Meet The Team
Meet the dynamic team members at Harbor WildWatch, each of who embody our motto of “Learn. Have Fun.”
Lindsey Stover
Executive Director
Beginning as an educator at a Nature Center in South Florida, Lindsey has fifteen years of experience in environmental education. Since 2011, she has led Harbor WildWatch in the areas of strategic planning and execution, fund development, and providing inspirational leadership to the Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers. During this time, Lindsey secured the organization’s first public office space through a unique partnership with the City of Gig Harbor and grew the budget by 300%. She serves the community through various Boards and committees including the KGI Watershed Council (Past Chair); Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce (Past Chair); DWA Walking Tour Committee (Chair), Downtown Waterfront Alliance (Board Member), Lodging & Tax Advisory Committee (Member), and Donkey Creek Chum Festival (Chair).
Rachel Easton
Education Director
Rachel’s career in environmental education began as an education specialist at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium where she enjoyed leading youth and adult education programs with live animals. She has been a member of the Harbor WildWatch team for ten years, working her way from Lead Naturalist to Program Coordinator to Education Director. In her current role, Rachel is responsible for developing, coordinating, evaluating, and delivering environmental education curricula to youth and the general public, as well as training and evaluating new staff, interns and volunteers. As a biologist, she also assists the organization in reaching our goal of delivering 600 education programs to 35,000 people in the community.
Stena Troyer
Science Director
Stena’s career in environmental education began as an educator with Harbor WildWatch in 2013. In this role, she delivered classroom and field STEM workshops for students in Pierce and Kitsap Counties, and led guided walking tours at the beach, estuary, and wetland. Because of her research experience ranging from geoduck larvae to sea otters, she was tasked with developing a community science program that monitored biodiversity in the KGI Watershed. Today, she serves as the Science Specialist and has created numerous ways for individuals to collect meaningful science data in the areas of salmon, rockfish, water quality, and intertidal invertebrates. This work has contributed to important revelations, including listing the Sunflower Sea Star on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. As a member of the program team, Stena also delivers classroom and field workshops to students, adults, and families living and visiting the South Puget Sound.
Liz Racine
Operations Coordinator
Liz’s career in environmental education began as an education specialist at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium where she enjoyed leading youth and adult education programs with live animals. She is the newest member of the Harbor WildWatch team, joining in 2024 as our Operations Coordinator. In this role, Liz coordinates facility maintenance and animal husbandry at our Marine Life Center, creates and distributes newsletters and media, and recruits and manages volunteer docents. Using her background in Marine Biology, Liz also delivers programs to the public and youth such as Salish Sea Storytime, Feeding Frenzy, and Science Saturday. Please join us in welcoming Liz to the team!
Kat Barlow
Naturalist
Kat is a sophomore at Tacoma Community College and is working on her Associates of Science with Environmental Science Specialization and will be transferring to a bachelor program to major in environmental science. She has worked as a lab assistant sampling and processing soils to study how local farmers may improve soil fertility through carbon sequestration. Having lived in the Tacoma area since she was two years old, she grew up in the abundant natural beauty of our area. Her mom instilled a great respect for the outdoors and a passion for habitat preservation. She remains passionate about habitat preservation and remediation. Her goal is to research how habitats and species continue to be affected by human activities and apply this information to expand community knowledge and understanding of environmental topics to ultimately further protection of natural environments so future generations can enjoy the environment’s natural richness. She hopes to utilize her experience in soil sampling and her experience as an intern with Harbor WildWatch to accomplish these goals.
Kat is a paid intern at Harbor WildWatch thanks to support from foundry10.
Dylan Shipman
Naturalist
Dylan began his journey with Harbor WildWatch as a 5th grader in 2017, starting as a seaStar in Harbor WildWatch’s Junior Naturalist program. Attending the hands-on classes, Dylan enjoyed enriching his passion for marine biology and the outdoors and learning about Washington’s amazing backyard. What Dylan enjoyed most about this program was the numerous volunteer opportunities, where Dylan was able to teach others about the Salish Sea and continue learning under the direction of Harbor WildWatch staff and other volunteers. In his last year with the program, Dylan completed his Jr Naturalist service project, putting up fishing line recycle stations throughout northern Pierce County. After graduating the program, Dylan continued to volunteer, racking up several hundred hours. In November of 2024, Dylan was offered a paid internship, where he gets to continue to do what he loves.
A senior at Peninsula High School, Dylan would like to major in Wildlife Conservation or similar field at Oregon State University or Central Washington University. In his free time, Dylan enjoys fishing, the outdoors, a good root beer, and playing his saxophone and clarinet.
Dylan is a paid intern at Harbor WildWatch thanks to support from foundry10.
Kathryn Yielding
Naturalist
Katherine graduated from the Science and Math Institute (SAMI) in 2020 and the University of Puget Sound in 2024. She began her scientific journey as a student researcher studying marine parasites and investigating the interactions between native and invasive eelgrass species in the face of rising global temperatures and salinity changes. Her research also explored seabird diversity and abundance at Point Ruston, examining the impact of pollution and residual heavy metals at a Superfund site. Passionate about the intersection of people and the environment, she continues this work as a naturalist at Harbor WildWatch, where she hopes to further develop her scientific and communication skills while applying her research background to marine conservation and education.
Katherine is a paid intern at Harbor WildWatch thanks to support from foundry10.
