About Us
Company Profile
Ocean & Earth is a consulting firm that specializes in building environmental stewardship capacity through integrated partnerships, collaborations, and sound science. Our staff has expertise in large scale project development, grant writing, and efficient program management focusing on fisheries, water quality, ocean chemistry, restoration of public lands, and Tribal subsistence and traditional resources.
Our team has a documented track record of building dynamic networks of stakeholders focusing on large regional environmental issues that engage community members, resource managers, researchers, and students. Ocean & Earth has helped develop water quality monitoring programs and restoration projects in Florida to building large networks of Tribal governments in Alaska working together to assess their vulnerability of climate change impacts.
Track Record:
- $ 8.4 million in grant funds awarded to clients
- 162 grant applications
- Over 350 environmental professionals trained
- Over 8500 people served from grants awarded
- 285 partnerships and collaborations formed
Ocean and Earth Environmental is dedicated to increasing the capacity of local, regional, and national stewardship projects by providing excellent grant writing, project development, and training that focus on preserving, enhancing, and protecting natural resources, water ways, and public lands.
To preserve natural and cultural resources for tomorrow while enabling projects that benefit people today.
Ocean and Earth Environmental Core Values create clarity and alignment around 4 guiding principles that we follow at Ocean and Earth Environmental every day. We live these values, using them like a compass to guide our decisions and strategies.
Meet Our Team
Christopher Whitehead
Principal Investigator and Owner
Chris completed his degree in Environmental Marine Science at the University of Hawaii Manoa where he focused on marine biology, fisheries management, and environmental policy. He has over 18 years of expert experience working with non-profit, city, state, federal, and Tribal government agencies writing and managing grants, designing research projects, establishing water quality programs, developing shellfish aquaculture operations, managing fisheries, building environmental laboratories, and creating large regional networks of researchers, Tribal environmental staff, citizen scientist, and resource managers.
Chris’ superpowers:
Building large regional environmental networks and consortiums
Developing capacity for Tribal government environmental programs
Grant writing
Water Quality
Harmful algal blooms/biotoxins
Traditional Food Security related to climate change impacts
Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring
Restoration and mitigation projects
Fisheries assessments
Education and Outreach
Email: chris.whitehead@oceanearthenvironmental.com
Phone: 360-797-3152
Meredith Pochardt
Fisheries Biologist
Meredith received her undergraduate degree from the New York State College of Environmental Science and Forestry with a focus in environmental science and watershed engineering. She then went on to work with nonprofits and tribes in Alaska pursuing projects focused on fish habitat restoration, fisheries research and water quality monitoring, and community education. Meredith then received her Masters degree from Oregon State University in fisheries science with a focus on using environmental DNA (eDNA) to monitor fisheries population trends in Southeast Alaska.
Meredith’s superpowers:
Grant Writing
ArcGIS
eDNA
Project Management
Wetland Mitigation
Fisheries Management
Data analysis
Habitat Restoration
Fisheries Management
Field Logistics
Data Analysis
Email: meredith@oceanearthenvironmental.com
Jeff Moskowitz
GIS Specialist
Jeff earned an undergraduate degree in Geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he specialized in human geography, geographic information systems (GIS), and cartography. Since 2008 he has worked with GIS and mapping software extensively on a variety of spatial and temporal projects with teams from around the world. Jeff’s professional and creative approach to visualizing and digitizing unique datasets explores relationships through data modeling, map production, and producing culturally significant map layers.
Jeff’s superpowers:
ArcGIS
Python
Adobe Illustrator
Database Management
Data Visualization
Remote Imaging
Digitization
Programming
Spatial Modeling
Email: jeff@oceanearthenvironmental.com
Jenn Hamblen
Environmental Scientist
Since 2015, Jenn has worked with a variety of organizations throughout Southeast Alaska on topics ranging from harmful algal blooms and paralytic shellfish poisoning to hydrology and water quality sampling of Transboundary rivers. Before moving to Alaska, Jenn completed her B.S. in Environmental Resources from the University of Georgia, her home state, and then her M.S. in Hydrology and Water Resources from the University of Arizona. Jenn is passionate about providing communities, especially Tribal governments, with the information, tools, and resources needed to monitor and steward (or respect) their cultural and environmental resources.
