Below are brief biographies of current members of the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species Advisory Committee. Committee members are appointed by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection and serve as an advisory body to that office in matters of New Jersey endangered and nongame wildlife resources. The committee consists of 11 members from four broad public affiliations: four members come from the research and academic community, one is a veterinarian or public health professional, three represent nonprofit organizations with a strong interest in non-consumptive use of wildlife, and three are appointed from the public-at-large.

Chair – Richard Lathrop, Ph.D

Dr. Lathrop is a Professor in the Rutgers Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, and Director of the Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis. Dr. Lathrop has degrees in biology, forestry and environmental monitoring, and a large part of his current work is in spatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He has served as a reviewer of the ENSP’s Landscape Project methodology. Dr. Lathrop serves numerous boards, including the Pinelands Commission Science Advisory Board and the Barnegat Bay Estuary Program’s Science Advisory Committee. Dr. Lathrop has served the Committee in one of the four academic-research seats since 1998.

Russell Furnari

Russell Furnari is currently retired, spending time as an environmental policy consultant and volunteer. Prior to his retirement, he spent 42 years with the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), working in a variety of operating and technical support positions. He most recently held the position of Manager of Environmental Policy Enterprise, where he was responsible for managing regulatory and legislative issues facing PSEG’s operating subsidiaries. He has a B.S. in Industrial Administration from NJIT and an M.A. in Environmental Management from Montclair State University. Passionate about public service and sustainability, Russ is active with several organizations working to promote climate mitigation/adaptation, sustainable communities, and habitat restoration throughout the state and the region. These include the NJ Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, NJ Climate Change Alliance, Conserve Wildlife Foundation, American Littoral Society, Center for Aquatic Sciences, Hackensack Riverkeeper, the NJIT College of Science & Liberal Arts, Board of Visitors, the MU Urban Coast Institute, Advisory Committee and PSEG Institute of Sustainability Studies at Montclair State University. Mr. Furnari’s term began in 2021.

Howard Geduldig

Mr. Geduldig is an accomplished retired attorney who has been involved with environmental issues through his entire 25 year career. As a Deputy Attorney General with the NJ Department of Law and Public Safety and a supervising attorney with the Department of Environmental Protection, Mr. Geduldig’s primary focus has included issues affecting game and nongame wildlife, climate change, air pollution, coastal and land use issues. His work has involved defending horseshoe crab regulations designed to conserve red knot (a threatened species) populations; litigation with PPL (Martins Creek/Mount Bethel Electric Generating Station); Conectiv (B.L. England and Deepwater Generating Stations), the US DOE (enforce appliance energy efficiency requirements); as well as lead council for the nongame and game regulations. With a Juris Doctorate degree and a M.S. in wildlife biology, Mr. Geduldig offers an invaluable view of the legal aspects of natural resource management issues. Mr. Geduldig has served the Committee in one of the three public-at-large seats since 2009.

Tyrese (“Ty”) Gould-Jacinto

Ms. Gould-Jacinto is a resident of Cumberland County, and a member of the Nanticoke Lenape Nation who serves on its Citizenship Committee. She also serves on the NJDEP Environmental Justice Advisory Committee. She is passionate about preserving her Indigenous culture and ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come, through land and energy conservation as well as workforce development. With a deep-rooted reverence for her heritage, she is dedicated to preserving our cultural legacy while actively contributing to the evolution of a sustainable and equitable society. Ms. Gould-Jacinto’s appointment began in October 2023 in a Public-At-Large seat.

Martha Maxwell-Doyle

Over three-plus decades, Ms. Maxwell-Doyle’s career has spanned innumerable aspects of environmental protection, coastal ecology, resource management and climate risk mitigation. She has held leadership roles in two EPA National Estuary Programs (NEP), as the Deputy Director of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (current) and as the Project Director with Barnegat Bay Partnership (2008-2022). Martha also serves on the NJ Tidelands Council, the NJ Climate Change Alliance, NJ Coastal Resilience Coalition, Mid-Atlantic Coastal Wetlands Assessment, NJ Tidal Wetlands Monitoring Network, and other organizations. Ms. Maxwell-Doyle’s appointment began in October 2023 in a Qualified Non-profit Organization seat.

Marion McClary, Ph.D.

Dr. McClary is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he is also the Chair of the Biological Sciences Department. He also serves on the University’s NCAA Division I Committee on Academics, and is the administrator of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in STEM. His expertise is in aquatic and invertebrate biology, including the study of macroinvertebrates in freshwater and tidal marshes of New Jersey. His research interests include the diversity of aquatic organisms in bodies of water before, during, and after restoration and or alteration by humans. His experience with the aquatic ecosystems of the NJ Meadowlands will bring a new perspective to the ENSAC. Dr. McClary earned his Ph.D. in Zoology at Duke University, and his undergraduate degree in Marine Science at Stockton University. He serves in one of the four academic-research positions and his term began in 2022.

Erica Miller, D.V.M.

Dr. Miller is an accomplished wildlife veterinarian with the University of Pennsylvania, where she is the Field Operations Manager for the Wildlife Futures Program, a collaboration between the Veterinary School and the Pennsylvania Game Commission. She previously worked at three different wildlife rehabilitation centers, spending most of her career at Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research. She left that work in 2013 to do editorial work and other areas of veterinary medicine, working part-time for the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife, the Brandywine Zoo, and the NJ Rabies Lab. In 2019 she served as interim wildlife veterinarian for the Pennsylvania Game Commission before moving into her current position with Wildlife Futures. She continues to do part-time work for the NJ DFW Endangered and Nongame Species Program and volunteers at Mercer County Wildlife Center and Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, providing opportunities for veterinary students to gain experience with native wildlife. Dr. Miller is an adjunct associate professor of Wildlife Medicine at the UPENN School of Veterinary Medicine and serves on the NJ Wildlife Rehabilitators Advisory Committee, the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, the Delaware Kestrel Program, the veterinary team for Project SNOWstorm, and as a response veterinarian for Delaware Animal Rescue. Dr. Miller has served the Committee in the Public Health / Veterinary Medicine seat since 2007.

