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Orange Environment Board & Staff

Board Members

Staff

Katherine Baker Skafidas | oeoffice@warwick.net - Executive Director

Chris Sinclair | csinclair3@gmail.com- Event Coordinator

Biographies Of Orange Environment Board Members & Staff

DR MICHAEL R EDELSTEIN, PRESIDENT

Dr Edelstein has been a professor of Environmental Psychology at Ramapo College of New Jersey for more than thirty years, where he has taught Environmental Studies as part of an interdisciplinary faculty. Dr Edelstein regularly teaches courses on Sustainable Communities, Environmental Assessment, Environmental Psychology and Environmental Studies. At Ramapo, he has headed the Environmental Studies faculty and chaired such committees as the college’s Sustainable Buildings and Grounds Committee. Among his externally funded projects were “Ecological Literacy in the Undergraduate Curriculum” funded by the Fund for Improvement for Post Secondary Education, two grants on environmental sustainability funded by the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the New Jersey Higher Education partnership of Sustainability, funded by the Dodge Foundation. His private research has heavily focused on the social and psychological impacts of environmental contamination. In 2004, Westview Press published a second edition of Dr Edelstein’s Contaminated Communities: Coping with Residential Toxic Exposure, recently nominated for the esteemed C. Wright Mills Award. Dr Edelstein holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from SUNY Buffalo.

Orange Environment, Inc. (OE) has served the Orange County, New York region for 25 years. Designed as a model “regional scale” organization, Orange Environment has sought to promote sustainability of place and community. Addressing regional problems directly, Orange Environment has reshaped issues of waste and water, as well as land preservation and planning. Publicly known for its willingness to take on the giants: corporations, government and organized crime – Orange Environment has won a string of significant legal decisions in administrative and civil court. Among the benefits are closed landfills, better corporate actors, and efforts to regionalize and protect water resources. Orange Environment is the principle benefactor of the Orange County Land Trust, and Orange Environment’s efforts to lead Orange County toward a waste policy recovering more than 90% of the waste stream lead directly to the development of a waste-to-ethanol project in Middletown, New York, that will do just this.

Parallel to this focus in regional action for sustainability, OE works closely to support the development of local environmental watchdog organizations that monitor issues at the town and village scale. OE provides training, consultation, and financial help to such organizations, always seeking to convert “not in my backyard” battles into long term organizations capable of promoting sustainability. It is by connecting this effort to have a citizen in every planning board meeting with a regional vision for sustainable communities that best expresses OE’s approach.

TOBY SCHACK, VICE PRESIDENT

Toby Schack has been a board member of Orange Environment for over twenty years. She has worked in membership development, grant-writing, fundraising, planning workshops, preparing and presenting testimony at various government levels and is currently Vice President of the organization. Additionally, as a member of the personnel committee, she has interviewed and supervised the organization’s Executive Director and overseen the functioning of the office. Ms Schack has been a science teacher with the Peekshill City School District for fourteen years and teaches Environmental Science, Chemistry and Biology at the High School. She also teaches the Honors Seminar program at the High School. Ms Schack has a BA from Oberlin College and a Master of Science degree in Biology from SUNY New Paltz.

BERNARD SUSSMAN, VICE PRESIDENT

I have been continuously involved in environmental and civic issues in Cornwall and Orange County since the early 80’s. The pen and the podium have been my primary tools with which to aid the efforts put forth by the many people and organizations that share my aims and goals. Some of the successful undertakings include: the prevention of Orange County from opening an effluent pipeline from the Harriman Sewage Treatment Plant into the Woodbury/Moodna waterway, the protection of the remaining portions of the Lookout Mountain (Dutchess Quarry) prehistoric archeological site, working with the Gomez Mill House in Marlboro, the prevention of the Canterbury Brook Ranch development, which land and buildings became the Museum of the Hudson Highlands, the closure of the soil burner in Vails Gate, as well as the closure of the soil burner installed opposite Sears in Newburgh, the closure of the Al Turi Landfill, and working with SPARC to preserve the major portion of the lands west of Drury Lane.

