The Native Fish Society Welcomes New District Coordinators
District Coordinators help to coordinate local efforts on behalf of the Native Fish Society, aid River Steward's work in their watersheds, and help identify conservation needs within their communities.
North Oregon Coast
Doug DeRoy started as Native Fish Society's North Oregon Coast District Coordinator. Doug will be leading a new campaign focused on wild fish habitat, forest practices, and community empowerment on the North Coast.
Doug is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (B.S. 2008), and Lewis and Clark Law School (J.D. 2016). In law school, he earned a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law, and focused on salmon and steelhead issues. Before moving up to Oregon for law school, Doug became NFS' first California River Steward in 2013. He earned the 2015 River Steward of the Year Award for initiating and leading a successful two-year campaign for more protective low-flow closure fishing regulations in California’s Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Doug currently does public interest environmental litigation as a legal fellow for Earthrise Law Center. In his free time, he enjoys fly fishing and tying, cooking, gardening, and river snorkeling.
Willamette Valley
Jeremy Lees joined the Native Fish Society as the Willamette Valley District Coordinator. Jeremy will be working on a campaign in the North Santiam to help recover threatened salmon, steelhead, and develop reintroduction plans for extirpated Bull Trout.
The son of a son of a tow boat captain, he was raised in a fishing town on the New Jersey coast. Jeremy joined the family business at a young age and has spent much of his life on the water. Moving to Oregon in 2002, he began exploring the state’s wildlands, going on to conduct stream surveys of juvenile and adult salmonids throughout hundreds of miles of watersheds in western Oregon.
An avid surfer, rock hound and mushroom hunter, Jeremy greatly values the beauty of Oregon and its wildlife. He lives in Portland with his wife and two young children.
North Puget Sound
Chris Johnson joined the Native Fish Society as a District Coordinator for the North Puget Sound. Chris will be focusing on community involvement in the creation of Puget Sound wild fish management zones.
Chris became a River Steward in 2009 for the Nooksack in NW Washington. Born and raised in Bellingham WA he grew up fishing and hunting with his father in area lakes, rivers and inland waters of Puget Sound. Fishing for steelhead and salmon on the Skagit, Samish and Nooksack rivers, he developed a deep appreciation of and wonder for steelhead and salmon, and all they represent.
Redwood Coast
Samantha Kannry joined the Native Fish Society as a District Coordinator for the California Redwood Coast. Samantha will be coordinating our temperature monitoring work for the NFS Eel River Headwaters Campaign, in which she'll help lead efforts to collect important temperature data in the remote and rugged terrain above Scott Dam in the Eel's headwaters. Scott Dam forms Lake Pillsbury and is part of the three-part hydropower and water diversion system known as the Potter Valley Project, which started its relicensing in April 2017.
Samantha lives in the Van Duzen watershed, a major tributary to the Eel River, and has been involved with NFS as a River Steward since 2015. Samantha's vast knowledge of the Eel watershed, and understanding of issues facing fish throughout the basin will be essential for helping grow our community of place-based advocates and enable wild salmon and steelhead to gain access to the almost 300 miles of cold, clean water in the river's headwaters.