Science and Policy Committee

Blanca is an international expert in carbon and greenhouse gas accounting and ecosystem services, experienced in building capacity and providing technical support to countries across the world on climate change mitigation plans. She currently works at GreenCollar, where she assesses ecosystem services with a particular focus on carbon sequestration, blue carbon, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem response to environmental change. Blanca is passionate about developing science-based approaches oriented to creating resilient and sustainable communities, and facilitating decision making by developing tools for stakeholders to better understand the benefits of land use and emissions reduction strategies.

Jason Evans is the Executive Director of Stetson University’s Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience. Trained as a landscape ecologist, Jason is one of the nation’s leading researchers, practitioners, and teachers in the fields of coastal resilience and climate adaptation planning. He regularly conducts climate vulnerability assessments in collaboration with local, state, and federal authorities and specializes in identifying opportunities for integrating restoration of natural ecosystems in support of flood risk mitigation and water quality improvement. Over recent years Jason has worked extensively on climate resilience issues along the Atlantic coast of Florida and Georgia, including multiple projects implemented in the Florida Keys and the greater Indian River Lagoon watershed. Jason also serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Environmental Management, a top-ranked international publication within the fields of environmental science, engineering, planning, and governance.

Alan has been an activist, writer, and observer of Florida environmental, Everglades, and political issues for about 30 years. His editorials have appeared in Florida newspapers, online publications such as Huffington Post, and his blog, Eye On Miami. He first engaged in these issues through his love of the Florida Keys and flats fishing. His work has been recognized by the Everglades Coalition and conservation groups.

Roy Gardner is a professor of law and director of Stetson University’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy. Roy is an internationally recognized expert in wetland law and policy. He served earlier in his career in the Army General Counsel’s office as the Army’s principal wetland attorney, advising the assistant secretary of the Army on legal and policy issues related to the Corps of Engineers’ administration of the Clean Water Act section 404 program.

Philip Kushlan is a Coconut Grove resident and a passionate advocate for the
conservation of South Florida’s unique ecosystems. He is an avid boater, diver and
underwater photographer and graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science and a Master of Science in Biology. He also serves on the boards of VoteWater, the Zoo Miami Foundation, and Miami Waterkeeper.

Professor Jaclyn Lopez established and directs the Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment at Stetson’s College of Law. She also teaches professional responsibility, advanced legal research and writing, environmental practice, and topics in biodiversity. She comes to Stetson Law from the Center for Biological Diversity, where she served as the environmental nonprofit’s Florida Director and senior attorney for over a decade. She holds a master of laws in environmental and land-use law from the University of Florida, a J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Arizona. She writes and lectures on access to courts and decisionmakers, corporate interference in democracy, climate change, water and air quality, environmental injustice, and the extinction crisis.

An Ecohydrologist, Everglades expert, author, elected official and empiricist trained in systems analysis and simulation modeling, Dr. McVoy is a noted educator and advocate for science-based environmental science.

An excellent communicator of science to policymakers and stakeholders, Dr. McVoy is internationally experienced in environmental and agricultural research. His work has been published in Ecological Economics, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment and other peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. McVoy is the principal author of Landscapes and Hydrology of the Predrainage Everglades. He currently serves the Lead Environmental Scientist for South Florida Engineering and Consulting, LLC.

An avid fly fisherman and outdoorsman, Dave was born and raised in Miami and grew up in the 80s and 90s exploring the waters of Florida Bay, the Everglades, Biscayne Bay, and the Keys. He is a University of Florida alumni, and has worked across the state as a commercial real estate broker since graduating in 2003. He currently resides in Jupiter, but you can usually find him anywhere there are tarpon swimming in the spring and summer months.

Dr. Jennifer Rehage is a coastal and fish ecologist and associate professor at the Institute of Environment and the Earth & Environment department. Studies in her research group focus on understanding how natural and human disturbances affect multiple aspects of the life of fish focusing on individuals, their behavior, populations, ecosystem role, and interactions with anglers.

Todd Thurlow, a Stuart native and 6th generation Floridian, is a third-generation Stuart attorney, practicing in the areas of estates and trusts and estate and gift taxation.
He’s been fascinated with changes to our local waterways since childhood, when he explored the shorelines and sandbars of the Indian River Lagoon in his 8-foot boat.

His obsession with historical maps, plats and aerials was fostered by his law firm’s historical archives and by his mother, Sandra Thurlow, author of four books on local history. Todd assisted her with her creation of a private digital collection of thousands of historical photographs.
He collaborates on the “Indian River Lagoon” blog with his sister, Jaqui Thurlow-Lippisch, who previously served on the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District Board. Todd provides Google Earth overlays of historical maps, aerials and satellite imagery; the videos are also posted to a YouTube playlist.In addition, he hosts the “Eye on Lake O” website, which automates the collection of satellite imagery and online government data to track local algae blooms and the discharges into the St. Lucie River.

Born in Michigan, Peter received his undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill followed by a law degree at Temple University in Philadelphia, before moving to Miami in the early 1980s. He worked as staff attorney at American Friends Service Committee, representing imprisoned undocumented people at Krome Detention Center and undocumented farmworkers in rural areas throughout South Florida. In 1988, Peter moved to New York City then to Mozambique to work for Save the Children, where he assisted with war-traumatized children. From New York, he came to Indiantown to open a private immigration law practice. He eventually settled with his family in Stuart and became a member of several boards including Americans for Immigrant Justice in Miami and the Elliott Museum.

Dr. Thomas Van Lent is one of the leading experts on water management in the Everglades, with more than 40 years of experience in Everglades restoration. He has worked for the state of Florida, the Department of the Interior, in academics, and for the Everglades Foundation. He holds a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University.

Carol was born and raised in Stuart, Florida. Perhaps motivated by her maternal grandfather, Francis Keith, and his membership in the River’s Coalition, Carol spent much of her childhood with friends on the waters of the Treasure Coast enjoying the flora and fauna.

Following graduation from Martin County High School, she spent three years shared between Stetson University and Florida State University earning an undergraduate degree in criminology, leading to her employment as a Probation and Parole officer in Florida’s 19th Judicial Circuit.

Carol left the 19th District to pursue her law degree at Florida State. With a Juris Doctor and her admission into the Florida Bar in hand, she set out as an Assistant State Attorney, followed later by time in private practice. While in private practice Carol served on the Board of Trustees of the Martin County Historical Society serving as President in 1997. During her term as President the Second Edition of The History of Martin County was published.

Always having been drawn to the water she then accepted the invitation from Allied Marine to become their In-House Council. While there, Carol served on the Stuart City Commission from 2011-2014 with another year added for a term as Mayor of Stuart. At the end of her Commission term Carol was honored with recognition as “Concensus Maker,” an attribute which has served her throughout her life. Carol is currently retired from Alley-Maas…Maritime Division but not before being selected to serve on the Florida Yacht Brokers Arbitration Board.