Vermont Association of Conservation Districts
Michelle Gudorf President |
Michelle Gudorf has been representing Lamoille County NRCD since 2002, first as an associate and then an elected supervisor. She has served Lamoille County as Fundraising Chair, and Vice Chair of the Board. She began representing Lamoille County NRCD at the VACD meetings in June 2006, and was elected VACD Vice President in November 2006. Michelle has a BA in Environmental Science from the University of Colorado, and worked with the National Park Service for 7 years managing the National Sound Monitoring and Bighorn Sheep Restoration programs. She developed habitat suitability analyses for restoration of bighorn sheep herds throughout the western states. She has 15 years experience in natural and cultural resource preservation and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Currently she is self-employed, contracting and consulting nationally and internationally for GIS related projects. Michelle and her family live on 500 acres of an old farmstead and are working to restore and maintain a part of the original farmland. They participate in the WHIP program managing and preserving parts of the property for wildlife, based on analysis they completed for their property evaluating wildlife habitat availability and corridor movement. She believes land conservation and preservation directly support many of the important environmental and economic issues we face today, and serves the conservation districts because of their involvement in getting conservation practices onto the land. |
Jonathan Chamberlin |
Jonathan Chamberlin is a 6 th generation Vermonter raised in Shelburne. He spent summers and after school working on his cousin’s dairy farm in St. George. He received a Bachelors of Science in Agronomy (Crop and Soil Management) from Purdue University. In the spring of 1999 Jonathan began working at Bourdeau Brothers of Middlebury and is still works there today. His responsibilities include writing Nutrient Management Plans throughout Vermont, crop consulting, crop sales, and operating a sprayer in the spring. He is a Certified Crop Consultant with the American Society of Agronomy, a Technical Service Provider with USDA, and a certified commercial pesticide applicator in Vermont and New York. He joined the Otter Creek Conservation District as a supervisor in July 2005 as a way to help to insure that a life in production agriculture can remain as well as preserving the beauty of Vermont. Jonathan and his wife Precious have a house in Addison, Vermont. |
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Vermont Association of Conservation Districts
Michelle Gudorf
4510 East Hill Road
Craftsbury, VT 05826
802-586-7589
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Chris Smid |
Born and raised in northern Rutland County, Christopher Smid now resides with his family in Middletown Springs and has been serving as a supervisor on the Poultney Mettawee NRCD board for over two years. Chris left Vermont to go to college, and then served as a Crop Production Specialist with the Peace Corps in the southwestern mountains of the Dominican Republic. Working with coffee, banana, bean and avocado farmers, Chris promoted soil conservation practices on the steep hillside farms and ran a demonstration farm for a consortium of agricultural development organizations. After the Peace Corps, Chris went on to earn a Masters in Forest Resource Management from Duke University in Durham, NC. He then worked for a large forest products company as a regeneration forester establishing and tending softwood fiber plantations in several states before moving back to Vermont in 2004 to work in the family roofing slate business. Chris and his family enjoy working on their wood lot in Middletown Springs, and are currently under contract to complete several conservation practices on their land under the WHIP and FLEP programs. |
Rita Bisson |
Rita Bisson has been representing the Winooski NRCD for over 15 years, serving as the Winooski District Vice Chair for the past 5 years. She has represented her district at VACD for 12 years, and has been an officer on the Executive Committee working as VACD Treasurer throughout that time. Rita works for the Town of Orange as Town Clerk and Treasurer, and School Treasurer. She has a degree in Business Management with a major in accounting from Southern New Hampshire University, College of Accounting. Rita and her husband are retired Dairy farmers, still living on their farm. They currently manage heifers and maintain their crop and pasture land. They have two grown daughters and their first grandson was born this fall. Rita became a district supervisor for the conservation district after personally participating in our farm programs. She wanted to give back to the district for having benefited from the programs. She has a driving interest in protecting the environment and in enhancing those programs that are available to landowners. |
1 Bennington County Link to Vermont SWEEP: State-Wide Environmental Education Programs. |
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