(Photo credit: Jennifer Packard)
Tamara Belt, Landscape Committee Chair
Tamara joined the Board in 2010 and is Vice Chair and Chair of the the Landscape Committee. She owns Hawthorne Garden Design, which specializes in high-end residential landscape design in the DC metropolitan region.
Before earning her degree in landscape design, Tamara was an environmental economist at the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank for over ten years, where she focused on projects in the environmental sector. She earned her Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics.
A native Spanish speaker and half-Colombian, Tamara also previously served as PTA co-chair at the Oyster-Adams Bilingual School. Tamara is married to Sean Greene, and they live in Woodley Park with their children. She is delighted to be able to support the restoration of this treasured woodland garden.
Samantha Krause, Birding Expert
Sam Krause is Tregaron Conservancy’s bird walk leader and resident birding expert. She is also a member of the Conservancy’s Landscape Volunteer Team and helps to lead volunteer service days for the community at Tregaron.
Sam’s fascination with birds started in Colorado when she was eight years old, where she was introduced to birding by her aunt and uncle. She now serves as the Minister of Birding for The DC Bird Alliance. In addition to leading birding tours around the region, Sam volunteers at a bird rehabilitation center, designs gardens to create bird habitat, photographs birds, and advocates for the protection of birds and their habitat. Her tours have been featured in The Washington Post, and her photography has been featured in the Washingtonian and eBird. Birds have shaped her life and have helped her understand the interconnectedness of the world, which she now shares with the Tregaron community.
Jennifer Packard, Volunteer Photographer
Jennifer Packard is a professional photographer who has a passion for nature photography. Inspired by her father’s service in the Navy in World War II, she served in the Navy Reserves for 10 years as a public affairs officer, documenting activities of the Navy around the globe. She now works as a freelance photographer in Washington, DC. Her work has been featured in many publications, including USA Today, NBC News, ABC Newspapers, Self.com, Navy Times, and Seabee Magazine.
Jennifer’s interest in nature photography began at a very young age, growing up in rural western New York State. By capturing the beauty of Tregaron, she hopes to inspire others to preserve the natural world and the open green spaces in our community.
Jennifer earned a BFA in Applied Media Arts/Photography and a Masters in Communication Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. View Jennifer’s portfolio here.
Christine Powell, Volunteer Landscape Team Coordinator
Chris has been involved with the Tregaron Conservancy since returning to DC in 2017. Before she moved to Nebraska to live on the prairie for a few years, she used to walk around the edges of the property, which was overgrown and rundown. When she returned to DC, she was amazed at the restoration that was happening and knew immediately she wanted to get involved. Now, Chris helps coordinate the on-the-ground work of the volunteer gardeners.
Chris retired as Chief of Staff of the National Park Service, which gave her more time to devote to Tregaron and her other volunteer endeavors. She has been a docent at the U.S. Botanic Garden for a decade, leading tours for the public and assisting with events. She is Board Chair of a small nonprofit animal welfare organization headquartered in Kabul, Afghanistan, and also tutors writing to adult immigrants through the Washington English Center. She serves on a Board committee for the Audubon Naturalist Society and is a member of their creek monitoring team.
Chris lives with her husband Bern and sister Bess, who are also Tregaron volunteers.
Shawn Siefers, Master Arborist
Shawn Siefers is certified as a Master Arborist through the International Society of Arboriculture, and has been involved in the Arboriculture field since 1999. He has worked for The Davey Tree Expert Company (formerly The Care of Trees), a sustainable tree care service, since 2003, where he specializes in tree health care, a skill he brings to his work with Tregaron. Working with the Conservancy’s Executive Director and Landscape Chair, Shawn regularly inspects Tregaron’s tree canopy and understory and directs his crew in performing tree care, maintenance and removal as needed. Shawn has also brought his expertise to a wide range of institutions, including Georgetown University, Washington International School, Sidwell Friends School, Georgetown Visitation, and Maret School. He has also provided services for the National Cathedral. Shawn is affiliated with a number of professional associations, including the Maryland Arborist Association, and consults for the City of Gaithersburg. He holds degrees in Forestry from Allegany College of Maryland and the University of Maryland.
