Notables: Water as resource & recreation

Source: Movers & Makers

Movers & Makers reached out this month to organizations that work to enhance our regional water resources. We asked them to help showcase their notables as part of M&M’s continuing effort to recognize individuals making a difference in Greater Cincinnati’s nonprofit ecosystem.

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Jaeydah Edwards, Groundwork Ohio River Valley

Jaeydah Edwards has been involved with Groundwork ORV since its founding. Her dedication shines in every interaction, and has allowed her to grow within the organization to become senior program director. 

Groundwork ORV works with communities to improve urban environments and address climate challenges such as flooding, air pollution and urban heat islands.

Drawing from her childhood experiences enjoying outdoor activities, she inspires others by teaching future generations that Black people do belong outside and in environmental fields. 

Beyond her professional impact, Edwards is a vibrant presence in her community, enjoying reading, thrifting with her sister and stargazing. Her commitment, energy and advocacy embody the values of leadership, mentorship and inclusivity in environmental work.

In her free time, she enjoys hiking, nature walks, and visiting local thrift stores with her sister. 

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Nicole Clements, Banklick Watershed Council

When you drink your clean tap water or enjoy the beauty of creeks and lakes in Kenton County, thank Nicole Clements for championing Banklick Watershed Council’s efforts to restore and protect local waterways. As watershed coordinator, Clements leads the council’s activities to reduce pollution, preserve habitats and strengthen creek ecosystems to better serve both wildlife and the community.

Clements partners with federal, state and local agencies to identify pollution sources and implement long-term solutions. She also prioritizes public access, helping transform restored waterways into greenspaces that invite recreation, education and connection.

BWC was named the 2025 Kentucky Watershed Group of the Year, thanks largely to Clements’ leadership. Through thoughtful stewardship and community engagement, she is helping to ensure that clean, healthy water remains central to our region’s future.

When she’s not traveling or volunteering for her daughter’s marching band, Clements can be found gardening or tackling home renovation projects.

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Annette Shumard, Foundation for Ohio River Education

Water connects communities across our region, and Annette Shumard is working to ensure people understand and protect the Ohio River and its shared waterways. As executive director and board president of the Foundation for Ohio River Education (FORE) and communications and outreach director for the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), she bridges water quality science with community engagement. 

FORE supports ORSANCO, an interstate pollution control agency with authority to operate water quality programs. FORE teaches people to become stewards through hands-on programs that highlight ORSANCO’s water quality data, and Shumard works to transform this data into public programming. At ORSANCO she works with member states and partner agencies to develop communications that make water quality data more accessible and relatable.

Outside of work, she enjoys riding her bike and walking along local trails with her senior dog, Rihanna, and she believes that meaningful connections to nature inspire lifelong stewardship.

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Claire Carlson, Green Umbrella

Claire Carlson is Green Umbrella’s greenspace alliance manager. An avid environmental conservationist, Carlson is devoted to protecting our natural resources. In her home state, she served as the Northeast Iowa watershed planning coordinator. In her role at Green Umbrella, she leads, informs and equips local partners to collaborate on greenspace planning and protection. 

Most recently, Carlson has focused her efforts on exploring green infrastructure and riparian restoration solutions to protect and improve water quality and supply, and reduce flooding impacts in our local communities. She is passionate about sharing her love of hiking, leading “meet a green-space” hikes throughout Greater Cincinnati. Her favorite swimming hole is Gunpowder Creek in Burlington, Kentucky. 

Carlson is always ready to share her belief in the healing, restorative power of nature, and her enthusiasm is so contagious that she is helping to inspire the next phase of local climate action.

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Melinda Voss, Ohio River Foundation

Melinda Voss, the Ohio River Foundation’s education programs manager, continues to raise the bar for exceptional conservation education in Greater Cincinnati. Voss manages 14 professional educators who engage students and teachers in ORF’s innovative, hands-on, STEM-based education programs including River Explorer, the ground-breaking Mussels in the Classroom and the foundation’s summer conservation course. 

Under her leadership, ORF education programming has increased more than 100% in the last two years to reach more than 9,000 students with 40,000 hours of instruction at 60 schools. Voss is leading the drive to increase the capacity of the state-of-the-art mussels facility to meet the extraordinary program demand. The expansion also will support opportunities to establish endangered freshwater mussel populations in regional waters as a part of an ongoing habitat restoration program that has reconnected and restored more than 300 miles of rivers.

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Sara Brandts, Oxbow Inc.

As the first executive director of Oxbow Inc., Sara Brandts is making waves in wetland conservation. Oxbow is a nonprofit land trust dedicated to protecting and improving the floodplain at the confluence of the Great Miami River and Ohio River. Since joining in April 2025, Brandts has embodied this mission in all that she does, from habitat restoration and community engagement to cultivating donor relations and hiring additional staff.

Before Oxbow, she spent more than 15 years with a nonprofit focused on improving the health and water quality of the Ohio River watershed, building partnerships and advancing conservation across the basin. A career environmentalist, she brings extensive nonprofit leadership and field experience to her role.

Brandts is committed to protecting the Oxbow in perpetuity. Outside of work, she enjoys time with her three children and being outdoors – especially near the water.

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Beth Knox, Adventure Crew

Growing up in the Winton Terrace projects, Beth Knox experienced the negative effects of poor air and water quality firsthand. That inspired her to work in wastewater treatment; she now serves as a plant operator for the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati and is an outdoor specialist for Adventure Crew. 

During high school, Knox joined Adventure Crew as a teen participant. She loved the experience so much that she has stayed on as a part-time outdoor staff member for more than a decade.

Knox recently traveled to Nicaragua to dig water wells and install pipes, helping provide a community with clean drinking water. She is working on a project to introduce girls in her former neighborhood to the joys of camping, and is studying Spanish to improve communication with the Crew’s immigrant population. When she’s not working at MSD or Adventure Crew, Knox enjoys camping and salsa dancing.

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Beth Himburg, Mill Creek Alliance

Beth Himburg is a rare emerging leader who combines experience in natural resource management, water quality and outdoor recreation with community organizing skills and genuine love and empathy for people. 

As director of programs, Himburg oversees Mill Creek Alliance’s water quality monitoring, recreation, environmental education and recreation programs. She’s also passionate about building diverse, resilient and connected ecosystems and communities through public engagement and civic investment.

When not working, Himburg loves to spend time mountain biking and baking. She is also a vocalist who loves making music and being inspired by live performances.