Who We Are
Learn More About Cypress Cove Landkeepers
Shane Duff President
Shane Duff is the President of Cypress Cove Landkeepers (CCL), and also oversees the Wildlife Monitoring program at the Gore Nature Center. Shane and his wife relocated to Florida from Upstate New York in December of 2017. They fell in love with the ecosystems and abundant wildlife here in Southwest Florida, and immediately began volunteering with multiple conservation and research groups. In addition to his leadership role with CCL, Shane volunteers with the Rookery Bay NERR in their Fisheries, Sea Turtle Monitoring and Avian Research Programs. Shane also served as a Guardian Ad Litem of Collier County from 2018 to 2019. He is also a member and supporter of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Shane is the Director of Market Development for Alair Homes, a first of its kind custom home building and renovation company with over 110 offices across the US and Canada.
Katharina Shoemaker Environmental Specialist
After serving as an advisor to the board in years past, Katharina Shoemaker joined as a Director in 2023. She is the managing partner of Tropical Environmental Consultants LLC. After graduating from Florida Gulf Coast University with a Bachelors degree in Biology in 2012, Katharina was involved in environmental education and preservation efforts through the Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center between 2014-2016.
Pursuing her passion in environmental policies, she started with Tropical Environmental Consultants in 2017, and has since gathered an extensive knowledge of wetland regulation, wetland permitting, the wetland delineation process for State and Federal criteria, and listed species identification and protection. She is also a State authorized gopher tortoise agent and works in permitting and relocation activities for the State threatened gopher tortoise.
Her goal as that of TEC is to work with the public in developing a balance between human use and the environment.
Pursuing her passion in environmental policies, she started with Tropical Environmental Consultants in 2017, and has since gathered an extensive knowledge of wetland regulation, wetland permitting, the wetland delineation process for State and Federal criteria, and listed species identification and protection. She is also a State authorized gopher tortoise agent and works in permitting and relocation activities for the State threatened gopher tortoise.
Her goal as that of TEC is to work with the public in developing a balance between human use and the environment.
Tom McKibban Grounds & Facilities
Tom McKibban has accepted the challenge of overseeing the trails and 10-acre property of the Gore Nature Center for Cypress Cove Landkeepers. Recently retired from his practice as a Pain Specialist, Tom is a Certified Nurse Anesthesiologist. Having lived in a rural setting for most of his life, Tom has always had an interest in land management and the environment. A man of many skills, he is also familiar with the bureaucracy of local government. Tom served several terms as Mayor of El Dorado, Kansas. He and his wife, Dr. Cathy Cooper, moved to Florida to enjoy their retirement along with their Pekingese, Penny. They soon focused their energies on preserving nature. Tom learned about Cypress Cove Landkeepers through his involvement with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. His knowledge of government relations as well as land management is a major benefit to our organization.
Cheryl Guerrette Volunteer Coordinator
Cheryl Guerrette was born and raised in Massachusetts where she spent most of her life along with a decade spent in Maine. While in Maine she worked as the plant supervisor for a small industrial company. After meeting her husband Steve, she moved back to Massachusetts where she joined Steve in his family business, New England Electric Motor Service Corporation. She was involved in every aspect of the business becoming the Treasure and Vice President of the company. Cheryl served as President of the New England Chapter of the Electrical Apparatus Service Association and was the President of the Greater Georgetown Women of Today (formally women Jaycees) and served on other various committees and boards. In 2005 she and her husband Steve began living full time in Florida, first in Estero for 8 years then Naples for the last 10 years. Cheryl brings her business experience and passion for our beautiful Florida lands and wildlife and hopes to help wherever possible.
Rebecca Edelbrock Treasurer & Secretary
Bio coming soon…
Dawn Harmon Director
Bio coming soon…
Advisors to the Board
David W. Ceilley
David W. Ceilley, M.S., P.W.S. and Certified Senior Ecologist, Ecological Society of America, has worked in the fields of aquatic and wetlands ecology, Everglades restoration monitoring, and fish and wildlife surveys. He has over 26 years of professional experience in limnology, aquatic and wetland ecology, fish and macroinvertebrate studies, and the assessment of ecosystem disturbances for developing restoration strategies.
