OUR TEAM

OUR TEAM

The primary instructors are Ken Bridle, Ph.D., and Chris Marsh, Ph.D., each of whom has over 30 years of experience teaching the natural history and field biology of the Carolinas. Administration and more are managed by Rebecca Craps and Ann Robertson.

Please contact Rebecca Craps at N.C. Cooperative Extension – Forsyth County Center at rlcraps@ncsu.edu if you have any questions or concerns about the requirements or need more information. 

Dr. Kenneth A. Bridle

Instructor | Piedmont Land Conservancy

Ken Bridle has been a professional scientist for over 40 years. Trained as a botanist with emphasis on plant physiology and natural product chemistry (Ph.D.), these interests have been applied to a variety of projects.  He has worked as a natural heritage and watershed inventory biologist, field ecologist, science museum exhibits director and environmental consultant.  He has been active with PLC for over 30 years as a member, volunteer, consultant, board member and staff member.

He is the author of several county Natural Heritage Inventories (1998-2002) as well as watershed assessments, wetland delineations and rare plant and animal surveys.  He has conducted other local and regional conservation research and restoration projects in North Carolina and around the southeast for a variety of groups.  He is a founding member of the Dan River Basin Association and the Carolina Butterfly Society and has served on the board and been a volunteer for many conservation groups in North Carolina and Stokes County where he lives.  He is a past Chair of the Wildlife Resources Commission, Nongame Wildlife Advisory Committee which helps to facilitate work and listing of rare animal species in this state, a board on which he served for two decades.  He is also a past president of the North Carolina Native Plant Society and Past President of the North Carolina Prescribed Fire Council and a founding member of the Triad Mushroom Club.  He is a frequent leader of hikes and nature walks and a speaker on local conservation issues.

Dr. Chris Marsh

Instructor | Forsyth Audubon

Chris is a co-founder of the South Carolina Master Naturalist program and co-taught the Lowcountry Master Naturalist courses for 21 years.  He is also a co-founder of the Port Royal Sound Foundation, located in Beaufort County, South Carolina.

Chris’s interest in birds goes back to his very early days. He grew up in Raleigh, NC and joined the Raleigh Bird Club when he was 14. As an intern for the North Carolina Museum of Natural History he traveled throughout North Carolina doing bird identification from 1974-1977. Chris completed his Ph.D. in zoology from Oregon State University in 1982 and became an assistant professor of biology at Brevard College that same year.

From 1984 to 1998 he served as a professor at Coastal Carolina University, where he taught biology, animal behavior, ornithology and marine ecology. He conducted shorebird surveys with the South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources and worked as an environmental consultant from 1986-1994.

Chris began to work with Betsy and Jim Chaffin on Spring Island as an environmental consultant in 1993. He also conducted bird workshops for members. In 1998 he left academia to become the first full-time Director of the Spring Island Trust and also became the Director of the LowCountry Institute when it was founded that same year. Now retired, Chris continues to contribute to conservation in the Lowcountry as director emeritus.

Rebecca Craps

Forsyth County Cooperative Extension

Rebecca grew up on the North and South Carolina coasts and enjoyed spending her summers on the farm in Southeastern North Carolina.  She obtained her BA in Sociology and Communication Studies from Clemson University and is currently enrolled in the Masters of Environmental Assessment program at NC State University. Rebecca started her career with N.C. Cooperative Extension as a Natural Resources and Environmental Systems Agent in August of 2023.  Before working for Extension, she was in the classroom for 10 years as a 5th, 6th, and 7th grade teacher.  During her time as a teacher, Rebecca was fortunate enough to connect with the Teacher Education program at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  Through the museum’s programming, she had the opportunity to travel to Belize in 2016, and the Amazon rainforest in Peru in 2019.  She has also participated in numerous field workshops across the state of North Carolina.  It was these museum experiences that sparked a passion for hands-on, environmental education.
 