Jenn’s superpowers:
Coordinating & Managing Multi-Partner Projects
Water Quality Program Development & Management
Capacity Development & Training for Tribal Government Environmental Programs
Water Quality Monitoring
Grant Writing
Field Logistics
Education & Outreach
Data Analysis
ArcGIS
Harmful Algal Bloom / PSP Monitoring
Email: jenn@oceanearthenvironmental.com
Jarred Haynes
Community Sustainability Specialist
Jarred holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Development Practice from the School for International Training and a Bachelor’s in Anthropology and Environmental Science from the University of Maine. His work spans climate adaptation planning, social and environmental policy, and community-based development with an emphasis on systems mapping and participatory approaches. With experience across Maine, Alaska, and international settings such as Ecuador, South Africa, and Malawi, Jarred brings a grounded, cross-cultural perspective to climate resilience efforts. He has supported Tribal governments and communities in advocating policy change to support traditional food security. He has also collaborated with Tribal environmental departments in developing climate action plans. His work is rooted in active listening, co-creation, and aligning policy and organizational practices with lived realities.
Jarred’s superpowers:
Social-Ecological Systems Thinking
Participatory Practices
Bridging Policy and Practice
Contextual Observation and Synthesis
Clarity in Complexity
Email: jarred@oceanearthenvironmental.com
Nicole Reynolds
Environmental Specialist
Nicole will complete her undergraduate degree in Oceanography and Marine Biology at the University of Washington Seattle in June 2024. She’s worked with various government partners on researching invasive mud snails, creel surveying, and notably, researching early detection methods of European Green Crab in Southcentral Alaska. Her undergraduate senior thesis focused on the community composition of zooplankton in the equatorial Pacific. She’s passionate about teaching, and interdisciplinary research between oceanography and invasion biology.
Nicole’s superpowers:
Data Analysis
RStudio
Invasion Biology
Environmental Monitoring
Field Logistics
Email: nicole@oceanearthenvironmental.com
Rosemary McGuire
Environmental Specialist
Rosemary McGuire has an MFA in Writing from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She worked for many years as a subsistence harvest technician for the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife in Utqiagvik, AK. She also worked as a marine technician in Antarctica from 2011- 2019, and on a wide variety of scientific research projects in Alaska, including seabird, polar bear, and brown bear studies. Her hobbies include hiking, playing music, and reading.
Rosemary’s superpowers:
Biological data collection in remote communities, specializing in carnivores and marine mammals
Building interpersonal and work relationships across diverse cultural backgrounds
Remote logistics and travel, including everything from toe-in helicopter landings to trouble-shooting outboard motors at sea
Outreach and engagement, including newspaper articles, posters, social media, research talks, and community get-togethers
Email: rosemary@oceanearthenvironmental.com
Noele Weemes
Administrative Specialist
Noele received her undergraduate Zoology degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and completed a Master of Education in Teaching at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. She worked as a fisheries biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Services and later moved to rural Alaska to teach. For over 15 years, she has been a grant writer, administrator, and Project Director for a wide array of projects including environmental, cultural, educational, infrastructure, wellness, and capacity building for tribal communities and nonprofit organizations across the state of Alaska.
Noele’s superpowers:
Grant Writing
Grant Administration
Project Management
Financial Management
Large Infrastructure Projects
Cultural Education
Environmental and Food Security
Email: noele@oceanearthenvironmental.com
Nicole Hebel
Environmental Specialist
Nicole graduated from Beloit College in Wisconsin in 2019, double-majoring in Creative Writing and Environmental Studies. Her passion for protecting and conserving wild places drew her to the environmental field, where she spent a few years working volunteer internships at different locations with the National Parks Service and the U.S. Forest Service. Her most recent internship with the USFS brought her to Yakutat, Alaska. Nicole then spent nearly two and a half years working with the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe as a Freshwater Quality Environmental Specialist, where she also assisted in a variety of other projects in YTT’s Natural Resources department. Nicole’s hobbies include running and other physical outdoor activities in addition to cooking and reading.
Nicole’s superpowers:
Professional and creative writing
Water Quality field and lab procedure
Developing and maintaining positive relationships across diverse backgrounds
Experienced in and adaptable to a variety of fieldwork challenges
Email: nhebel@oceanearthenvironmental.com