The Council
Kentucky Heartwood currently supports four staff for a total of two full-time equivalents and is governed by the Kentucky Heartwood Council. The Council includes our most active volunteers and serves as our board of directors.
Xyara Asplen Patty Draus
Julian Campbell Elijah Hicks
Gretchen Collins Chris Schimmoeller
Dave Cooper Judy Tipton
Stephen Dorsett Ted Withrow
Gretchen Collins
I am an Artist, Astrologer and Dharma teacher in the Zen Buddhist tradition, Mother to three grown humans. I am at home in my beating heart. I live in the Daniel Boone National Forest, on the banks of the Rockcastle River, creating an off-grid homestead with my dance partner Martin and our team of forest cats. My daily (and nightly) practice is my most potent form of activism. Sitting quietly. Listening. Chanting. Trail work, forest gardening, chopping wood, hauling water.
Chris Schimmoeller
Chris Schimmoeller lives with her family in a handmade off grid house in the woods of northern Franklin County. She has always been inspired by her parents who were one of the first people to join the Peace Corps in 1962. After returning from a Fulbright in India, Chris helped start Kentucky Heartwood in 1992, serving as volunteer coordinator for the first 10 years of the organization. During her tenure litigation halted all logging on the Daniel Boone National Forest for four years.
Chris has been involved in numerous campaigns, including successful efforts to stop the Bluegrass Pipeline and bourbon barrel warehouse expansion in Peaks Mill. She helped start Envision Franklin County in 2004, which she serves as president, and Woods & Waters Land Trust in 2007. She currently chairs the Frankfort/Franklin County Joint Task Force on Invasive Species. Her husband Joel Dufour owns and operates Earth Tools, the largest dealership of walk-behind tractors in North America.
Stephen Dorsett
Stephen Dorsett is a retired Project Manager with experience in Banking, IT and healthcare. He grew upin West Virginia where he enjoyed fishing, camping, and hiking in the eastern states. While in the military he had the opportunity to discover the outdoor wonders of the West Coast/Hawaii. Concerned with the threats to our natural resources after he settled in Kentucky, he joined the local Sierra Club Chapter and Kentucky Heartwood in the late 1980’s. He is also a project leader with Wilderness Volunteers and has worked on various projects in National Parks and Monuments in Arizona Utah, Colorado, Arkansas, Vermont and Virgina.
While no longer on our Council, Stephen still volunteers as our Accountant! THANK YOU!
Julian Campbell
Julian Campbell has an initial degree from the University of Cambridge (in England), a masters from the University College of North Wales, and a doctorate from the University of Kentucky (in 1980). During 1987-2006, he worked for The Nature Conservancy, with much biological inventory on Daniel Boone National Forest and other federal lands in Kentucky. Since 1986, he has been working on the Atlas of Vascular Plants in Kentucky, in association with the intensive collection and bibliographic work of M.E. Medley, and with initial financial support from East Kentucky Power. The Atlas is now a website established in partnership with Judy Redden (carexmisera.com/KyPlantAtlas/).
He has been working on Elymus (wild rye species with paired spikelets) since 1989, culminating in the treatment for Flora of North America. Since 2001, he has also been focusing on selected problems in Fraxinus, Monarda, Rudbeckia, Helianthus and Solidago. He has accumulated over 100 clones of cane (Arundinaria gigantea) at the Griffith Farm in Harrison Co., Kentucky.
Dave Cooper
Dave Cooper is a long-time environmental and community activist living in Lexington. He became involved in the anti-mountaintop removal mining campaign after hearing a speech by Larry Gibson, the Keeper of the Mountains from West Virginia. He quit his engineering job at the 3M Post-It note factory and became a coalfield community organizer in West Virginia. Dave then founded the Mountaintop Removal Road Show and did over 800 speaking gigs from 2003 to 2011.
He founded the Whippoorwill Festival - Skills for Earth-Friendly Living in 2011 with help from friends in Mountain Justice. He joined the Kentucky Heartwood Council in 2012.
Ted Withrow
Bachelor of Science Ecology/Biology, Officer United States Army, Registered Sanitarian, with soils certification, Big and Little Sandy Basin Coordinator Kentucky Division of Water. I received the Governor’s award from the Environmental Quality Commission for the work at the Division of Water. I've been an engaged activist since retirement 17 years ago. Litigated against the three largest coal companies in Kentucky in a five-year battle that resulted in millions of dollars in fines and the State Supreme Court upholding the right of citizens to intervene in administrative court and regular court proceedings. Have been active in protecting Kentucky’s Outstanding Resource Waters from mining and other insults, we have so few miles of them left. Kentucky Heartwood is a natural extension of this passion.
My wife and I live on several hundred acres of forested land within the Daniel Boone Forest that has old growth trees, our goal is to reach a Climax Forest. We live with three Beauceron dogs and a cat. We are blessed. Join the resistance to things that make no sense
Johanna Delgado Acevedo, Executive Director
Johanna Delgado Acevedo is a Puerto Rican native and ecologist. Previously, she was an Associate Professor at East Texas A&M University, specializing in Wildlife Science and Conservation. She earned her Ph.D. in Wildlife Sciences from Texas A&M University - Kingsville, where she utilized molecular markers to investigate wild pig population structure in Texas. Additionally, her master's focused on the effects of habitat quality on the morphology of Puerto Rican amphibians, emphasizing environmentally induced phenotypic changes.
Her professional journey includes serving as the Director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Puerto Rico, Visiting Assistant Professor at Sul Ross State University, and Research Coordinator for a collaboration agreement between the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico and Casa Pueblo (www.casapueblo.org), a grassroots organization. Johanna has held leadership roles in academia, nonprofit organizations, and community-based initiatives, including her long-standing involvement with Casa Pueblo. She has been a loyal volunteer for Casa Pueblo for over 30 years.
Her work continues to focus on inclusive environmental solutions, bridging science and advocacy to foster sustainable, community-driven conservation efforts.
Jim Scheff, Ecologist
Jim Scheff worked as the Director of Kentucky Heartwood from 2008 through 2020, transiting to his new role as Staff Ecologist in October, 2020. Before moving to Kentucky, Jim was active in national forest protection efforts on the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri from 2000 through 2008, and has been involved with several regional and national forest protection groups.
Jim earned his B.S. in Biology from Webster University in St. Louis, M.A. in Environmental Science from Washington University in St. Louis, and M.S. in Biology and Applied Ecology from Eastern Kentucky University. The subject of Jim's graduate research at EKU was an investigation into the development of old-growth forest characteristics in second-growth forests in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
When not actively working to protect our public lands and wild places, Jim prefers to spend his time outside removing invasive species, hiking, or climbing various trees, rocks, and mountains. Jim lives in Berea.
Whitney Hamblin, Membership Director
Whitney Hamblin is an artist and graphic designer with a passion for visual messaging and meaningful design. Whitney was born and raised in central Indiana where she later graduated from Ball State University with a Bachelors of Fine Art in Visual Communications.
In 2021, Whitney transplanted to Estill County Kentucky to break ground on her farm. She founded Holler Home Flower Farm, where she grows florals for everyday moments and special events. Whitney worked as a custom wedding florist for many years, but knew her real passion was making things grow. Catch her at the Red River Gorge Farmers Market - May through October every Saturday 10-2!
Her accomplishments include a 2,189 mile Northbound thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2016, walking from Georgia to Maine through 14 states. Whitney also survived 21-days in the Brazilian Rain Forest on season 10 of Discovery Channel's Naked & Afraid. In her free time, Whitney loves to hike, forage, and play in the creek hunting arrowheads and agates. She is also a firm supporter of eating dessert first.