As a Natural Resources and Environmental Systems Agent with N.C. Cooperative Extension, Rebecca’s role is to oversee day-to-day administrative operations of the Northwest Piedmont Master Naturalist Program including communications, marketing, and course evaluation.  She is also responsible for coordinating volunteer opportunities, tracking and reporting volunteer hours, and overseeing Certification and Continuing Education processes.  Finally, Rebecca connects participants with N.C. Cooperative Extension resources and opportunities.

Ann Robertson with John Gerwin, Curator of Ornithology of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, at John's Uwharries Bird Banding Station.

Ann Robertson

Program Co-Founder

Ann conducted much of the research to help get the Northwest Piedmont Master Naturalist program started.  She currently provides administrative support, coordinates administrative and social logistics of field experiences, and helps to gather feedback from participants.

Ann grew up in the Sandhills of Moore County. She developed an early awareness of environmental issues, being the only student in her high school who celebrated the ORIGINAL Earth Day. She then attended St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, which at that time was an avant garde foment of revolutionary thinking. She took what was likely one of the first courses in the Literature of the American Indian, taught by Dr. Whitney Jones, whose base expertise was Shakespeare.  She also took what may have been one of the earliest Environmental Studies courses in the US, under the tutelage of Dr. G. Tyler Miller, a chemist and environmental educator who made a name and a career for himself writing excellent textbooks.  The Second Law of Thermodynamics was helpfully symplified for us as, “Things fall part”; without, of course, the infusion of energy into a system.  The “energy” part was clearly up to us.  And, to galvanize action, we were also taught the synergy of “1 + 1 is greater than 2.”  These very common concepts now were novel then – at least to a country girl.  “The Whole Earth Catalog” was one of our textbooks, as was “Movement and Revolution”.  Those of you old enough to remember this may chuckle now.

Ann completed her BA in English at UNC-Greensboro. The move to the Piedmont proved permanent, as she settled in Winston-Salem after spending a summer working at a church camp in the Blue Ridge, near Doughton Park. The Blue Ridge Parkway became a magnet and a theme. She and her late husband Chester spent many happy hours on the BRP, hiking, picnicking, and participating in the Mahogany Rock Hawk Watch at MP 235 near Sparta.  
 
Ann’s work career in Winston-Salem began with administrative and operational support jobs in banking and brokerage. In 1989, she accepted a position as Coordinator for the Clinical Program at Wake Forest Law School. That position expanded over her 29 years at Wake Forest to include working with Trial Practice, Trial Teams, and the Judicial Extern Program, as well as the Chief Justice Joseph Branch Inn of Court. Ann also wrote the successful grant application to obtain Title IX funding to start the highly respected Elder Law Clinic at Wake Law. During her career at Wake Law, Ann worked with thousands of students and alumni, and hundreds of attorneys and judges, in the Triad area and beyond. The clinical programs had a truly inspirational base of support to deliver experiential learning for students, that benefitted all concerned.
 
In her retirement years as a widow, Ann reconnected with many environmental organizations that she and her late husband had championed, including Forsyth Audubon. She spends a great deal of time supporting programs such as the Young Birders’ Walks, conservation and advocacy issues, and the annual Bird Counts.  
 
Through Audubon, Ann met a young neurologist who longed to take a Master Naturalist Program, but the only one at the time was in Mecklenburg County, offered during the work week. Ann set out to research options. Several months later, the Northwest Piedmont Master Naturalist Program came together with the wonderful “buy-ins” of Dr. Ken Bridle, Dr. Chris Marsh, and Rebecca Craps of N.C. Cooperative Extension – Forsyth County Center. The demand for the course has already far outstripped our ability to include all who wish to take it. Clearly, the time was ripe. 
 
“I’m grateful to the Mighty Team, and to the initial supporting partners:  Piedmont Land Conservancy, Forsyth Audubon, N.C. Cooperative Extension – Forsyth County Center, and Reynolda Gardens,” shared Ann.
 

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