Board of Directors

2026

Photo coming soon!

2026 Board of Directors. Pictured L-R BACK ROW (New Photo Coming soon!): Heidi Mehl, Sarah Morse, Renee Grandiflora, Mark Dugan, Kynser Wahwahsuck-Bell, Jason Schwartz FRONT ROW: Lisa Grossman and LlynnAnn Luellen.

2026 Board of Directors

President – Sarah Morse, Topeka

Sarah is a born-and-raised Kansan who is proud of the state’s natural resources and is excited to have the opportunity to support the Kansas Riverkeeper and to protect and advocate for the Kansas River as a board member for Friends of the Kaw. Sarah was introduced to the important and impressive work of Riverkeepers when she was as a student attorney and Fellow for the Turner Environmental Law Clinic at Emory University’s School of Law in Atlanta, GA. Sarah and the Turner Clinic provided legal support to the Savannah Riverkeeper, and when Sarah returned to Kansas after law school, she was thrilled at the opportunity to support the Kansas Riverkeeper. Sarah lives in Topeka with her husband, daughter, and black lab.

Vice-President – Heidi Mehl, Lawrence

Heidi Mehl has served on the board of Friends of the Kaw since 2008. Heidi is currently working for the Nature Conservancy, as director of the Beals Healthy Streams for Kansas Initiative. Heidi has been researching water issues in Kansas and abroad since her undergraduate years at the University of Kansas. After receiving her B.S. and M.A. from the University of Kansas, she went on to do her Ph.D. research in the Department of Geography at Kansas State University, with a focus on fluvial geomorphology, nutrient cycling in riparian zones, and cultural issues surrounding water resources. Her research has included a partnership with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, as well as Gorno-Altaisk State University in Siberian Russia. Heidi also formerly worked on the Upper Wakarusa Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS), and for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Heidi’s favorite hobbies inlude kayaking on the Kansas River, hiking, and boating with her husband Martin on Clinton Lake.

Secretary – Renée Grandiflora

Renée is serving their second term on the board. They’ve lived in Kansas longer than any other place, and their interest in water began in middle school when they received first place in a state-wide competition identifying water quality issues in freshwater systems. For over a decade, Renée has worked in water utilities as a licensed Class IV Water and Wastewater Treatment Operator through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. They also are a certified Biosolids Management Technologist and Wastewater Lab Analyst through the Kansas Water Environment Association. Renée has served on the leadership team for the Kansas Women’s Environmental Network and as a representative on the Upper Wakarusa and Lower Kansas River Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) groups. When they’re not talking about water or trying to be near water, they are writing to pen pals while shooing their cats off the desk, photographing post offices around Kansas (they’ve been to over 300 of them), or searching for old postcards in antique stores.

Treasurer – LlynnAnn Luellen, Lawrence

LlynnAnn grew up and has lived most of her life in the Kaw watershed. She currently works for a public water supply system. She previously pursued graduate research projects focusing on agricultural stormwater runoff quantity and quality issues and computational modeling of hydroelectric dam releases. In college, she was a scholarship student-athlete and later went on to coordinate and coach a community rowing club for four years.

LlynnAnn loves being outdoors and taking in the beauty and wonder of nature in all seasons. She enjoys helping out on paddles as a Kaw River Guide, joining in with other Friends of the Kaw volunteers to clean up the river, and adventures by boat, bike, or backpack that end the day with a sublime sunset and camping out under the stars.

Members at Large:

Chris Cardwell, Kansas City

Chris Cardwell is a conservation and natural resources professional living in Kansas City, Kansas, just a stone’s throw from the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. His nearly 20-year career in sustainable landscape design, applied ecology, and native midwestern plant communities and watersheds has brought him into a position serving Deep Roots, KC since Spring of 2023. Their Nature Advisors program helps bring resilient native landscapes into the urban built environment through consultation and microhabitat planning for residents, municipal agencies, and community groups. His love for the rivers and ecosystems of Kansas traces back to a formative childhood spent roaming the backroads and grasslands of the Smoky Hills of North Central Kansas. As an adult, it was the nexus of his passions for environmental stewardship and kayaking that first brought him into the Friends of the Kaw fold, and after joining the Kaw River Guides for the 2025 season, he is honored to begin serving on the FOK board this year. Chris is a 2008 graduate of the University of Kansas, with degrees in History of Art and French; he is an avid musician and lover of Americana, a community gardener, and a true European football fanatic.

