature so he is a very excited to be involved with the PRFRC. Hobbies include hiking, fishing, exploring, making him a fantastic addition to the team.
Mary Wells
Mary Wells is tipping the scales of the formerly all-male group. Mary graduated from Auburn University’s College of Science and Mathematics with a degree in Organismal Biology: Conservation and Biodiversity. She is passionate about ornithology, botany, and conservation and hopes to pursue a graduate degree in wildlife or plant ecology.
Becky Sims
Becky has lived in the Paint Rock Valley for 25 years. She loves nature, hiking and taking pictures of all the beautiful plants and animals. Her background is managing facilities and since her husband Tim helped build these houses she is a good investment. She works at Drake State community and Technical College as the Health Sciences Assistant / CPR instructor. She is also earning an associate degree in Computer Sciences. Becky is our facilities manager and we are extremely glad to have her working with us.
Board of Directors
Mike Dalen – President
Mike Dalen served as CFO for several companies in north Alabama. He’s a long time board member and board chair of The Land Trust of North Alabama. When loves to hike and boat with his pair of Rhodesian ridgebacks, Kellan and Nina.
Will McGarity – Vice President
Founder and Principal of Stick Architecture LLC. Will has a passion for distilling complex design problems into tangible design solutions in conjunction with multidisciplinary teams. He has worked at ArchitectureWorks LLP and was Auburn University’s Forestry Architecture Fellow. The research, writing, and design build outreach projects for the fellowship allowed Will to continue to follow his passion of furthering wood architecture, the seeds of which were laid when he was a student at Auburn’s Rural Studio. Will is happiest with on or near a river.
Patience Knight – Secretary
Patience is a researcher in wildlife biology at Alabama A&M and she’s playing a key role in the research going on in Paint Rock forest. In addition to directing the field work for our census, she’s also working with us on our educational programs and wildlife research.
Phoenicia “Phoenix” Robinson – Treasurer
Phoenix has resided in the Huntsville area since March 2020. She is a
Principal Planner for the Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments (TARCOG), a role that allows her to serve the 47-municipality northeast Alabama region in various capacities. She has a
Bachelor’s of Architecture from Tuskegee University and a Master’s of Community Planning
from Auburn University. When she isn’t engrossed in planning work, she
loves to cook, hike, travel, and expand her vinyl collection (Big Band is one of her fave genres).
Doug Booher
My research has focused on ants to understand the processes and drivers of diversity patterns and community assembly, but also includes alpha-taxonomy, statistics, conservation, invasivebiology, and global biodiversity. My current research aims to identify potential invaders
through species-specific probabilistic modeling and to quantify how functional roles of non-native
species differ from the native species they displace to ultimately learn how nonnative species alter
ecosystem function.
Doug completed his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA, where his
dissertation was on the structure and assembly ofant communities He recieved his B.S. in ecology
from University of Georgia. Doug is quite a skilled carpenter
Heath Brooks
Heath is a native of the Pine Chapel Community in North Georgia, and earned an
undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in 2000, a Law Degree from Cumberland
School of Law in 2005, and a Master of Science in Environmental Management Degree from Samford
in 2005. Since that time, he has worked with Timberlake & League and is currently a partner in
the firm based in Huntsville, Alabama. In addition to practicing law, Heath has volunteered with the
Land Trust of North Alabama serving as the Secretary, Vice Chairman, and Chairman of the
Board. In his spare time, Heath loves to play and write music, spend time with his wife, Kelly, and
his daughter, Evelyn, read and story he can get his hands on, and get into any patch of woods he can find.
Colleen Keleher
Colleen’s mania for being out of doors since early childhood developed into a strong interest in conservation and learning about native plant populations. Working with her husband at their wholesale nursery on the Alabama Gulf Coast she developed a perennial program incorporating native plants and educating local garden centers about their benefits. Colleen currently works as an audit principal and head of audit quality control at Crow Shields Bailey PC, CPAs on Mobile, a member firm of the RSM Alliance. She has experience with not-for-profit and grant accounting both as an auditor and a board member. Her interests outside of accounting nerddom are gardening, woods walking, travel and reading. Married to Maarten van der Giessen, no kids, feeding 9 cats at last count.
Council of Advisors
E.O. Wilson (deceased in 2021)
Stephen Hubbell
Patty Gowaty
Richard Condit
James B. McClintock
Drew Lanham
Nancy Dunlap
Bill Terry
Alan Cressler
Becky Smith
Paint Rock Forest Research Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Paint Rock Forest Research Center 3400 County Road 10 Paint Rock, AL. 35764
