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Meet the Team
Transition Fidalgo is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, all-volunteer organization. We sponsor events to help Fidalgo Island and the surrounding area become a resilient, close-knit, and caring community, able to sustain itself and thrive. We focus on creating opportunities to help move our community toward a positive, low-carbon future.
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Our Mission
To spur local responses to climate change that strengthen our community and help heal the planet. TF urges a move away from fossil fuels through decreasing energy demand, increasing efficiency, supporting renewable energy, and fostering the local production of food, energy, and goods. We envision a world where humanity has drastically reduced its reliance on fossil fuels, living wisely and well within planetary limits.
Bud Anderson
Board President
Bud (He/him) grew up in Bellevue and went to Washington State University where he graduated with BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering. Go Cougs! He went to work at the Shell Refinery in Anacortes as an electrical engineer and stayed there until retirement 44 years later. Currently, he operates an electrical contracting company and is extensively involved in building remodeling.
Laurie Sherman
Board Vice President
Laurie (She/hers) moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1975, from MA to NY then AK. She raised a family, co-owned The Espresso Bar – Seattle, then Sherman Physical Therapy in Anacortes and loves being a part of the Anacortes community since 1988. She has a commitment to service and a passion for community organizing. She carries the belief that we can work together and live in harmony, if we try! And it’s never too late to try! Gardening, biking, hiking, mountain climbing and swimming are just a few of the hobbies she enjoys on Fidalgo Island. Each day offers another opportunity to respect each other and this beautiful place we call home!
Rich Bergner
Board Member
Rich (He/him) is a former educator who is now a gardener/caretaker who enjoys promoting native plants. He started Fidalgo Backyard Wildlife Habitat in 2005 and worked with a dedicated group of volunteers to certify 600 yards as wildlife habitats. That grew into his involvement in climate change issues. He enjoys tennis, reading, strolling through the 6 acres of yard landscapes, and family—especially being with and being silly with his two young grandchildren, Marisol and Azuul.
Warren Carr
Board Treasurer
Warren (He/him) helped expand the Share the Bounty program by hosting a “free produce” stand at his home in Anacortes, and invested a great deal of time in keeping the stands running and the produce fresh. He also co-leads the volunteer team at the Anacortes Middle School Garden, where Transition Fidalgo recently donated, assembled and installed a large greenhouse for the Garden-to-Kitchen program. His personal interests include gardening, fly fishing, metal arts and home projects. Warren has a business school education (BS from SDSU) and experience as a CPA. He will continue to be involved with projects surrounding locally grown food, and educating others interested in home gardening.
Sequoia Ferrel
Board Member
Sequoia (She/hers) has been an artist and designer, nature lover and peace activist among other things. As an avid gardener with great concerns for the future of the human race she developed a strong interest in issues of food security. To that end she started Gaia Rising Farm several years ago, to promote and educate about local, organic, and holistically raised food. She is happy to be able to contribute whatever she can to the board of Transition Fidalgo and Friends to help promote community resilience. She loves being part of the greater community and also spending time with friends, family and two amazing granddaughters.
Kelsey Kittleson
Program Coordinator, Kelsey@transitionfidalgo.org
Originally growing up in Northern Idaho, Kelsey (She/hers) has spent time in the Salish Sea since childhood. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Western Washington University’s College of the Environment and has a background in environmental education. Kelsey works as a consultant, supporting environmental non-profits such as Transition Fidalgo, The Madrona Institute, and Friends of Skagit Beaches. Previously, she managed the San Juan Islands Youth Conservation Corps program, engaging local youth in outdoor field projects and experiential learning. Currently living in Anacortes, Kelsey has had the privilege to call Bellingham, the San Juan Islands, and Fidalgo Island home over the years and has a deep sense of place and connection to this region. Kelsey is deeply committed to pursuing climate resilience through community collaboration, youth engagement, and localized solutions while utilizing an environmental justice lens.
Roger Fuller
Board Secretary
Roger (He/him) is a habitat ecologist who coordinates a natural resource restoration and stewardship program, and studies how ecosystems respond to climate change and restoration. He is particularly fascinated by estuaries and forests. He works at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and is an Adjunct Professor at Western Washington University. He is also a member of the Skagit Climate Science Consortium.
Phoebe Barnard
Board Member
Pheobe (She/hers) is a conservation biologist, sustainability strategist, science-policy geek and global change ecologist. She is affiliate (full) professor at the University of Washington, chief science and policy officer at the Conservation Biology Institute, and research associate of the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. She’s written three books, numerous book chapters and over 100 scientific and semi-popular papers. She lived 4 years in Canada and 34 years in Namibia, South Africa and Sweden, leading national biodiversity and climate change programs, running short courses in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, and climate and leadership modules of university undergraduate and master’s programs in Namibia and South Africa. ​ In her spare time, she runs and hikes trails, climbs erupting volcanoes, is a community volunteer, explores and travels with her groovy filmmaker husband, and read catastrophe books to make sense of this bizarre crossroad in history.
Jack Hartt
Adminisrative Assistant, skagitjack@outlook.com
Jack (He/him) was born and raised in Seattle near the shores of the Salish Sea. While in college he spent his summers as a fisheries researcher in Alaska, a volunteer at Mount Rainier, a restroom cleaner for the U. S. Forest Service, a backcountry ranger for Rocky Mountain National Park, and an interpreter at Dry Falls in Sun Lakes State Park. He spent the next forty years serving in Washington State Parks. Deception Pass was Jack’s last state park to call home. He retired in 2017 and is at home in the Pacific Northwest. He writes a blog called Hiking Close to Home, helps Skagit Land Trust with trail projects, enjoys photography, kayaking, eating pie, and watching sunsets, and loves spending time with family and friends.
Peter Heffelfinger
Board Member
I have a degree in English and taught at several colleges in New England before moving to Anacortes in 1973. As a Master Gardener, and longtime grower on Fidalgo Island and the Skagit Flats, I have given classes on ‘Four Season Gardening in the Maritime Northwest’ for Beat the Heat, Anacortes Senior College, and at the WSU Extension. I conducted oral history projects in Skagit and Whatcom counties, became a curator at the Anacortes Museum, and was the executive director of the Lincoln Theatre for 12 years, overseeing its initial restoration and development as a film, concert, and community venue. I have served as a staff member, volunteer, and Board Member of the Anacortes Arts Festival and have been a longtime member of OARS, the Old Anacortes Rowing & Sailing Society. I volunteer at the Garden-to-Table classes at the Middle School and for the Forestlands Monitoring Project; I was also a Salish Sea Steward for four years monitoring the invasive green crabs.
More About Us
We are connected to Transition US, a national organization of grassroots community initiatives that build community resilience in the face of such challenges as peak oil, climate change, and the economic crisis. We also recommend checking out Transition Network.
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We sponsor events to help Fidalgo Island and the surrounding area become a resilient, close-knit, and caring community, able to sustain itself and thrive. We focus on creating opportunities to help move our community toward a positive, low-carbon future.
Read about our accomplishments through our annual reports. Visit our Annual Reports page.
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Locally, we work with Chuckanut Transition, Transition Whatcom, Transition Lopez, Local 2020 (Port Townsend), and others to empower life beyond fossil fuels in the Pacific Northwest.
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We are a 501 (c) 3 organization. Our EIN is 39-2056790
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