Staff

Erin De Vries

Co-Director, Conservation Director

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Erin co-directs the amazing team of ecologists, systems thinkers, and communication specialists at VRC. As Conservation Director, she constructs conservation partnerships and leads strategic visioning for protection and restoration of waterways and broader watersheds across the state. With a background in Lake Champlain and Great Lakes watershed work, Erin began at VRC as a River Steward in 2021. She loves meeting landowners, watershed partners, and municipal planners and managers alongside a stream or wetland to hash out how to enhance special places, protect assets, and promote community resilience. Her mantra is respect, relate, conserve, restore, celebrate, repeat.

Erin, her husband, and two active and curious kids along with their mountain dog live in Essex, bordering the Winooski and Lamoille watersheds. Erin and her family love to hike, create beautiful backyard gardens, explore swimming holes, cook with friends, bake pies, and travel to new and old familiar places.

Kassia Randzio

Co-Director, Development and Operations Director

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Kassia joined VRC’s staff in 2021, bringing with her nearly two decades of experience at state and national conservation nonprofits, where she’s worked to inspire people to invest in protected lands and waters. As development and operations director, she leads efforts that make each of our conservation successes possible — from writing grants to secure funds for dam removal, to connecting donors with opportunities to protect riverside wetlands and forests, to overseeing the organizational systems that support all VRC’s efforts. Across all of our communications, Kassia helps us share the stories of our projects and the impact Vermont River Conservancy has on wildlife, families, and communities.

Kassia’s basecamp is in Montpelier, VT, from where she heads out paddling, backpacking, XC skiing, and traveling, getting to know some of the world’s wildest places alongside her husband, daughter, and black lab.

Alaya Morning

Office Manager

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Alaya joined our team in November of 2022. She brings several years of administrative support and office management experience and specializes in identifying and creating simplified systems for getting the essential work done. With undergraduate studies in ethnobotany and conservation biology, she also brings a passion for understanding humans and our relationship to nature.  Alaya grew up swimming in Vermont’s rivers, lakes, and reservoirs and holds a deep respect for VRC’s dual legacy of access and conservation. As Office Manager, Alaya manages the daily operations that keep VRC (and our mission!) humming. If you give us a call, Alaya will probably be the one to answer!

After 12 years in Colorado, Alaya is happy to be back living in her hometown of Montpelier, VT. She lives with her husband and two children. Together they love good food, good books, and a good day spent outdoors. In the summers you can find them swimming, paddle boarding, and fishing along Vermont’s waters.

Remy Crettol

Northern Vermont Conservation Manager

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Remy joined VRC’s team in February 2023. His passion lies at the intersection of conservation and recreation and has been working to protect Vermont’s natural resources through project management, regional coordination, and field assessment since graduating from the University of Vermont in 2015. As VRC’s as Northern Vermont Conservation Manager, Remy hopes to use his experience in community engagement, volunteer management, and recreational development to manage Vermont’s natural resources and improve accessibility to its waterways.

Remy enjoys being the caretaker of Colchester Pond Natural Area with his partner and their Australian shepherd. As an avid outdoor enthusiast, he enjoys snowboarding, disc golfing, kayaking, gardening, and everything else Vermont has to offer. When he needs to recharge, Remy craves good food, close friends and a night of board games.

Hayley Kolding

Southern Vermont Conservation Manager

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Hayley is an ecologist and conservation specialist who joins VRC’s staff from the Field Naturalist Program at the University of Vermont, where she has created tools for municipalities, nonprofits, and private landowners. Her experience with river and stream conservation includes projects at home in New England, and farther afield: for her master’s project, she conducted ecological assessments, geospatial analysis, and stakeholder interviews to build a riparian management plan for a 500,000-acre cattle ranch in southeast Oregon.

As VRC’s Southern Vermont Conservation Manager, Hayley joins with communities in the Connecticut River Watershed to tackle the same question she asked out west: with limited resources and diverse ecological and cultural goals, which riparian areas should we protect first — and how? A poet and former high school teacher, she also brings a spark for hosting public events that gather us together around our waterways.

Hayley has put down roots in Athens, VT, where Bull Creek flows toward the Saxtons River. When she’s not working, this trail running, biking, birding, and botanizing enthusiast is most likely exploring the landscape around her at one of two paces: either sort of fast, or very, very slow.

Amanda Garland

Stewardship Manager

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Amanda first joined VRC as River Steward for our 2023 summer season and is now our full-time Stewardship Manager, where she continues to care for our sites via field-based easement monitoring and land stewardship projects. Amanda has a BA in Environmental Science, with an emphasis on Terrestrial Ecology, and graduate-level study in conservation ethics, ecology, and natural resource management at UVM’s Rubenstein School. Backed by her rich experience as a service project leader, park ranger, trails manager, and conservation educator, Amanda brings enthusiasm and a can-do sense of adventure to everything she does. She loves hiking and monitoring the beautiful properties conserved by Vermont River Conservancy, envisioning how they can be best protected and utilized, and working directly with landowners and community members to engage them in hands-on work supporting our conservation goals. 

Amanda is a local Vermonter who lives in Barre in a house she built (and continues to improve upon) with her own two hands! She loves planting trees and gardening and has a passion for long-distance paddling. (She’s completed all but one section of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, saving the Allagash Wilderness for last!)

Isla Lyons

Community Engagement Coordinator, VHCB AmeriCorps

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Isla joined the VRC team in September 2024 through the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board AmeriCorps program. Although originally from upstate New York, Isla lived in New Hampshire before moving to Vermont. She recently graduated from Plymouth State University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science & policy and a minor in geography. Isla has worked on water-related projects, environmental education, and community outreach projects: from being a teaching assistant at school to a research assistant with the Appalachian Mountain Club. As Community Engagement Coordinator, Isla hopes to increase community knowledge and excitement for Vermont’s rivers and ecosystems and highlight their importance.

Isla currently lives in Brattleboro. While she isn’t serving at VRC, she enjoys yoga, long walks, visiting her family and friends and exploring new peaceful spots in Vermont.

Hughes Gilbert

Seasonal River Steward

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Hughes joined Vermont River Conservancy as a River Steward in 2025. A native of East Montpelier, he grew up spending time outside in the Green Mountains and on Lake Champlain, developing a lifelong appreciation for the outdoors. He is currently a sophomore at Middlebury College studying environmental science on the pre-med track, with particular interest in wilderness medicine, stream and forest ecology.

At VRC, Hughes supports river stewardship across conserved sites and public access areas throughout Vermont. He helps maintain healthy ecosystems and ensure that rivers remain open and welcoming to all who wish to enjoy them. His previous work with the Montpelier Youth Conservation Corps included trail building, invasive species management, community outreach, and no-till farming, all of which shaped his commitment to conservation and public access.

Hughes is currently section hiking the Long Trail with hopes of completing a thru-hike in the future. In his free time, he enjoys fly fishing, rock climbing, backpacking, and backcountry skiing.