Our People
Board of Directors
Jug Handle Creek Farm and Nature Center is governed by a small hands-on Board of Directors who
passionately support the mission of the organization and the growth of the educational facilities and programs.
Jack Tomlin, Board President
Ranch hand Sonoma County coast for 3 years - BA, major: elementary education, minor: science - MA, Elementary Administration, San Jose State University - U.S. Navy, 2 years Pacific 7th fleet; honorable discharge.
Taught elementary school in Las Lomitas School District in Menlo Park, California, from 1959 to 1991, experience in all grades K through 8. Retired. Summer school principal for 2 years.
Board member & secretary of California Institute of Man in Nature for 20 years, 1980 -2000, a non-profit that delivered natural science programs and field trips to schools & acquired critical natural areas for preservation across California.
Volunteer White Elephant Sale, Oakland Museum's Women's Board fundraiser, 1986 - 2012. Volunteer teacher for the “Environmental Volunteers,” a Palo Alto-based nonprofit that provides hands-on natural science lessons & field trips for elementary school classes in Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties from 1991 to 2005.
Serving on the board of directors of Jug Handle Creek Farm & Nature Center from June 2002 to the present.
Lori Jirak, Vice President
Lori’s love of nature and lifelong learning has led her to serve on several nonprofit boards, including time as State President of the California Native Plant Society. She studied landscape design and worked for Yerba Buena Native Plant Nursery for seven years. After moving to Mendocino County in 1995, she became a library volunteer and was on the county’s Library Advisory Board. Working with Jug Handle Creek Nature Center, helping children plant native plants at the Point Arena Lighthouse, was a wonderful experience. Lori ended up joining the Jug Handle board of directors in 2012. In addition to being involved in governance at Jug Handle, she also enjoyed helping with habitat restoration and landscaping projects with young people from Americorps. Jug Handle is a very special organization, and Lori has been fortunate to work with some very dedicated and inspiring people here.
Sandy Lawrie, Treasurer
Joined Jug Handle Creek Farm and Nature Center as a Board member in June, 2004.
Working since 1980 for Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Current position as a principal case manager in the Regulatory Relations
department overseeing the energy efficiency programs and related proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission.
Since the 1990s, operating a part-time private practice doing bodywork focusing in the area of trauma resolution.
A life-long interest in environmental education and conservation of natural resources. BA in Conservation of Natural Resources with
emphasis in environmental education, University of California, Berkeley.
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Foundation for Human Enrichment ~ Training with the Milne Institute in Visionary Cranial Sacral Therapy ~ Volunteer and student of the Mahasiddha tradition of Yogic Buddhism.
Caryl Thornton Sherpa, Board Member
With her enthusiasm for the natural world, Caryl Thornton Sherpa chose to engage with her community by supporting Jughandle Creek Farm and Nature Center, and joined the board in 2023. Taught by Toby Hemenway, she holds a Permaculture Certificate and puts her knowledge to work in her extensive garden. Caryl has worked in the design/architectural profession in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. She spent her last decade working as a Owner’s Representative/Construction Project Manager for museums and last worked for the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco on an expansion/renovation. Prior to moving the Mendocino Coast in 2017, she lived a couple years at 9,000’ in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains in the Khumbu of Nepal on the way to Mt. Everest. An avid hiker and beachcomber, this area was the perfect place to call ‘home.'
Erica Fielder, Executive Director
Inspired by Jug Handle’s founder and visionary, John Olmstead, Erica Fielder, MFA, began her career as a naturalist in the early 1970s at Jug Handle Farm and Nature Center. In 1982, she moved to Jug Handle to become a resident naturalist, establish environmental education in local schools, and help establish the ongoing Jug Handle Nature Day Camp. Simultaneously, armed with an art degree and naturalist experience, she began a forty-five-year career as an interpretive display designer creating educational trailside panels for parks throughout Western states and overseas. Among hundreds of design projects, Erica received a grant from the California State Coastal Conservancy to develop panels for coastal wetlands along California’s 1,100-mile coastline. The City of Fort Bragg invited her to create panels for Fort Bragg’s segment of the California’s Coastal Trail. For this project, she received a 2015 award of excellence for Regional Park Design from the California parks and Recreation Society. Erica is co-author of Ecology for City Kids, self- published, and City Safaris (1986), a Sierra Club handbook that shows grownups how to teach kids about nature in the city.
Sue Coulter, Director of Nature Education
Sue has a lifelong insatiable curiosity, enthusiasm, and love of sharing nature with others. Sadly, as a child, no one came into her classrooms to teach about the ecosystems where she grew up and how to preserve them. This lack fired her desire to change that for the generations to come. When she moved to the Mendocino coast in 1997, she kindled her love of teaching in her favorite classroom: the outdoors. Working for local environmental educational nonprofits, Sue has evolved her skills through the years as an interpretive naturalist. Over the decades, Sue developed a reputation for a dynamic, interactive teaching style to share her awe and wonder of the wild beauty of the Mendocino Coast. She is thrilled to contribute years of teaching experience and curriculum development to the fifty-five-year-old legacy of the environmental education programs offered at Jug Handle Creek Farm & Nature Center.
Fern Tahja, Nature Education and Nursery Coordinator
Fern leads nature exploration hikes, river trips and tours of the Jug Handle Ecological Staircase and Pygmy Forest. She has worked for Jug Handle for over 10 years. Fern is a professional river guide and is certified as a Wilderness First Responder. Fern graduated from Humboldt State University with a B.S. in Natural Resources Planning and Interpretation, with a focus on Botany. Fern also has a University of California Naturalist Certification.
Alison Gardner, Botany and Nursery Expert
Alison is trained in botany, plant taxonomy, plant ecology, plant propagation, and nursery maintenance. For almost 20 years, Alison has worked to make Jug Handle’s Native Plant Nursery a valuable source of diverse native plants for natural resource agencies, restoration projects, and local gardeners. She has a Natural History Certificate of Achievement from College of the Redwoods. She is a certified Botanical surveyor for Mendocino County and the author of the Wild Mushroom Cookbook.
Clara and Florencio Hernandez - Maintenance, Housekeeping
As on-site caretakers, Clara and Florenci have been with the organization for more than 18 years. Clara does an amazing job cleaning all our facilities with her great attention to detail. Florencio, our maintenance person, keeps all our buildings in shape, which can be a challenge because some of them are over 150 years old.