Meet our Team
Little Falls Watershed Alliance is a mostly volunteer organization with a working board, a very part-time Executive Director and an occasional intern.
Staff
Sarah Morse, Executive Director
Sarah is an educator, artist, and naturalist. She has worked as a statistician, an art teacher, and the Director of the Jewish Folk Arts Festival.
In 1996, when her oldest child was in 4th grade, Sarah began leading a stream assessment program at Somerset Elementary School for fourth graders. In just 16 years, the aquatic life of the Little Falls Branch went from a wide diversity of macro-invertebrates including crayfish, cadisfly larva and an occasional may fly larva to nothing but leeches and black fly larva. It was this dramatic decline in the stream and desire to do something to help the stream recover that lead to her involvement in stormwater management and stream restoration.
She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Grinnell College double majoring in Art and General Science and a Masters of Art Education from Temple University.
Sarah is a founding member of Little Falls Watershed Alliance. In 2014, she was hired as Executive Director, a part time position. In 2016, she was honored by both the Maryland State Recreation Association and Montgomery Parks for her volunteer efforts on behalf of the environment and area parks and natural spaces.
Jane mercer, bacteria monitoring coordinator
Jane is a passionate environmentalist with a focus on conservation efforts. She recently received an undergraduate degree from American University in Environmental Studies and Political Science, and is now pursuing a Master's degree in Sustainability. She has previously worked in climate communications as well as river cleanup coordination. After spending the last few years calling the DC area home, she is excited to dive into working with the Little Falls watershed and to protect the local waterways that are so critical to the ecosystem in the area. She highly values the work of LFWA, and is thrilled to be a part of the team!
Board
Karen DaPonte Thornton, President
Karen is an attorney and educator with a passion for learning and building connections across communities. Raised in Sumner, Karen took weekly family walks along the Little Falls Branch and C&O canal throughout her childhood. Her education and career have been guided by a commitment to public service and the environment. She is an Army veteran who has served in each of the three branches of the federal government and on the faculty of The George Washington University Law School.
As the mother of three MCPS students, Karen has been an active supporter of our neighborhood schools, participated in LFWA weed warrior events, and is determined to ensure future generations inherit a healthy planet. She earned a BA in political science from Providence College, a JD from Georgetown University Law Center, and does karate in her spare time.
Mikel Moore, Vice President
Mikel first joined LFWA in 2012 as a Neighborhood Liaison and has served as Vice President of the Board since February 2014.
Mikel combines her passions of science, the environment, and working with kids as a local environmental educator planning and teaching programs for area schools, scout groups, and LFWA. She is also an environmental educator with the Audubon Naturalist Society. Since 2009, Mikel has lead the Eco-Defenders, an after-school nature & environment club at Westbrook Elementary School. She is a member of the Maryland Association for Outdoor and Environmental Education and a Montgomery County Weed Warrior.
From 1993 to 2001, Mikel worked at the U.S. Department of Education. She is originally from the Chicago area and graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in Political Science and International Relations. She is married with two sons.
Sara Schneeberg Robinson, SECRETARY
Sara worked as an assistant general counsel in the Air and Radiation Law Office at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she was been employed in various positions for more than 30 years. Before her retirement in 2015, she managed a group of attorneys working on matters related to state implementation of national ambient air quality standards under the Clean Air Act.
Early in her career, Sara was employed by the New England River Basins Commission and the National Wildlife Federation. She holds an honors law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and an honors undergraduate degree in geography from Clark University.
Sara is a founding member of Little Falls Watershed Alliance.
George Wyeth, treasurer
George Wyeth has devoted much of his career to environmental issues. He was a lawyer at EPA for 27 years, and is now a Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute. He is also a founding member and on the board of the Environmental Protection Network. He has lived in the Little Falls watershed since 1990. George sees LFWA as a chance to take concrete action on a local scale, where individuals can make the greatest difference.
John Drake
John Drake originally hails from Ohio where he spent his youth wading the local creek catching crayfish, minnows, and the occasional blue gill. John learned the joys of gardening from his mother and became hooked after his first sunflower grew to be over 12 ft and the birds fed off the seeds for weeks. In 2007, John started the “Plot Against Hunger” program in Arlington, VA with a mission to bring fresh produce donated by local gardeners to clients of the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC). Since that first year, over 600,000 pounds of fresh produce have been donated to AFAC.
Now living in Bethesda, John is passionate about improving our watershed through advocacy, action, and education with focus on restoring our local ecosystem with the native plants that once flourished throughout. Living within mere feet of the Little Falls Branch, John and his family enjoy biking and walking their dogs throughout the watershed whenever they can.
Josie Gabel
Josie Gabel has lived in the Westbrook neighborhood since 2014 with her husband, a Bethesda native, and their three young children. She grew up in a small town on the edge of the Fontainebleau Forest, in France, which instilled in her a lifelong love of nature and a deep appreciation for the need to be responsible stewards of our natural environment.
Josie worked in foreign policy for 15 years after receiving degrees in international relations from Stanford and Yale universities. She has done volunteer development work throughout the world. She is the executive director of a private environmental foundation.
EMILY SIMONE
Emily has been an active member of the Westbrook community since she moved there in 2010. She is originally from Vermont, where her love for the outdoors was instilled at a young age. Professionally, she leads communications and social impact programs for major corporations in the Washington area. She is a graduate of Williams College.
Emily and her family can often be found in the watershed. She and her husband run regularly on the trails. Their daughter is an active LFWA volunteer, and their son views Little Falls as an extension of his backyard. She sees her role on the board as a way to pay forward the joy they have found in the watershed.
Jack Sobel
Jonathan Breul
Emeritus
Suzanne Richman
Emeritus
Maurie Kathan
Emeritus
Dan Dozier
Emeritus