The Harpeth River Watershed Association is lucky to have the combined talent and dedication of people that can leverage their efforts so successfully because of the committed and growing number of members and volunteers.

To email staff members, click on person's name and title.

Dorene Bolze, Executive Director

From saving Asian tigers to preserving the Harpeth River watershed isn’t as wide a stretch as it might seem. "It’s all about figuring out how to maintain ecological balance with people as a part of the natural world," says Dorie Bolze, executive director of the Harpeth River Watershed Association since July 2001. Bolze, who has a Master of Environmental Studies degree from the Yale School of Forestry, has worked for over 15 years in conservation and land management policy.

She worked for nine years in international wildlife conservation for the Wildlife Conservation Society and other organizations before she and her musician husband, Claude Carmichael, moved to middle Tennessee.

"With HRWA I'm still focused on wildlife," says Bolze. "It’s just that instead of African elephants, tigers or bluefin tuna, it’s madtoms, grass of parnassus, northern watersnakes, and endangered mussels. The rivers and streams of the Southeast are more diverse in different species than anywhere else in the world. The Harpeth is special because it is still a free-flowing river, except for one small impoundment where Franklin gets its drinking water, and is still a beautiful place near a large metropolitan area. We have a real chance to shape the landscape to protect our natural jewel as the region grows."

A favorite thing to do is to go fishing, canoeing, or "creeking" with her two children, (Julian 12 and Elena 9). As the Executive Director, Dorie spends much of her time building collaborations and partnerships among federal, state, and municipal officials, developers, landowners, farmers, home owners, consulting firms, and other conservation organizations so that everyone who works, lives, and has fun in the Harpeth can be proud of their natural jewel.

 

Pamela Davee, Director of Development and Policy Specialist

Pam has served for almost two years as HRWA’s Development Director and Policy Specialist. Spending half her time fundraising to support the growing organization with funding from individuals, government agencies, foundations and corporations she has helped to sustain HRWA’s efforts to restore and protect the Harpeth. As Policy Specialist she works on a variety of pressing matters that affect the river from instream flow issues to the Scenic Rivers Act.

Prior to moving to Franklin, Tennessee Pam worked as Development Director for The Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in Atlanta for three years where she helped raise their annual budget. While in Atlanta she received her MS in Public Policy specializing in Environmental Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Before moving into the conservation realm, Pam worked for ten years within different divisions of Abbott Laboratories in sales and marketing of diagnostic and chemotherapy agents. Having spent time in Chicago and Cincinnati, the move to the south was an easy one. Indiana University is where she received her BS in Marketing and Finance.

Pam and her husband have twin boys, Max and Charlie, who are juniors at Franklin High School. Their daughter Rachael is a freshman at the University of Oregon. Pam enjoys cycling, diving, paddling and international travel.

 

 

Roger Smitchens, Director of Finance

Lindsay Gardner, Director of Science and Restoration

Sarah Gann, Education, Outreach and Volunteer Programs Manager

 

Michael Cain, Watershed Assessment and Restoration Coordinator

After 20 years in the Furniture Manufacturing and Services Industry as owner and manager, Mike returned to Middle Tennessee State University to get a BS in Environmental Science and is currently working towards a MS in Environmental Science. Mike has been working with the Harpeth River Watershed Association for the past four years and has conducted several studies for the Association including a Nutrient Study in the Eagleville area and a Dissolved Oxygen study of over 100 miles of the main stem of the Harpeth River. In addition to this, he has supervised the stabilization of thousands of feet of severely eroded stream banks and countless riparian zone restoration projects using volunteer groups such as Boy Scouts. Mr. Cain also regularly teaches in the field to middle and high school students, and has instructed university students in water quality issues and water chemistry, benthic macroinvertibrates and visual habitat assessment protocols.

 

Melissa Buchanan, Part-time Outreach Coordinator - Eagleville