Black Warrior Riverkeeper Staff & Board of Directors

Nelson Brooke was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. Nelson attended the Altamont School in Birmingham, Alabama and graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with an anthropology degree. Nelson is an Eagle Scout and an outdoor enthusiast who has enjoyed fishing and hunting along the banks of the Black Warrior River since he was seven years old. Nelson has been the Riverkeeper for Black Warrior Riverkeeper since January of 2004. As Riverkeeper, Nelson patrols and photographs the Black Warrior River and its tributaries, researches and analyzes polluters' permits, responds to citizen complaints, educates the public about the beauty of the river and threats to it, and acts as a spokesman for the Black Warrior River watershed.

Nelson Brooke (Right) and Hank Williams Jr. on the Black Warrior near Moundville

Mark Martin was born in Anniston, Alabama, and now lives in Birmingham, where he practices law. As Chief Prosecuting Attorney, Mark handles the various legal battles of Black Warrior Riverkeeper. When he is not busy suing polluters, one could find him paddling the Locust or Mulberry Forks of the Black Warrior River. Mark attended law school at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama.

Charles Scribner raises funds to support the organization and organizes events for public outreach. Charlie was so inspired by reading THE RIVERKEEPERS in 2003 that he took an internship that summer with the co-author, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at Hudson Riverkeeper. He subsequently served as a volunteer fundraiser and researcher for Waterkeeper Alliance, Hudson Riverkeeper, and Black Warrior Riverkeeper until June 2005. Charlie attended high school at St. Paul's School in Concord, NH, where he has broken alumni fundraising records, and where he gained a passion for ecology, camping, and canoeing on the nearby Merrimack River. Charlie also spent summers fishing on the Tennessee River with his only first cousin, who lives on Lookout Mountain. He graduated with an A.B. in History from Princeton in 2005 and wrote a 94 page History of Waterkeeper Alliance as his senior thesis. He also received an Environmental Studies Certificate from Princeton Environmental Institute. Charlie serves on the Environmental Task Force of Alabama's Episcopal Diocese.

Charles Scribner with fiancée, Elizabeth Yates of Birmingham, on the historic Hudson River across from West Point.

David Whiteside became involved in the Waterkeeper Alliance during the Summer of 1998, when he accepted a job from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., his godfather and President of the Waterkeeper Alliance. David founded Black Warrior Riverkeeper in November 2001. He attended The Altamont School in Birmingham, Alabama and graduated from the University of Vermont (UVM) with a degree in Environmental Studies. As Interim Executive Director, David raises funds to support the organization, trains new staff members, helps organize events, provides leadership, and performs countless other roles.

Vivian Malone was the first African-American to enroll in the University of Alabama. She later became an attorney working for the E.P.A.

Baird Castleberry has been involved with Black Warrior Riverkeeper since 2002. He created the organization's website with David Whiteside. Baird continues to be involved with the organization by assisting with computer-related work as well as playing music for many of our fundraisers with his band, SmokeShack. He does computer consulting and maintenance for his company New Merkel Consulting. To solve your computer woes you can contact Baird and tell him Riverkeeper referred you: (205) 970-3950.

John Kinney graduated from the Altamont School in Birmingham and then graduated from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies. John is currently attending classes at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) pursuing a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering.

Lauren Whiteside has been involved with Black Warrior Riverkeeper since its beginnings. Lauren is a Birmingham native who works for Southern Progress. She helps Black Warrior Riverkeeper outreach to the many towns in the Black Warrior River watershed. In addition to her outreach work, she helps plan events and even assists in tedious clerical work. While scuba diving enhanced her environmental interests, Whiteside already had a solid community service DNA: her great-uncle Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. desegregated Alabama and legally disbanded the Ku Klux Klan in the state, and her brother David founded Black Warrior Riverkeeper!

Lauren Whiteside and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama.

