Women and Their Woods 2025

Presenter Biographies

Joan Maloof, writer, ecologist, conservationist

Dr. Joan Maloof is the author of numerous research articles and books, including: Nature’s Temples; Treepedia; The Living Forest; Among the Ancients; Teaching the Trees; and most recently, Wild Old Woman. In addition to her research and writing, Maloof founded an organization with the goal of creating a network of protected forests across the US; that organization, the Old-Growth Forest Network, now has hundreds of volunteers and thousands of supporters. Maloof works to educate others regarding the extent and condition of our forests, and to encourage their protection. Her formal education includes a bachelor’s degree in Plant Science, a master’s degree in Environmental Science, and a Doctorate in Ecology. She is a professor emeritus at Salisbury University where she taught Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies.

 

LESLIE SAUER, Andropogon Associates & Senior Fellow, Pinchot Institute for Conservation

Leslie Sauer, a founder emeritus of Andropogon Associates, is a pioneer in the field of managing native landscapes. She has directed the reestablishment of natural systems in a wide range of sensitive to degraded environments. She developed a number of innovative strategies for restoring native forest habitats. She is a strong advocate for Proforestation and the use of native plants.  She was a board member of the Society for Ecological Restoration and taught part-time at the University of Pennsylvania’s in landscape architecture for 20 years. Currently Leslie is a Senior Fellow at the Pinchot Institute for Conservation. Her book, The Once and Future Forest (Island Press) is a guidebook for restoring and managing forests. She lives on her family’s farm in central New Jersey.

 

rachel Mackow, professional native plant grower

Rachel Mackow is dedicated to the restoration of native plant communities that sustain both people and wildlife. As a co-owner of Wild Ridge Plants, LLC (Alpha, NJ), Rachel manages the nursery operation. She is the chairperson of the New Jersey Stewardship Roundtable. Additionally, she is a member of the New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team’s Technical Advisory Committee.

Rachel is also a photographer, writer, and musician. Her photographic work has been published and exhibited internationally. View more on her website.

 

Rita Baragona, artist

Baragona lives and paints just across the Delaware in rural Columbia, NJ with her husband St. Clair Sullivan. She was born in NYC in 1945 and brought up in NJ, received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 1967, and attended the NY Studio School from 1968 to 1970. She taught painting and drawing at Blair Academy in Blairstown, NJ until 2013.

Rita Baragona has exhibited her paintings in one-person and group shows throughout the USA. She has had multiple one-person shows at the Bowery Gallery, NYC, most recently in 2022. Selected shows include at Dutot Museum, PA; Washington Art Association, CT; Well Street Gallery, AK; Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ; and Rider University, NJ; Westbeth, NYC; with Zeuxis, at Lancaster Museum, PA; the Mississippi Museum, MS.

 

Sharon Wander, RVC Trustee

Sharon was so inspired by a life-changing wilderness trip to Montana that she abandoned a career as an editor and copywriter and returned to college to pursue a degree in Wildlife Ecology. She met her future husband and business partner, Wade, at Cook College, and both went on to earn graduate degrees from Rutgers University. For her doctoral dissertation, Sharon studied the effects of forest fragmentation on breeding Ovenbirds. Capitalizing both on their degrees and on many years of field experience with the plants and animals of New Jersey, Sharon and Wade then established their own environmental consulting practice, Wander Ecological Consultants (WEC), in 1985. As a partner in WEC, Sharon has conducted endangered species surveys, produced environmental impact statements, performed wetland delineation and permitting, developed mitigation and restoration plans, and provided a variety of other services to a diverse array of clients. Sharon wrote the Natural Resource Inventory for Fredon Township. In the 1990s Sharon and Wade became particularly interested in butterflies and have since been very active members of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) –serving terms as President, leading field trips, and presenting programs for the New Jersey chapter and running the Springdale 4th of July count since 1992. Sharon is also a member of the Natural Heritage Committee of the Highlands Coalition, which is actively working to promote ecologically sound forest conservation in New Jersey.

 

Christine Hepburn, RVC Trustee

Chris Hepburn, Ph.D., was originally a research psychologist then a land use activist. The purchase of a home in Hardwick with acres of woods and fields led Chris to what she believes is her true calling: wildlife habitat restoration and advocacy. With help from knowledgeable friends and nonprofit organizations, she has been working for twelve years to improve the habitat where she lives and she likes to share what she’s learned as well as the joy of seeing bees, birds and other animals benefiting from her work. Chris has a Forest Stewardship Plan and has also placed most of her property into a Conservation Easement held by RVC.

 

Susi Tilley, RVC Executive Director

Susi’s passion for the natural world developed during her time growing up in Switzerland where she spent holidays hiking or skiing in the mountains. After an education in Business Administration and working for several years in the private sector, she moved to the United States in 1991, and worked as Vice President of an entertainment lighting and staging company for over 14 years. Prior to assuming the role as Executive Director of Ridge and Valley Conservancy Susi served as Development and Outreach Director from 2016-2017.
Susi believes that building a strong conservation organization involves practicing community conservation by building partnerships with other people doing important community work. By connecting people to people, and people to land, her hope is to continue to expand preserved land in the Ridge and Valley Region of New Jersey.

 

Gabby Acampora, RVC Land Projects & Stewardship Manager

Gabrielle joined Ridge and Valley Conservancy in 2024 as the Land Projects and Stewardship Manager. Growing up in Lehigh Valley, PA, she gained an appreciation for the outdoors while hiking along the Appalachian Trail and Delaware Water Gap. 

After graduating with a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Notre Dame in 2022, where she also played the sousaphone for the Band of the Fighting Irish, Gabrielle has continued cultivating her love for the environment through her work. She has worked in habitat management and invasive species reduction and prescribed burn work as a wildland firefighter in all environments, from barrens and dunes to marshes and old-growth forests. 

 

Carla Lee Lewis, Land Steward

Carla Lee Lewis served as a business and stewardship consultant for Ridge and Valley Conservancy (RVC) from 2012 through 2018, guiding the land trust’s efforts to become nationally accredited. She served as RVC’s first Stewardship Coordinator from 2018 to 2020, then as Land Protection Coordinator through 2022. Carla consulted in similar roles for Raritan Headwaters Association (NJ), Great Swamp Watershed Association (NJ), Open Land Conservancy (PA), Orange County Land Trust (NY), and the national Land Trust Alliance. Now retired, Carla remains active with RVC as a stewardship committee volunteer while she and her husband focus on stewarding their own 185-acre forest.