Meet the Council
Emilie Hauser, Chair
Emilie Hauser chairs the CAC. She joined the CAC in 2013, through her volunteer work on the Kingston Climate Smart Communities and Green Jobs Task Force. She has worked in the environmental field for over 30 years. She is interested in energy conservation, open space and water quality protection, especially as it relates to the protection of the Hudson River. She has lived in Kingston since the early 1980s. She serves on the Ulster County Environmental Management Council, Hudson River Environmental Society, and the League of Women Voters – Mid-Hudson Region. She retired from the position of the Estuary Training Program Coordinator for the NYS DEC Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve at the end of 2020. Her professional and volunteer activities intersected in helping communities plan for climate change. Passionate about the environment, the Hudson River, and Kingston, she enjoys iceboating, ice hockey, kayaking and bicycling.
Kevin McEvoy, Secretary
Kevin became a Kingston resident in 2001 at which time he and his wife Barbara purchased and oversaw the renovation of one of Kingston's pre-Revolutionary old stone houses and an adjacent barn which he later placed on the National Historic Register. He has lived in NYC, New Paltz, Rosendale and elsewhere previously and has been actively involved in historic preservation, urban planning, environmental matters and working with non-profits. Kevin has served as a current board member and Vice Chair & Treasurer of Kingston Land Trust 2009-2012 working on programming, policy, and open space matters, as a volunteer for Friends of Historic Kingston, as a researcher for the Kingston African American History Committee, as a member of the Kingston Tidal Waterfront Flooding Task Force and is presently a Kingston Heritage Area Commissioner and on the Kingston Urban Agriculture Committee. Kevin directs a family business in NYC where he was a co-founder of a community garden. When not otherwise engaged he can be found hiking , biking, traveling, studying art, architecture and history of different periods and cultures and attending live music performances.
Helen Atkinson
Helen Atkinson is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, and has been a professional writer for 30 years, mostly in the logistics and technology industries. She was formerly Associate Technology Editor at The Journal of Commerce, and has written for many different publications and clients in the US and the UK, including Environmental Defense Fund. She now lives in Kingston and works as a freelance content generator and journalist, while also managing the literary estate of writer Dame Rebecca West.
Anita Collins
Dr. Anita M Collins is a retired honey bee research scientist who worked for the US Dept of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service for 31 years. She began her career studying Africanized honey bees and the genetics of colony defensive behavior, some of the time in Venezuela or Mexico. "Yes I got stung, and yes it hurts, but the body develops a tolerance to the venom." Her final project was cryopreservation of honey bee semen to be used for artificial insemination of queens. After retirement she volunteered to help with a survey of native bees, the 2,000 other species of bee in North America, collecting samples at three sites in PA. One site was Lehigh Gap Nature Center, a unique refuge restored from a Superfund Site. She was President of the Board for 8 years, and still serves on the Board. Anita moved to Kingston in April 2021.
Ted Griese
Originally from Syracuse, Ted moved to Kingston after graduating from SUNY New Paltz in 2013. He first became involved in the Kingston community through volunteering at the South Pine Street City Farm and has supported various other urban agriculture and garden projects across the city. From 2017 to 2021 Ted worked for the Kingston Land Trust, where as Operations Manager he oversaw financial and legal compliance, developed organizational policies and procedures, and supported fundraising, communications, and programming. He was also the lead on local and regional advocacy efforts related to land use, environmental issues, and trail development, and represented the KLT on several project advisory committees for the City of Kingston. In late 2021, Ted was hired as a Program Associate for Bard College's Graduate Programs in Sustainability. As a member of the CAC, Ted looks forward to continuing to protect and preserve Kingston's natural resources while fostering resiliency in the face of climate change and development pressure.
Briana Gary
Briana Gary is a recent SUNY New Paltz graduate working in the environmental conservation field. In college she majored in geography with an environmental studies minor. She's passionate about environmental issues and food justice. Her interest in the environment began during her time working with the Kingston YMCA Farm Project. The farm project allowed her to connect with the outdoors in a new way. When not working Briana enjoys baking at home! She hopes to inspire other young people of color to enter the environmental science field.