I am and have been, for 7 years, a member of the Cornwall Conservation Advisory Council and for the past 6 years Co-Vice President of Orange Environment. As of this writing, I am preoccupied with keeping the “Stewart” in Stewart International Airport.

MAUREEN GAFFNEY, RECORDING SECRETARY……

Maureen Gaffney began with Orange Environment as an intern and volunteer, and has been a board member for nearly 10 years. She is their current Recording Secretary, and the editor of OE's regional newsletter as well as a contributing author. She has worked on many issues with OE, as well as previous Earth Day celebrations and events. She has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Ramapo College of New Jersey. She has been a resident of Greenwood Lake for 20 years and is employed as an environmental, health and safety specialist responsible for environmental compliance issues, emergency response and remediation, wetland protection and resource conservation.

SANDRA SOONS, TREASURER

My name is Sandra Soons. I have been the treasurer of Orange Environment since 1998-99. I grew up in Omaha, NE, the oldest of 4 children. My father owned and operated a radio/television advertising company and my mother was a homemaker.

I was awarded a scholarship to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. There, through my friend and roommate, I met Art Soons, a Princeton graduate. We were married in 1959. In 1960-61 I taught biology labs to student nurses at OCCC.. I became pregnant with our first child, Jeffrey, and after he was born in Sept. of 1961 I ,became active in the farm business, Soons Orchards. Although I came from a farming state , I had never been on a farm until I met Art! We bought the farm starting in 1962 and changed the focus from wholesale apples to a mainly retail operation with the addition of our own vegetables and then a cider mill. It has continued to evolve.

Jeff is a lawyer and also our farm manager. Laura was our first daughter and runs Scotty’s Country kitchen. Sharon, our youngest, after a stint with a number of non-profit organizations in NY, now runs our salesroom, keeps our web-site current and many other duties.

I have always been interested in environmental issues. Trips to Newburgh were a regular occurrence to recycle glass and aluminum,( there were very few plastics then). My sister-in-law, Jean Strong was a co-founder of GARA, an early environmental group in Goshen. Through her I met Mike Edelstein, Orange Environment's President. We went to the hearings on the Marion Bluegrass Farm where they were dumping all kinds of heavy metals on the sod ground.

We live within eyesight of both the Turi and the Orange Co. landfills and became very concerned with the truck traffic going in all hours of the night. Mike Edelstein talked to us along with our son-in-law, Scott Thornton, also a lawyer, and we decided to join Orange Environment in suing Orange Co. over expansion of the dump into wetlands. It was a long seven year fight but you know we won. As Roberta Murphy, the late chairman of the legislature, was heard to remark that, “Those country ‘hick’ lawyers, Jeff Soons and Scott Thornton, beat our ‘expensive’ city lawyers!”. In addition, OE led the battle against the Turi expansion and it too is closed.

HARRY ROSS, TRUSTEE

Harry L Ross was born in Miami Fla. May 13 1951 and has been a member and trustee of Orange Environment since 1989. Harry serves as a Professor of the History of Social Thought in the School of Social Science and Human Services at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Harry has been an environmental/political/community activist for nearly thirty years and likes to consider the main function of his role at Orange Environment to be community relations – in particular the promotion of “the maximum amount of meaningful, well informed community participation in environmental and land-use decision making”. To this end he makes himself available to groups and individuals who have questions or difficulties with that process in their localities – not as an engineer or lawyer but as a community activist. Additionally he takes an on-going interest in Orange Environment’s educational programs, both in class and free standing for all age levels.

A recent interest in the Community Review of Master Planning documents has also led to Harry’s appointment to the Town of Wallkill Planning Board where he hopes to continue to encourage the maximum amount of meaningful community participation in environmental decision-making.

GRETCHEN GIBBS, TRUSTEE

Margaret (Gretchen) Gibbs received her Ph.D. from the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University in Clinical Psychology. She has always been interested in environmental causes of psychological problems, co-editing two books on community psychology, and conducting research on environmental disasters and their emotional consequences. She has been a Professor of Psychology at Fairleigh Dickenson University for 35 years. She has been a member of the Orange Environment Board almost from the beginning, has conducted research for OE on reactions to radon, toxic dumping and noise pollution. She was Acting President of OE for a year. She is a member of the Citizen’s Advisory Board for Jones Chemical in Warwick, NY.

