Cheryl Collins, President
Cheryl Collins of Brown City – Marlette co-founded the Thumb Land Conservancy in 2008. She worked at the forefront of natural area protection efforts in the region for many years. Cheryl served on the board of directors of the Michigan Nature Association from 2003 through 2008, and co-founded the Macomb Land Conservancy in 2000 which merged with Oakland Land Conservancy to become Six Rivers Land Conservancy. In 2001 and 2002, she conducted a fundraising campaign as a volunteer on behalf of the Michigan Nature Association to purchase the Sharon Rose Leonatti Memorial Nature Sanctuary in Kimball Township, Saint Clair County; with one of Michigan’s largest remaining populations of State Endangered Painted Trillium. She fundraised nearly $60,000 in less than two years in her spare time. With the Michigan Nature Association, she developed funding sources resulting in grants of nearly $500,000 for a statewide land acquisition campaign. Cheryl and husband, Bill Collins, worked together on many projects for Huron Ecologic, LLC since 1998. Cheryl served as Project Coordinator, assisting community groups in protecting local natural areas across Michigan. She prepared, organized, and presented exhibits and testimony for three Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Contested Case Hearings and two Michigan Environmental Protection Act suits involving State and federally regulated wetland and other natural features. She provided information regarding the Michigan wetland regulatory program and wetland violation files to the Michigan Environmental Council and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. From 1996 through 1998, Cheryl was Assistant Drain Commissioner for Saint Clair County, working with Drain Commissioner Fred Fuller who promoted natural watershed management and river restoration. In 2006, she was a Project Assistant for the Sanilac County Economic Development Corporation. She obtained a grant to construct a rain garden in Lexington and worked with the Huron County Economic Development Corporation on a Michigan Department of Transportation plan to identify significant heritage highway features along M-25. From 2006 through 2009, she was the Chairperson of the Sanilac County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. She ran for Sanilac County Drain Commissioner in 2008, receiving 38% of the vote as a Democrat in a solidly Republican county. Cheryl continued working as a drain inspector until 2020, assisting with drain maintenance projects for the Saint Clair County Drain Commissioner.
Fred Fuller – Director, Secretary and Treasurer
Fred Fuller grew up in Yale, Michigan and has lived most of his life there, serving as Mayor of the City of Yale in 1990, 1991, and 1996. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Albion College in English Literature and spent a semester in New York City working as an editorial assistant at The Paris Review literary magazine edited by George Plimpton. He has also traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada. Having held a life-long interest in the cultural history of the Irish and British Isles, he wrote several magazine articles on that subject. He was employed as a Field Director with the Michigan Nature Association in 1992 and 1993, exploring potential new preserve lands and helping edit the MNA’s sanctuary guidebook. Fred co-founded the Thumb Bioregional Alliance in 1993, an association of environmentalists and others concerned about ecology and the quality of life in the Thumb region. He also co-founded the Mill Creek Coalition, the Black River Watershed Group and the Friends of Beards Hills, to help preserve important ecosystems in the Thumb. Fred was elected as the Saint Clair County Drain Commissioner from 1997 through 2008. As Drain Commissioner, he opposed the proposed full-scale dredging of Mill Creek, a major tributary of the Black River, and he helped negotiate a compromise restoration of the creek. He enacted innovative storm water rules for Saint Clair County, initiated an illicit discharge elimination program on county drains, required wetland inspections of new development sites, and helped pioneer preservation of high-quality wetlands as mitigation for Michigan Department of Environmental Quality permits in Saint Clair County. From 2009 through 2020, Fred was employed as Water Resources Manager with Huron Consultants LLC of Port Huron and Lapeer, Michigan. In 2021, after obtaining a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University, he started a company, Huron Genealogy Services LLC, to assist people searching for ancestors and creating family histories.
Kay Cumbow – Director
Kay Cumbow of the Brown City area is a long-time environmental advocate, active on local issues and also nuclear issues in the Great Lakes region. She is an active member of Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, a statewide organization working to protect the health of our communities and the Great Lakes. Kay has an Associate of Arts degree from Kalamazoo Valley Community College and an Associate of Science degree from Mott Community College. She is a retired respiratory technician. Kay holds an Extra License for amateur radio through the Federal Communications Commission, is a Volunteer Examiner accredited through the American Radio Relay League, and is a member of the Thumb Amateur Radio Club in Michigan.
Dorothy Craig – Director
Dorothy Craig lives near the TLC Dead End Woods Sanctuary in Fort Gratiot Township and joined the TLC board in 2013. Dorothy has cared for animals her whole life and loves nature. Dorothy has encouraged and supported the work of the TLC since its formation in 2008.
Dr. Scott Ferguson – Director
Doctor Scott Ferguson grew up near the TLC Dead End Woods Sanctuary in Fort Gratiot Township and joined the TLC board in 2010. Doctor Ferguson has been in full-time dental practice since 1988, the year he earned his Doctorate of Dental Surgery from the University of Detroit. He is a member of the Thumb District Dental Society, the Michigan Dental Association, the American Dental Association, and the Port Huron Study Club, part of a nationwide network of affiliates under the Seattle Study Club. Doctor Ferguson has completed advanced training through the Misch Institute for Implant Training and is a Fellow in the International Congress of Oral Implantology. A Port Huron native and active supporter of many local associations, Scott lives in North Street with his son, Gabriel and daughter, Maya.
Daniel Rhein – Director
Dan Rhein of Port Huron grew up in China Township in Saint Clair County. He is a naturalist, wildlife expert, and a self-taught botanist possessing thorough knowledge of many obscure plant species, especially grasses and shrubs. Dan graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Wildlife. For years, Dan has volunteered his time to provide nature education programs for the Blue Water Council Boy Scouts of America and local school children. Dan has long worked to promote natural areas in the Thumb, especially lakeplain prairie, wetlands, and aquatic habitats. He was a member of the Thumb Bioregional Alliance in the early 1990’s, which advocated for the protection of land along the Black River near the Port Huron State Game Area, and the Minden Bog in Sanilac County. He has led several tours through the Minden Bog, being quite familiar with the unique bog vegetation. Dan taught an edible plants course for Willow Winds school of traditional skills and crafts near Mikado, Michigan. Dan is a very talented painter and has exhibited his work at Studio 1219 in Port Huron. He worked for many years as a drain inspector and project supervisor for the Saint Clair County Drain Commissioner. While employed by the Drain Commissioner, Dan specialized in natural stream restoration, location of illicit pollution discharges to county drains, rain garden maintenance, and invasive weed control along county drains and wetland mitigation preserves.
Chris Walker – Director
Chris Walker grew up on a small farm near Croswell, where his parents instilled in him a near-reverent appreciation for the land and its natural inhabitants. Chris is currently an Assistant Professor in the Communication Department at North Dakota State University. He earned a Master of Fine Arts in Cinema and Photography from Southern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Journalism from Central Michigan University. As a photography professor, he has fulfilled full-time teaching and research appointments at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama; Southern Indiana University, Evansville; and Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore. He has worked for several newspapers, including the Toledo Blade, where he and two coworkers earned a finalist spot in the Pulitzers, and has been published worldwide in numerous magazines, books, and journals. For 7 years, he was the Photography Columnist for Camping Life magazine. Chris is a naturalist and has a life-long interest in ecology, particularly through bird biology and stock nature photography. He was a Neotropical Migratory Research Technician for 2 years at Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Oak Harbor, Ohio. Chris is an artist and journalist with deep concerns for social anthropology and our ever-changing environment.
