Meet Us

MEET US:

Erica Fielder, a thirteen year resident in the Ten Mile River Watershed, is director of The Bird Feeder Hat project. She holds an MFA in visual art and has extensive experience teaching about the natural history of California. With funding from the California State Coastal Conservancy, State Parks and Department of Forestry, she created the art and text for interpretive panels installed in wetland preserves along California’s entire coastline. She was the Artist-In-Residence at the M.H. de Young Museum in San Francisco during Earth Day Week, 2000, educating the public about the watersheds of San Francisco. Erica is co-author of Ecology For City Kids, and City Safaris, a Sierra Club Book. She speaks and teaches about how to merge ecology, art and environmental ethics at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. When she is not creating art she is making solo voyages by kayak or backpack into the wilds of the west coast.
www.ericafielder-ecoartist.com

Irene D. Thomas, an eleven year resident of the south fork of the Ten Mile River Watershed, is a writer and former college instructor. In 1998-1999 she wrote grant proposals for Friends Of The Ten Mile’s environmental efforts. Irene recently spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Prague where she taught English and learned more about her own ethnic heritage. Many in the community think of her as the Queen of Tango.

Judith Vidaver, Friends Of The Ten Mile’s chief environmental officer (CEO), is a certified naturalist who has lived in the Ten Mile River watershed for thirty three years. Judith is the watershed watchdog. From her experiences monitoring timber harvest plans and poorly designed developments, she compiled the North Coast Citizen Watershed Manual for the Redwood Coast Environmental Law Center. Her artistic credits include Only One Ocean, a multi-image slide show documenting ocean ecology, threats to the ocean and citizen actions to protect it, and Old Ways & New Deals, documenting Mendocino County during the Depression. Although she rarely takes a break, Judi puts on some of the best holiday parties in the watershed.

Nansee New has lived in the Ten Mile River Watershed for nearly twenty years, keeping track of wildlife in the estuary from her precariously perched cabin. She is a ceramic artist whose work depicts birds and other animals, celebrating the sanctity of the Earth and its diversity. As a member of Friends Of The Ten Mile, she participated for five years in petitioning the community for funds and support to stop the development of a motel planned for the south bank of the estuary. Nansee is a member of the cooperatively owned and run Northcoast Artists Gallery, in Fort Bragg, CA. In addition, she is particularly good at creating a community atmosphere by singing with local jazz trio Nothing Flat and teaching Swing and Lindy Hop dancing.
www.NanseeNew.com

Raven Blakeley has lived in the Ten Mile River Watershed for three years. She is a mother of three boys, an herbalist and a flower essence practitioner. She owns a business, “Raven’s Wild Remedies,” and leads walks that introduce participants to the ephemeral qualities of plants and their medicinal values. Raven explores ways of living harmoniously with the natural world and encourages others to see the beauty of the planet.

Five years ago Connie Korbel left her management consulting work in Santa Barbara and settled in the Noyo River Watershed on the Mendocino coast. Shortly afterward, she became the publications and marketing director for the Mendocino Art Center and is currently The Bird Feeder Hat Project publicist. Over the years she has consultant for the Superintendent of Santa Barbara County Schools, the Chamber of Commerce and the Girl Scouts, among other clients. If you ever take a class from her at the Mendocino Art Center, she will serve freshly baked bread with homemade quince marmalade and strawberry fig jam.