Meet our dedicated team of forestry conservationists and researchers working towards a sustainable future! Discover their expertise as they work tirelessly to preserve and protect our precious forests for generations to come.
Paint Rockers
Ruby Hammond
Originally from the land of honky-tonk bars and fried chicken near Nashville, Ruby has worked around the U.S. and abroad since 2002 as a remote field biologist in the area of conservation and vertebrate ecology. She obtained her B.Sc. from Middle Tennessee State University, and both her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Northern Arizona University. Her research has largely focused on the demography, ecology, and conservation of critically endangered birds, and birds inhabiting imperiled habitats such as those in Hawaiian, Arctic, urban, forested, and arid ecosystems. Plants, insects, small mammals, herpetofauna, and human-wildlife interactions have also been important aspects of her work. Ruby is miserably lost without nature, and has thus spent her career trying to help save and restore nature directly through research, and indirectly by educating people in a variety of settings. She joined Paint Rock Forest Research Center in June, 2023.
João Pedro de Godoy
Originally from Campinas, Brazil, Joao completed his undergraduate degree in Environmental Biology with a minor in Environmental Science and Policy at the University of South Florida. He started at Paint Rock Research Center in July 2022. He did not have any knowledge on tree species identification prior to coming to the Research Center. Since then, he has developed an interest tree identification at Paint Rock, which has become his favorite aspect of the census.
Ryan Long
Ryan Long, armed with an M.S. and B.S. from Jacksonville State University, taught human anatomy and physiology labs while unraveling the evolutionary history of a Japanese bamboo genus for his thesis. Since studying abroad in Osaka, he has devoted three years and counting to daily Japanese practice.
Driven by constant self-improvement, Ryan believes in intentional self-creation. An ocean is but a multitude of drops; likewise we are but a collection of our daily habits. Step by step, ferociously, Ryan imposes his will upon mind, body, and soul in an attempt to achieve ascendant godhood. “Bow down, mortals,” is his catch phrase, as he pursues biological immortality.
Ryan is also a nerd for reading, running, bodybuilding, powerlifting, and plant-based nutrition. He joined Paint Rock May 2022.
Kennedy Norris
Kennedy grew up in a small farming community called Pleasant Valley, Alabama. After spending much of her life outdoors recreationally identifying insects and other invertebrate species, she went on to earn both her B.S and M.S in biology from Jacksonville State University. Kennedy spends much of her free time studying beetles, reading, and model-building. She is also very passionate about cute animals. She joined the Paint Rock Research Center in May 2023.
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. Now, working as an SCA member she’s doing field work that she enjoys and is proud of while also getting to interact with the natural world on a daily basis. “I feel very lucky to have such valuable and uncommon experiences so early on in my life.”
Board of Directors
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
Cliff Martin – President
Cliff is a Bell Labs research alumnus, lifelong learner, dedicated naturalist and quite a good photographer; he and his wife love hiking around the woods of Alabama.
Mike Dalen – Vice 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. Mike loves to hike and boat with his pair of Rhodesian ridgebacks, Keb and Nina.
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.
James Lowery – Treasurer
James Lowery is retired from an administrative position at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He’s an aficionado of landscape sciences, and has likely served on more environmental boards than anyone else in Alabama (he’s on 13 boards, councils and commissions). He knows the ropes.
Will McGarity
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 on or near a river.
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, invasive-biology, 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 of ant communities He received his B.S. in ecology
from University of Georgia. Doug is also quite a skilled carpenter.
Phoenicia “Phoenix” Robinson
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).
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 any story he can get his hands on, and get into any patch of woods he can find.
Council of Advisors
E.O. Wilson
Stephen Hubbell
Patty Gowaty
Richard Condit
James B. McClintock
Drew Lanham
Nancy Dunlap
Bill Terry
Alan Cressler