Mark Dugan, Overland Park

Mark has been serving on the FOK Board since 2016. His interest in the Kansas River and other waters arose from his time in Washington, D.C. litigating citizen suits under the Clean Water Act. He now practices law in Overland Park, doing mostly employment and wage law, but also keeping up an environmental law practice. He has also served on the boards of Mainstream Coalition’s Political Action Committee, St. Andrew Christian Church, and the Kansas City Worker Justice Center. He loves to drive around beautiful eastern Kansas and feels just a little guilty about burning the gasoline. He has two sons and a mischievous beagle, and he lives in Overland Park.

Lisa Grossman, Lawrence

Lisa Grossman is a full-time painter and printmaker whose work focuses on the Tallgrass prairies and the Kansas River.

Originally from Pennsylvania, she moved to Kansas City in 1988 for a seven-year stint as an illustrator at Hallmark Cards, Inc. She has degrees from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the University of Kansas, Lawrence. She’s had over 30 shows around the country and her work is included in numerous public, private, university, and museum collections. Her work is represented by Haw/Contemporary in Kansas City, Missouri, and SNW (Strecker-Nelson West) in Manhattan, Kansas.

A Friends of the Kaw (FOK) group float in 1998 inspired her volunteer and to get a kayak of her own, and she’s served on the FOK board since 2011 including serving five years as secretary. She enjoys kayaking and kayak/camping on the river and also enjoys hiking, birding, wild edible foraging, learning ancestral skills, and playing bass for old-timey gigs and dances. Grossman also works to apply her art to various conservation efforts and has served as an artist-in-residence in eight national parks including one with the U.S. Forest Service in Tracy Arm/Fords Terror Wilderness, Alaska.

She has made her home in Lawrence since 1996 with her wife, author Kelly Barth, and an old cat and a couple of chickens.

Amber Myers, Manhattan

Amber Myers is the Education Supervisor at the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan. Her passions include hiking, kayaking, and spending time outdoors at every chance she gets. As an environmental educator, she works to ensure the current and future generations of environmental stewards experience our amazing natural world.

She has served as the Assistant Director of Milford Nature Center and as a park interpreter for the US Army Corps of Engineers at Wilson and Kanopolis Reservoirs.

Amber holds Bachelor of Science degrees from Kansas State University in Park Management and Conservation as well as Natural Resources and Environmental Science. She is currently working towards her Master’s Degree at KSU in Applied Park Science.

Jason Schwartz, Wamego

Jason is the Sustainability and Conservation Manager for Evergy’s Green Team.

Erin Seybold, Lawrence

Erin is a watershed hydrologist living and working in Lawrence. Erin works at the University of Kansas as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology and Assistant Scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey. Before joining KU in 2019, Erin received her B.A. from Saint Olaf College in 2011, and her Ph.D. from Duke University in 2017, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Vermont. Erin’s research seeks to understand how river networks are responding to environmental change, and how disturbances like climate and land use change will impact aquatic ecosystem health and functioning. Erin loves spending time outdoors with her family, including time spent walking the riverfront trials in Lawrence with her kids and family dogs.

Kynser Wahwahsuck Bell, Lawrence

Kynser Wahwahsuck Bell is a member of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas and is a descendant of Shoshone and Sac & Fox Tribes. She works as a Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison for the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance. She received her B.S. degree in Environmental Science from Haskell Indian Nations University and her M.A. degree from the University of Kansas with a focus on nitrogen cycling in headwater streams affected by land-use change. She loves spending time outdoors with her family and being creative through sewing and arts.