Glenn Stach, RLA, LEED AP, Consulting Preservation Landscape Architect & Planner
Glenn Stach has been dedicated to cultural landscape preservation for over 25 years. Glenn has a proven record of sustaining and enhancing the historic legacy of significant landscapes through design and planning. Glenn obtained his degree from Virginia Tech, and has since managed projects in landscape architecture, historic preservation, and urban design for clients such as the Central Park Conservancy, the James Monroe Birthplace and Biltmore Estate. His Washington DC-based projects have included Meridian Hill Park, St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and the World War I Memorial.
Before Glenn started his firm, he was employed by Heritage Landscapes, the Vermont-based preservation planning firm that authored Tregaron’s Cultural Landscape Report. Glenn has served on the Board of Directors of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, which has recognized Tregaron as a notable destination. The Conservancy is delighted to have Glenn’s expertise and guidance in renewing and recapturing the beauty and integrity of the historic Platt/Shipman landscape.
Judith B. Tankard, Independent Historian of Landscape Design
Judith Tankard is a landscape historian, preservation consultant and author. She is a frequent lecturer on landscape history and a noted expert on Ellen Biddle Shipman. She is the author of The Gardens of Ellen Biddle Shipman (Sagapress/Library of American Landscape History, 1996), which introduced a new generation of garden lovers and historic landscape enthusiasts to Shipman’s pioneering achievements. In response to the popularity of Tankard’s book and its role in catalyzing preservation and renewal of Shipman’s gardens, the Library of American Landscape History has published an updated edition, Ellen Shipman and the American Garden (University of Georgia Press/LALH, 2018), a winner of the 2019 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize.
Judith lives in Boston, Massachusetts. She taught landscape design at Radcliffe Seminars for many years and was the founding editor of the Journal of the New England Garden History Society. She currently serves on the Stewardship Council of The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Judith lectured at Tregaron in 2012 and periodically advises the Conservancy on Shipman’s landscape designs.
Bess Touma, Summer Camp Education Program Coordinator
Bess has been a Tregaron volunteer since moving to DC in 2020. She is coordinates the Horizons Greater Washington summer camp program at Tregaron to connect underserved DC youth in grades 1-9 with the natural world. Bess works with the Conservancy’s team of volunteer educators, in partnership with the Horizons staff, to develop the Conservancy’s curriculum for each grade level, as well as coordinating and co-leading the campers’ visits to Tregaron throughout the summer.
Bess is a garden ambassador at the U.S. Botanic Garden and a volunteer in the Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. She has served for more than a decade as a board member of a small nonprofit animal welfare organization in Kabul, Afghanistan, and also tutors adult immigrants through the Washington English Center. Bess is a full-time volunteer with The Marine Mammal Center, the largest global marine mammal hospital, for whom she manages the planned giving program and serves on the major gifts team.
James Whelan Wohlgemuth, Former Chair
Jim Wohlgemuth served on the Board continuously from the Conservancy’s founding through spring 2018, and from 2015 to February 2018 as Chair. A native of Chicago, Jim has lived in Washington DC for over 30 years. He is a managing director at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management. Jim advises the Conservancy on its endowment investment strategy.
Jim received his MBA from The George Washington University and a bachelor of arts in political science from Colorado State University. He and his wife, Caroline, live and raised their four sons in Woodley Park, a half-block from Tregaron.
Ann Brooke, Volunteer Landscape Designer (In Memoriam, 1945-2023)
Ann Brooke was a professional landscape designer who generously volunteered her time and talents in support of our landscape design and stewardship work over many years. She was a treasured collaborator and dear friend. In her professional work, she designed and installed gardens, large and small — penthouses in New York City, Brooklyn brownstones, second homes and country estates in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Shelter Island and Colorado, schools in Brooklyn, and playgrounds in Colorado and New York. When she relocated to Washington, she enjoyed the opportunity to work in a new and more temperate environment. Ann grew up outside Sydney in a part of Australia full of lush, serene, sophisticated gardens whose English style had been adapted to a very different climate and landscape. Her landscape practice drew on that history of flexible and creative adaptation. Her volunteer work for Tregaron included Shipman-inspired woodland garden design, tree selection, and supervision of landscape installations.