Executive Director Corrie Miller, who led the Ausable River Association (AsRA) through the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene and has overseen the organization’s operations over the past two years, has announced her departure. Miller has accepted the position of Executive Director of Friends of the Mad River in central Vermont.

Replacing Miller as executive director is Kelley Tucker, long-time member of the AsRA board and co-author of the draft Ausable River Watershed Management Plan that is being prepared for public comment this year. “We took stock as a board and carefully reviewed our organizational needs, those of the community, and the watershed, and we decided we have the right person within our own ranks,” AsRA Board Chair Larry Master state in a statement to the press.

Tucker, a resident of Upper Jay, has served as Vice-President of Programs for the International Crane Foundation, helped to found the Washington DC based American Bird Conservancy’s Pesticides and Birds Campaign, and most recently was the eastern North America program manager for LightHawk, a donor of flights in small planes to conservation organizations.

The organization has also announced the appointment of four new members to its volunteer board of directors: Evan Bottcher, owner of the Hungry Trout Fly Shop in Wilmington; Liz Clarke, a professional planner specializing in community and conservation lands planning who lives in North Elba; ecologist and wetlands scientist Raymond Curran of Wilmington; and Rocco Giampaolo from Jay, a professional civil engineer working in the fields of environmental remediation and water resources. The four join six other Ausable watershed residents on the AsRA Board of Directors: Christian Brammer of Keene, Robert Farkas of Jay, Susan Lacy of Keene, Larry Master of North Elba, Kara Page of Wilmington, and Warren Radcliffe of Keene. Members serve three-year terms.

The Ausable River Association’s mission is to identify, conserve, and restore the Ausable River watershed’s natural and recreational resources for its ecological value and the benefit of human communities. AsRA works with landowners, municipalities, and government agencies to conserve the resources of the Ausable watershed.

Visit www.ausableriver.org or contact the Ausable River Association at 637-6859 or info@ausableriver.org for more information.