David Tidwell grew up playing in Five-Mile Creek, before he became aware of its pollution problems. Tidwell brings a business background to Black Warrior Riverkeepers Board of Directors. He passionately fights to protect Five-Mile, Valley and Village Creeks, which are some of the Black Warrior River's most polluted tributaries. Tidwell loves pulling for the underdog, which can be seen in his life-long devotion to the Detroit Tigers.

Paddling professor Gordon Black specializes in water safety © Charlie Wilson 2005

Gordon Black began paddling in Boy Scouts at the age of 12, and has not stopped since, spending most of his spare time and a substantial portion of his professional career in various kinds of boats. During his professional paddling career, Black has frequently been a featured speaker and instructor at conferences, symposiums, safety summits, camps, and schools. He has contributed to and edited books on paddling and authored numerous articles. Black is currently working as a freelance instructor and consultant in paddlesports. He still sneaks away as much as possible to just paddle for fun, often on the Mulberry and Locust Forks of the Black Warrior River .

Rob Brewer is a software configuration manager with Fidelity Integrated Financial Systems, a banking software company. He has been in the information technology field for 18 years. Brewer has a lifelong association with the Black Warrior River through his family’s property near Little Shoals Creek. He and his wife are looking forward to spending far more time fishing, boating and water-skiing there.

Mike Cowan, P.E. (right) with Anniston boater buds on the banks of the Upper Missouri River, Montana (September 2002)

Mike Cowan is an avid canoeist and civil engineer since 1982. Areas of practice include NPDES permitting, construction erosion control, and stormwater runoff mitigation/design. Cowan, his wife Barbara, and his daughter Sophia moved to Alabama in 1992 and live in North Shelby County. Having lived in other parts of the country, they are continually inspired by the vast array of nature's bounty all across the south.

James Lowery recently retired from his administrative position at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and remains active as an “Amateur Scientist.” Lowery is involved in environmental education (especially related to constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment); is a member of the Board of Directors of Friends of Shades Creek, the Cahaba River Society, and Legacy (a statewide environmental education organization); and is Vice President of the Alabama Paleontological Society. He enjoys paddling whitewater rivers as a member of the Birmingham Canoe Club.

Eugenia McWilliams owns property on the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River near Burnt Cane Creek outside Dora, Alabama. McWilliams is concerned about pollution in the Black Warrior River watershed, especially with the addition of three large coal mines near Dora. She has a stake and knows firsthand the devastation coal mines cause, as there are several moving in on her property up there.

M. Clay Ragsdale patrols Valley Creek of the Black Warrior River with his son in 2006

Clay Ragsdale is a civil litigation attorney operating as Ragsdale LLC. with offices in the Concord Center in downtown Birmingham. Ragsdale graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1982 and has practiced law in Alabama for over 24 years. Environmental law is an important part of his practice, and he frequently represents landowners against water and air polluters.

W. Kent Upshaw on the Green River in Utah, with Allen Jones and Ryan Stephens in 2002

An avid paddler of the Black Warrior River's Mulberry and Locust Forks, Kent Upshaw is also a founding partner in the law firm of Comer & Upshaw LLC. Upshaw was recently named Chairman of the Board of Directors for Carraway Hospital.

Randy Watts is the GLOBE Coordinator for the McWane Science Center. Randy received his B.S. and M.S. in Biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He plans on pursuing his doctorate in the fall of 2006. Watts’ background is in the areas of aquatic and marine biology with a special focus on nutrition, growth, and physiology in fish and invertebrate species. One aspect of his job at the McWane Science Center is to travel to local schools and train teachers and students on how evaluate water quality by employing chemical and biological tests.

With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Vandana Shiva in East Stroudsburg, PA. (June 2005)

From left to right: Mark Martin, John Wathen (Hurricane Creekkeeper, Tuscaloosa Co., Alabama), Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Vandana Shiva, David Whiteside, Mike Mullen (Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper, south Alabama), Nelson Brooke, and Charles Scribner IV.