Staff

 

    
         
                               
       

Ms. Kerry Brust

           
               

 

 
 

Foxy 

 
               
                               
   
  • SEI Board of Directors (Secretary- Treasurer) since April 1998
  • Senior Biologist- oversee red-cockaded woodpecker (RCWO) and American kestrel (AMKE) research and monitoring
  • Master Permittee through the USGS Bird Banding Lab
  • Permitted to restrict and drill RCWO cavities and translocate RCWO
  • Conduct RCWO monitoring and cavity management on Safe Harbor Properties within the North Carolina Sandhills- oversee these tasks and work cooperatively with private landowners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and consultants.  Conduct RCWO monitoring on public lands including western Fort Bragg, Camp Mackall, Sandhills Game Lands (A-Block), Weymouth Woods, Calloway Forest and the McCain Tract.
  • Past experience includes various research projects including red-cockaded woodpecker monitoring on the Croatan National Forest and Camp LeJeune, North Carolina; surveyed and monitored common loons in New Hampshire; banded honeycreepers on the Big Island of Hawaii; banded and monitored seabirds on Tern Island, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge; and behavioral ecology study of barn swallows in the Adirondack State Park, New York.
  • Earned a BS (1989) in Environmental Forest Biology from SUNY Syracuse- College of Environmental Science and Forestry, New York.
  • Vice President of the Sandhills Natural History Society
  • Familiar with Southeastern birds, frogs and toads (id and song) - budding interest in aquatic biology
     
       

Ms. Vivian Genovese

           
                       
         
                             Lily          
 
       
 
                                                                             
                                                                 
               
     

Vivian Genovese was born and raised in upstate NY.  She attended Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondack region of NY and graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Sciences in December 2001. 

Vivian comes to SEI from working at Eglin Air Force Base in NW Florida with the Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers.  Vivian is the biologist in charge of the fledgling aggression study at Eglin to determine if more aggressive fledglings are more likely to breed earlier.  After working 2 seasons in Florida she jumped at the opportunity to move closer to her family in upstate NY and NC.  Her first season at SEI Vivian will be the primary biologist working with private landowners and state owned land.           

 Vivian past experiences has ranged from trapping the Louisiana black bear in Arkansas, monitored Sonoran pronghorn in Arizona, monitored the Black-capped Vireo in Texas and has trapped or netted numerous other bird and mammal species.  Though she has enjoyed her past experiences she has enjoyed working with RCWO for the past 2 years and looks forward to continuing monitoring this important bird species.

 In her off time Vivian enjoys anything outdoors, including finding new hiking, biking or swimming spots that she can drag along her overweight pooch.  Her hobbies include quilting, reading, gardening and hanging out with friends and family. 

 
     
         
       

Mr. Steve Anchor

           
     
 

Pearl

                     
   

Steve Anchor was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, and attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  He received a B.S. in Wildlife Science in December of 1999.  Go Hokies!

Steve has been with the Sandhills Ecological Institute since March 2001.  Steve is the primary biologist conducting monitoring work with RCWs on western Ft. Bragg.

Between 2003 and 2005, Steve was the biologist in charge of the American kestrel study on Fort Bragg, NC.  This study was initiated to investigate the subspecies of the kestrels breeding on Fort Bragg (American or Southeastern American kestrels), as well as to collect data on density and breeding habits of the Fort Bragg kestrels .  Blood samples were also collected as part of a continent wide DNA profile for kestrels.

In addition to field work, Steve is the office GIS taskmaster, helping keep track of RCW tree and cluster locations, and creating maps for a number of different projects.

Away from the office, Steve is the captain of the Southern Pines Rugby Football Club, and enjoys a number of athletic and outdoor activities.  Steve competed in the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon in February 2007.  He proudly came in 1154th place; nipping, just 60 minutes behind, at the heels of the race winner.  
     
 
                                 
   

Mrs. Tracy Rush

       

       
 
           
   

Tracy Rush was born and raised in northeastern Pennsylvania and attended the Pennsylvania State University for undergraduate and graduate studies.  She received a B.S. in Biology/Botany in 1988 and a M.S. in Forest Resources in 1992.

 Tracy is currently the program coordinator for the North Carolina Sandhills Weed Management Area.

www.ncswma.org

 Prior to working with SEI, Tracy worked “next door” with Dr. J.H. Carter III & Associates, Inc. (JCA) Environmental Consultants for approximately 14 years.  While at JCA she specialized in protected species surveys, natural community assessments and restoration in the Sandhills, Piedmont and Coastal Plain of North Carolina.  Tracy also served as the Washington State botanist for 3 years and worked for the Smithsonian Institution’s Department of Botany in Washington D.C.

 When not eradicating invasive plants from the Sandhills, Tracy enjoys traveling, reading and brewing beer with her husband.