A St. Lawrence University educator is the newest member of the Talking Rivers, Inc., board.

Cathay Schrady was also welcomed as secretary to the local organization that works for the Rights of Nature in the north country and beyond.

Schrady’s career has been as an earth scientist and educator at St. Lawrence University teaching geology and a variety of courses focused on the natural world. She helped to create and later directed St. Lawrence’s Outdoor Studies Department, Adirondack Semester and Sustainability Program. Cathy also serves on the Canton Sustainability Committee.

Rather than resting, Talking Rivers is planning to build on its past efforts with more community conversations about our responsibilities to the nature around us. First is an online event, “The Spirits of Nature: Respecting the Ancestral Guardians of the Natural World” March 19. Others will follow.

Behind these efforts are new board members and officers:

Lee Willbanks, founding member and President. Willbanks is the former Upper St. Lawrence Riverkeeper and has been active in many environmental efforts in St. Lawrence and Great Lakes watersheds.

Abraham Francis, new board member and Vice-President. Francis has a BSc in Microbiology, 2014, and MSc in Natural Resources, 2019, from Cornell University. Recently, he became a Ph.D. student at Clarkson University studying Environmental Science and Engineering. Previously, he was the Environmental Services Manager for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. He was instrumental in the founding of the Aronia Collective, which seeks to align Indigenous Communities with experts to meet their unique needs and non-Indigenous organization to engage Indigenous peoples meaningfully.

Elodie Linck, new board member and Treasurer. Linck is a dancer, private chef, dance history curriculum developer, and Chair of the Wild Center Youth Climate Advisory Board. She has served as the Youth Climate Coordinator at The Wild Center. She served on the Voice of Rivers Youth Committee, contributing to the planning and execution of the North Country Rights of Nature Symposium.

Erik Reardon, new board member. Reardon is an environmental historian specializing in the historic dimensions of dam removal and fisheries restoration in New England. He earned PhD from the University of Maine in 2016 and later served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of history and environmental studies at Colby College and Bates College in Maine. Recently, He worked with the Adirondack Experience Museum, the Wild Center, the Nature Conservancy, and the Adirondack Diversity Initiative to develop and direct the public humanities project "Adirondacks for All" which explored the region's history and present-day reality through an expansive lens of environmental justice.

Blake Lavia and Tzintzun Aquilar-Izzo, founding members, left the board but will assume a consulting role as community organizers to continue their tremendous work bringing the message of Talking Rivers to the north country and beyond and bringing the goal of rights of nature to fruition.

For more information about Talking Rivers board members go to: https://talkingrivers.org/about#team