JUDY NEW, TRUSTEE…………..

JERRY SOMMER, TRUSTEE…..

MAX BLAKE, TRUSTEE

Maximo Blake has been founding and/or managing organizations in New York, New Jersey, Florida, and New Mexico that have worked for social justice for over thirty five years. These organizations have focused on steering high-risk youth away from crime and toward legitimate entrepreneurial economic self-sufficiency. These organizations have participated in the renovation of nearly 1,000 low income housing units, had hundreds of youth participate in numerous small businesses, and in many entrepreneurial and environmental projects, resulting in youth who have the skills and experience to make a choice between legitimate and illegitimate means of making a living..

He has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Seton Hall and advanced degrees from both Harvard (Learning Environments) and Columbia Universities (Management & Philosophy). His educational experience includes being a graduate teaching assistant in the design of learning environments, comparative education, juvenile justice, and philosophy. He has also been an adjunct professor in the Anthropology Department of Empire State College and the Environmental Science Department of Ramapo College.

He currently lives with his wife and two children in Warwick and acts as a facility management and fund raising consultant to a number of non-profit organizations in addition to managing a small general contracting company. Mr. Blake currently serves as a Board Member for Orange Environment.

KATHERINE BAKER SKAFIDAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Kathy Baker Skafidas was hired by Orange Environment in 2003 as OE’s Executive Director. Kathy Skafidas is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization including supervision of staff, interns and community volunteers. She organizes research and information, stays on top of emerging events, and handles media relations. She represents the organization at meetings and works directly with the trustees (grant proposal writing, accounting, web site maintenance, publicity, legal work, publications etc.). Prior to Orange Environment, Kathy was a consultant for the Vernon Civic Association in 2002. From 1998 to 2002 Kathy Skafidas was hired as Skylands CLEAN's Coordinator then becoming CLEAN’s Director in 2000. CLEAN worked in the NJ Highlands protecting its many natural resources.

Kathy Skafidas has performed strategic planning for complex water quality issues and development of smart growth zoning plans for several municipalities (NY and NJ). Secured state municipal grants totaling $150,000 to review groundwater conditions and trends, and current and future zoning (NJ). Secured a federal 319h grant totaling to restore a 400-foot, channelized reach of the Pequannock River (NJ). Advisement of township master plan and re-examination plans, affordable housing options, town center plans and municipal wastewater and water supply systems (NY & NJ). Advised and researched local, state and federal procedures, standards and permitting requirements related to site plans, floodplain hydrology, surface water drainage and erosion control (NJ). Developed open space inventory for 6 communities in the NJ Highlands, instrumental in the establishment of the 8 municipal open space and farmland trust funds and 1 county (NY & NJ). Comprehensive analysis of a Ringwood, NJ mining operation and its effects on ecological and riverine habitat and quality of life issues for area residents. Analysis led to NJ Supreme Court victory. Worked to defeat pro-industry mining legislation (NJ). Organized and performed several stream monitoring workshops, conducted river cleanups, and held tree planting events and membership hikes (NJ). Established local stream monitoring protocol for local C1-TP-FW2 streams, evaluating turbidity, buffers, and non-point runoff parameters (NJ). Responsible for local workshops and seminars for residents (SEQR, Casino impacts on Orange County NY, storm water management, master plan changes, watershed protection, state plan, golf course contamination, and state reporting mandates on municipal water systems) (NY & NJ).

A graduate of Ramapo College with a degree in Environmental Studies, Skafidas was the undergraduate coordinator of the Mid-Atlantic Environmental Conference, which was held at the college in 1995, 1996 and 1997. While in college she worked for Dames and Moore Environmental Consulting and summers at the Weis Ecology Center/Audubon Society as a naturalist. Also after graduating from college, she worked for George Little Management as a trade show and conference coordinator.