Scott Coleman

Scott is originally from Fort Gaines, Georgia and is a graduate of the University of Georgia’s Warnell School for Forestry and Natural Resources, with a degree in Wildlife. Scott began working at LSSI as a naturalist in early 2006 and his position evolved to ecological manager in late 2007.In his current role Scott works to maintain, enhance and restore the natural ecological communities and wildlife populations on the island. Working closely with the island’s Ecological Advisory Council, he has led the development of a 50-year conservation plan for Little St. Simons Island and is leading the transition of the island into a model for conservation management. His responsibilities include coordinating the island’s research, monitoring, restoration and natural resource management working with a wide range of public and private conservation partner organizations.

Scott is actively involved in the Georgia coastal conservation community serving on the boards of directors for One Hundred Miles, the St. Simons Land Trust and Coastal WildScapes, the steering committee for the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, as the management coordinator for the Georgia Shorebird Alliance and on the Blue Crab and Shrimp Advisory Panels for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Scott lives on St. Simons Island with his wife Ann, son Daniel and daughter Mary Remington.

Haley Waggoner

Haley grew up barefoot and exploring on the beach and in the scrub of southeast Florida. She attended Florida State University, where she spent two years as an intern with Florida Fish and Wildlife’s Bear Management Program. After graduating, Haley worked for a conservation corps in Asheville, NC where she spent her time building trails and restoring habitat all throughout the eastern United States. Haley has also worked as a technician for three different universities, studying Northern Bobwhites in Indiana, Eastern Wild Turkeys in Illinois, and Pacific Black Ducks in American Samoa. She joined the island team in March of 2024 as the seasonal Bird Technician and then transitioned to Ecological Coordinator for the Center for Coastal Conservation at LSSI in August. She enjoys hiking, reading, and visiting her friends across the country.  

Bard Wiesen

Formerly from Derby, Vermont, Bard was raised exploring the Appalachian Mountains in Northern New England with his parents. He quickly developed a love for the wilderness and he enjoys discovering natural treasures, whether it is a deer rub or rare plants like Rattlesnake Orchid and Jack-in-the-pulpit. Bard studied at Berlin Vocational Technical College of New Hampshire and then enlisted in the United States Coast Guard, focusing on mechanical engineering, water safety, and enforcement of marine mammal protection. From there Bard moved on to work in forestry, land preservation, and road maintenance. To expand upon his professional experience, Bard later began his own land management business in which he managed small land parcels for companies and individuals in Vermont. He also created a Christmas tree farm on his land to manage for wildlife habitat, improve erosion control, and generate renewable resources. Currently his two sons care for the tree farm.

Bard began working at Little St. Simons Island in 2016 and his skills and expertise soon earned him the role of land steward. In this position, Bard is responsible for a variety of ecological and land management projects including prescribed burning, managing invasive species, planning and implementing habitat management practices, and maintaining roadways and infrastructure in an ecologically-responsible way.

Sonja Brandt

Sonja is originally from Missouri but has traveled and worked various field ecology and conservation positions all over the U.S. Before working as the sea turtle tech on Little Saint Simons, she was volunteering on the tiny remote Palmyra Atoll, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where she was involved with marine conservation, rainforest restoration, and seabird monitoring. She graduated from Concordia University, Nebraska in 2021 with bachelors degrees in biology and studio art. In 2024, she earned her masters degree in biology from Fort Hays State University. She is passionate about marine conservation and sea turtles, and all of the island's biodiversity. 

Neal Graff

Neal graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in Conservation Biology in 2023. Since then he has worked with native fish species in the Northeast of Colorado for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.  However, birds have always been his passion.  He loves learning about birds and their conservation is very important to him.  As the Bird Technician, he monitored the island’s American Oystercatchers daily, but also surveyed our wading bird rookery and seabird colony.  We had 5 successful pairs of American Oystercatchers this season, resulting in 10 fledglings!

Christi Lambert

Christi Lambert is the Marine and Freshwater Conservation Director for The Nature Conservancy in Georgia. Working with the Conservancy since 1991, Lambert has led a wide range of programs and projects throughout Georgia and has built strong partner relationships that have resulted in significant conservation successes.

A native Georgian, Christi studied biology and chemistry at Shorter College and Berry College and ecology and geography at the University of Georgia.

Brad Winn

Before joining the staff of the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences in Massachusetts in February, 2011, Brad Winn worked for the state of Georgia for 17 years as a Biologist and Program Manager for the coastal office of the Nongame Conservation Section of the Department of natural Resources.
As Program Manager he oversaw a wide range of research, monitoring and management projects focused on protecting, and recovering depleted populations of native wildlife and natural communities of Georgia.

With Manomet, Brad is taking all he learned while in Georgia, and is applying it to projects focused on shorebird conservation within the entire Atlantic Flyway. Shorebirds as a whole are in poor shape world-wide, but Brad and others at Manomet are pursuing opportunities to turn some negative population trends around with strategic efforts in habitat protection and management.

Dorset Hurley

Dorset has lived and worked in the marshes and waters of coastal Georgia for over 30 years. For the past 14 years he has served as both a senior marine biologist for the GA DNR, and Research Coordinator for the SINERR.

His professional interests include tidal restoration projects, sea level monitoring, developing and planning Living Shorelines: control and detection of marine and terrestrial invasive species, coastal conservation spatial planning and ecosystem assessment.

Jacob Thompson

Jacob Thompson has worked as a coastal ecologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Nongame Conservation Section for the past seven years. During this time, Jacob has helped lead a coastal habitat mapping and assessment project resulting in detailed landcover maps and a greater knowledge of the natural communities of the Georgia coast. His current responsibilities include prioritizing vegetation monitoring activities for state lands, conducting surveys for high priority habitats and plant species, and coastal land protection.

Throughout his career, he has worked on and led several research and monitoring projects, including studies on pollinator behavior, herbivore and invasive plant impacts on rare plants, vegetation classification, herpetofauna monitoring, and plant population and community response to management. Besides serving on the LSSI Ecological Advisory Council, he is an active member of the Cannon’s Point Conservation Task Force and helped create a management plan for Cannon’s Point Preserve on St. Simons Island. Out of these different experiences, Jacob takes the most pride in working to protect ecologically valuable lands on the Georgia coast.