Our goal is to serve
As a local support group for the University of Miami, Little Salt Spring Archaeological and Ecological Preserve and work with the LSS site manager to: provide volunteer opportunities where needed in regard to site stewardship, land management, maintenance, research, public outreach, and local fundraising efforts; and, to help bring the vision for an on-site research and education center to fruition for the benefit of the public through continued research, scheduled educational programs and interpretive site visits.
As a local support group for the University of Miami, Little Salt Spring Archaeological and Ecological Preserve and work with the LSS site manager to: provide volunteer opportunities where needed in regard to site stewardship, land management, maintenance, research, public outreach, and local fundraising efforts; and, to help bring the vision for an on-site research and education center to fruition for the benefit of the public through continued research, scheduled educational programs and interpretive site visits.
Board of Directors, Friends of Little Salt Spring, Inc.
BILL GOETZ
President |
Bill Goetz has lived in Sarasota County for over 40 years and is a Sarasota County Historian who specializes in historical and cultural resources in North Port, FL and unincorporated Sarasota County. Growing up surfing, canoeing, and hiking along Florida’s waters Bill fell in love with the many springs and their wondrous connections to the past. Bill’s volunteer work focuses on preserving the cultural heritage, history, and ecology of the amazing archaeological and hydrogeological features of the springs in North Port and associated sites.A founding board member and president of the Friends of Little Salt Spring; Bill also serves as a board member for the Warm Mineral Springs/Little Salt Spring Archaeological Society. He was Instrumental in the recovery of and custodian of the Clausen Archive now residing at Sarasota County Historical Resources. Bill also assisted in the recovery and acted as custodian of the Hurtado Collection from the Goodnow Mound Site. Bill facilitated and delivered the donated collection to the Museum of Florida Art and Culture in 2016. He is currently acting custodian of the James H. Wallace Little Salt Spring Archive and has submitted a paper on it to be published in an upcoming issue of The Florida Anthropologist. Bill has worked towards historical and ecological preservation since1996 serving on many public boards and committees including eight years serving on both the Sarasota County Historical Commission and Sarasota County Historical Marker Committee. Petitioning to the Commission for close to a decade for it’s formation, Bill was also an inaugural member of the City of North Port Historical and Cultural Advisory Board formed in 2018. Bill did a stint as Manager of Sarasota County Historical Exhibits and Education Center, as well.
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LAWRY REID
Vice-President |
Lawry Reid is a retired college professor who is focused on founding and leading volunteer environmental/scientific stewardship organizations. He is currently president of the Friends of Little Salt Spring, Inc. From 2000-2008 he was the founder and president of the Straits Pond Watershed Association. The objective of the watershed association was to improve the environmental quality and beauty of Straits Pond, a 92 acre tidally restricted salt water pond of critical environmental concern. The association was vital in achieving a $2.6 million highway/tidal restoration project. It is the largest to date estuary restoration project in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts House of Representatives formally congratulated the association on the 13th of October, 2010 for its accomplishment. In June of 2008 the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment presented Reid the Longard Award. The Award is given to an individual from one of the five states and provinces bordering the Gulf of Maine. The Longard Award recognizes individual commitment to volunteer programs dedicated to environmental protection and sustainability of natural resources within the marine, near shore, and watershed environments and the Gulf of Maine.
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KATE CATTRAN
Treasurer |
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Linda
FERRIER-REID Recording Secretary |
inda J. Ferrier, Ph.D. is a professor emeritus in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at Northeastern University, Boston, where she was chair from 2000-2007. Her work focused on the use of computer technology for people with a variety of communication impairments. Over 15 years she developed and directed a program to provide accent modification to faculty and international teaching assistants. She developed two programs for screening and improving the accents of Non Native Speakers of English: Speech Works, the Accent Modification Tool and the Speech Works Pronunciation Screening Test. She is author of two software patents. Prof. Ferrier has worked with Speech Technology and Applied Research on a series of speech analysis projects and is currently chief linguist on the APST project. Her company, ViaSpeech provides computer-assisted intelligibility training to foreign-born professionals in the Sarasota, FL area. She is currently recording secretary of FLSS, the Allamanda Garden Club of North Port and the Ancient Waters Foundation as well as a member of the FLSS Education Committee.
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NANCY
MORRISON Membership Director 
STEVE KOSKI
Sarasota County Historical Resources Archaeologist |
Nancy Morrison is an avid orchid and native plant grower and an active member of three local orchid societies. She was drawn to her first meeting of the FLSS because the program featured an endangered native orchid, Sacoila lanceolata var. 'paludicola' that grows at the spring. Since then, she has been actively promoting the genetic research necessary to determine if ‘paludicola’ is indeed a separate species. In her former life, Nancy co-founded The Williamson County Housing Partnership, an affordable housing non-profit in Franklin, TN and served on the boards of many organizations. Nancy was President of the Jewish Family Service in Nashville, TN and The Huntsville Orchid Society. Nancy also bred and rode German warmblooded horses for many years and competed in dressage. She later bred Thoroughbred racehorses in Kentucky, one of which, Brancusi, ran in the Kentucky Derby. Her education includes a degree in Organizational Business Management, training as a nurses’ aide and many RN prerequisite credit hours.
Steve Koski is an underwater archaeologist specializing in underwater prehistoric sites. He received his BA in Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and completed graduate studies in an MA program at Arizona State University. His research interests include the early prehistory of Florida, coastal adaptations, and Paleoindian and Archaic period settlement and subsistence systems. Mr. Koski worked as an assistant underwater archeologist at WMS (1986 – 1989) and is the former Research Associate at Little Salt Spring for the University of Miami (2004 – 2012), where he has worked with the director of research Associate Professor Dr. John Gifford intermittently since 1992. He continues to serve as Site Manager at Little Salt Spring as the 112-acre property is conveyed to Sarasota County under their Environmentally Sensitive Lands Program. Steve is also President of Warm Mineral Springs Little Salt Spring Archaeological Society.
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MARIA KUNDA
Board Member |
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RON KUNDA
Board Member |
Ron Kunda was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He received his BA and MA from Newark State College (now Kean University). Ron taught general science and earth science in the Newark, New Jersey School District until his retirement in 1998. During that time he served as department chairperson for science and social studies at Broadway Junior High, and science department chairperson at West Side High School. Upon his retirement, Ron worked as a measurement analyst and purchasing agent for the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation in New York City.
Ron and Maria, his wife of 50 years, now split their time between Hawley, Pa and North Port, FL. They have three daughters and nine grandchildren. |
JOAN HERRON SAN LWIN
Board Member |
Joan Herron San Lwin is a native of Washington, D.C. where she spent the majority of her career. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, she is proud to have worked in D.C., for about 10 years, without having to deal with the federal government. She was responsible for daily financial operations and monthly, quarterly, yearly reporting for multi-million dollar corporate entities, including Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows Inc.; she willingly left the circus when they would not promote her to a high-wire act. Eventually she did spend over 30 years as a consultant to the federal government; her projects spanned multiple civilian and military agencies, she ended her career with the status of Subject Matter Expert on federal accounting and automated financial systems. After vacationing in North Port since 2000, in 2008, she declared North Port her new home town and is now a proud year-rounder. She is active in multiple clubs, including the WMS/LSS Archaeological Society; South Sarasota County Council of the Blind; North Port Friends of Wildlife; and the North Port Allamanda Garden Club.
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JOHN METZGER
Board Member BETH METZGER
Board Member |
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