David Mizrahi, Ph.D.

Dr. Mizrahi is Vice-President of Research for NJ Audubon Society’s Cape May Bird Observatory. His expertise includes bird migration and his work has included using radar to identify important migratory stopover areas in the state, shorebird migration along Delaware Bay, and grassland bird management. More recently, he has studied the potential effects of wind power on wildlife. Dr. Mizrahi serves on regional and flyway bird planning initiatives. Dr. Mizrahi has served the Committee in one of the three non-profit organization seats since 2000.

Eliot Nagele

Mr. Nagele is the NJ Director of Lands for The Nature Conservancy of New Jersey, where he oversees the organization’s land conservation and stewardship program. He has over ten years of experience in the fields of ecology, forest management, and green infrastructure, including many years working in NJ and urban areas. His work and interests extend to include habitat connectivity and restoration. He also provides representation of The Nature Conservancy’s interest in wildlife and habitat conservation.

Howard K. Reinert, Ph.D.

Dr. Reinert is a Professor of Biology at The College of New Jersey. He has published numerous scientific articles, book chapters, and symposium contributions related to the ecology and conservation of amphibians and reptiles. His work includes field and laboratory studies of behavioral and physiological ecology, studies of population/conservation genetics, and applied aspects of conservation biology. He is currently the chairman of the Pennsylvania Biological Survey Amphibian and Reptile Technical Committee and serves as a member of two US Fish and Wildlife Service working groups: the Timber Rattlesnake Conservation Action Plan group (TRCAP) and the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake Recovery Team.

Catherine Tredick, Ph.D.

Dr. Tredick is a Professor of Environmental Studies at Stockton University, where she has taught since 2013. Her expertise is in mammal ecology and habitat use, and she has research interests in wildlife response to forest management, citizen science, and non-consumptive/recreational use of NJ wildlife management areas. Dr. Tredick also serves on the University’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), its Biodiversity Committee, and the Diversity Committee for Stockton’s School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Dr. Tredick earned her Ph.D and Master’s degrees in fisheries and wildlife science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Policy at Duke University. She serves in one of the academic-research seats and her term began in 2023.

Emeritus ENSAC Members

Retired in 2024

Emile DeVito, Ph.D.

Dr. DeVito is Manager of Science and Stewardship and Director of Conservation Biology with the NJ Conservation Foundation. He has over four decades of forest research, ecological restoration, and rare species habitat management experience. His background includes research in the NJ Pinelands, studying landscape patterns of the distribution and abundance of bird species at different scales. Dr. DeVito currently serves as a trustee for the Pinelands Preservation Alliance and the NJ Natural Lands Trust, and has served on the NJ Commission on Environmental Education and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Council. Dr. DeVito has served on the Committee in one of the three non-profit organization seats since 2000.

Retired in January 2023

James E. Applegate, Ph.D.

Dr. Applegate is an emeritus professor at Rutgers University, Cook College, where he served as professor from 1971 until his retirement in 2003. His early work was in avian malaria, but upon joining Rutgers his research turned to human dimensions of wildlife management and later to innovations in education. He coordinated the undergraduate curriculum in Natural Resource Management at Cook College for over 20 years and was involved in teaching seven courses every year. Dr. Applegate’s expertise in human dimensions helped ENSP develop the species status assessment process in use today. Dr. Applegate served the Committee in one of the four academic-research seats since its inception in 1975, and retired in 2023.

Joanna Burger, Ph.D.

Dr. Burger is a highly accomplished Distinguished Professor of Biology at Rutgers University who has completed and published numerous research studies on many nongame and endangered wildlife species, including marine birds, shorebirds, herpetofauna, and butterflies. Much of her voluminous wildlife research work has focused specifically on New Jersey conservation issues and have made invaluable scientific and educational contributions to New Jersey wildlife conservation. Dr. Burger served in one of the four academic-research seats on the Committee from 1980 to 2023.

Jane Morton Galetto

Ms. Galetto is the board president and instrumental in the incorporation of Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and its Tributaries, Inc., a watershed protection organization. She played a pivotal role in securing Wild and Scenic River status for the Maurice River and its tributaries in 1993. Jane played an integral role in the passage of New Jersey’s 1987 Wetlands Law while serving on NJ Freshwater Wetlands Advisory Committee. Ms. Galetto has been an instrumental player in the recovery of osprey in NJ. She has played a key role in the preservation of lands in the Delaware Bayshore Region. In 2020 she and Jody Carrara wrote the federal nomination of the New Jersey Bayshore Heritage Scenic Byway to be designated as a National Scenic Byway. In 2021 it was bestowed that honor for its natural resource qualities. Ms. Galetto is involved in a number of conservation organizations, and served on the board member of NJ Audubon Society, Bayshore Discovery Project and advisory board for The Nature Conservancy’s Bayshore Office. Ms. Galetto served the Committee in one of the three non-profit organization seats from 1988 through 2023, and was its Chair from 1991 to 2008.