Michelle Beale is an attorney and manager formerly with Skelly Oil, Getty Oil and Coca-Cola. She was heavily involved in the protection of Coca-Cola rain forest properties in Belize, in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy and the Program for Belize. Later, she joined the board of trustees for the Nature Conservancy in Texas, eventually serving as chair. While affiliated with the Conservancy, she has been particularly active in promoting planned giving programs for the group.
Region: Coastal Plain
Ryan Smith
Mr. Smith is a freshwater ecologist, and works as the Director of Water and Science for the Nature Conservancy in Texas. He serves as the Conservancy’s Texas lead on the Sustainable Rivers Program, a partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers modifying dam operations to improve downstream ecosystems. He also represents the Conservancy in the Texas Living Waters project, a collaboration with other conservation groups, including the National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, Hill Country Alliance, and the Galveston Bay Foundation, to ensure that the state has the water needed for thriving communities and healthy fish and wildlife.
Carter Smith
Carter Smith is a biologist who has had leadership roles in several conservation organizations in Texas, serving as Executive Director of Texas Parks and Wildlife, and prior to that Director of the Nature Conservancy in Texas and head of the Katy Prairie Conservancy. While at the Nature Conservancy, he was involved in work to protect portions of South Padre Island, the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Devils River, Mad Island, Barton Creek, Clymer Meadow, and the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.
Ed Segner
Mr. Segner has served as Chair of the Nature Conservancy in Texas. During his tenure at the Conservancy, he was interested and involved in efforts to protect Dolan Falls, Matagorda Island, and lands in the Davis Mountains. He also has volunteered as a trustee for the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, taught as a Professor in the Practice of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, and worked as former President of EOG, an independent oil and gas firm.
James Byron Morris
Mr. Morris is an oil and gas attorney and a friend of the Nature Conservancy in Texas. He was involved in Mobil’s gift of the Texas City native prairie preserve, home to the extremely rare Attwater’s prairie chicken at the time, to the Conservancy.
James King
Mr. King was the former Director of Land Protection and West Texas Program Manager for the Nature Conservancy in Texas. In that capacity, he worked on efforts to protect Dolan Falls, Barton Creek, Independence Creek, Powderhorn Ranch, Shamrock Island, Marathon Grasslands, Pinto Canyon, and the Davis Mountains. He has also served as a trustee of the Devils River Conservancy, Big Bend Ranch State Park Advisory Board, McDonald Observatory, and Borderlands Research Advisory Board.
Cina Forgason
Cina Forgason has worked as a film producer with Rara Avis Productions, and served as a board member of the Nature Conservancy in Texas, the Peregrine Fund, and Lewa USA Wildlife Conservation.
Carol Dinkins
Mrs. Dinkins practiced as a partner and environmental lawyer at Vinson & Elkins, served in the Department of Justice, and taught as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center. She has also been chair of the Board of Governors for the Nature Conservancy, a director of the Environment and Energy Study Institute and Environmental Law Institute, and a member of the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee.
Mary Anne Pickens
Mary Anne Pickens has been a resident of Columbus and Houston, Texas, where she has pursued her interests as a gardener, historian, landscape writer, and past president of the Native Plant Society of Texas.
Here she discusses her memories of the life, career and influence of Lynn Lowrey, the noted plantsman based in Houston.
Carl Schoenfeld
Carl Schoenfeld is a plant explorer and the founder and owner of Yucca Do Nursery in Hempstead, where he propagates and sells drought and heat tolerant plants, including rare yuccas, cacti, ferns, and bromeliads.
In this interview, he discusses his memories and insights about the celebrated plantsman and explorer, Lynn Lowrey.