From 2002-2007, Mr. Ceilley led a multi-agency team in a research project for the US Fish and Wildlife Service related to the recovery of threatened and endangered species in the western Everglades that resulted in two technical reports and oral and poster presentations at the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Conferences in 2008. From 2006-2008, he was the lead investigator for the assessment of aquatic faunal response to hydrologic restoration of the Picayune Strand State Forest (PSRP) a Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP) that involves restoring pre-development conditions and hydrology to more than 55,000-acres of State land in Collier County, Florida. Since 1989, Mr. Ceilley has been actively involved in evaluating water quality and effects on biotic communities in Southwest Florida including grant-funded research in Estero Bay and its watershed for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the South Florida Water Management District.
Dr. Edwin M. Everham III
Dr. Edwin Everham is a professor in the Department of Marine and Ecological Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University. Dr. Everham received his Ph.D. in Environmental and Forest Biology from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 1996. He received his B.S. degree in Biological Science in 1980 from Michigan Technological University.
Dr. Everham’s background is in ecology, and he has a variety of interests within sub-fields in that discipline, including: disturbance ecology, forest ecology, wetland ecology, and exotic species ecology. He is presently studying the technological interface between the techniques of simulation modeling and geographical information systems and their applications toward understanding the impact of and recovery from disturbance and land use changes. He also is involved in research related to assessing environmental and science education and is interested in the interface between science and public policy.
Dr. Everham’s background is in ecology, and he has a variety of interests within sub-fields in that discipline, including: disturbance ecology, forest ecology, wetland ecology, and exotic species ecology. He is presently studying the technological interface between the techniques of simulation modeling and geographical information systems and their applications toward understanding the impact of and recovery from disturbance and land use changes. He also is involved in research related to assessing environmental and science education and is interested in the interface between science and public policy.
Daniel Gore
Dan Gore is the second and youngest son of Dr. Robert H Gore III and a native Floridian who currently lives in Brevard County. He received a Bachelor of Science in computer engineering and a Master of Science in Systems Management from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. Mr. Gore has worked as a software engineer in the aerospace industry for the last 31 years.
Mr. Gore helped his father open up some of the original trails at the sanctuary, now the site of the Gore Nature Education Center, back in the late 1980’s. In the ensuing years, he shared in many of the events that shaped both the sanctuary and his father.
Ian Orlikoff
Ian Orlikoff is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist #FL-1037A. He holds the ISA-Tree Risk Assessment qualification and Certified Treecare Safety Professional certification from the Tree Care Industry Association. Mr. Orlikoff was the owner and lead arborist of Signature Tree Care in Naples, Florida which he founded in 2002 and subsequently sold in 2021. Under his leadership, Signature Tree Care was a nationally accredited tree service via the Tree Care Industry Association.
Mr. Orlikoff is also a member of the Collier County Horticulture Advisory Board, a Florida Department of Environmental Protection Green Industries-Best Management Practices guest instructor and an Accredited Organic Land Care Professional. His expertise combines more than 25 years of hands-on tree care and landscaping experience.
Mr. Orlikoff is also a member of the Collier County Horticulture Advisory Board, a Florida Department of Environmental Protection Green Industries-Best Management Practices guest instructor and an Accredited Organic Land Care Professional. His expertise combines more than 25 years of hands-on tree care and landscaping experience.
Linda Weinland
Linda Weinland earned her B.S. in Biology from Bucknell University and her M.S. in Biology from Wright State University. She taught Biology and Environmental Science at the Naples Campus of Edison College (now Florida SouthWestern State College) for 29 years. During that time, she was an active participant in the BioQuest Curriculum Consortium and the LifeLines Online project, which focused on investigative case-based learning. While at Edison, she received awards for excellence in teaching, for offering innovative solutions on campus and for her life-long commitment to the environment.
Upon retiring, Ms. Weinland worked as a consultant with the Learning in Florida’s Environment (LIFE) initiative, funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Education. The LIFE grant enabled students from underserved middle schools to conduct scientific investigations in parks and preserves in Collier County.
Ms. Weinland has been interested in the connection between the arts and sciences for many years. She attended a Wildbranch Workshop on Environmental Writing in Vermont and has written poetry inspired by the cypress/mixed hardwood forest in which she resides. Recently, she experimented with nature journaling, sketching and painting with watercolors. Learning to play the mountain dulcimer at the Gore Nature Education Center (then called the Naithloriendun Wildlife Sanctuary) is one of her fondest memories.
Ms. Weinland has been an active member of the Florida Native Plant Society and helped organize the Friends of Rookery Bay when that National Estuarine Research Reserve was established.
Together We Can Save Florida from Irreversible Damage
Southwest Florida’s unique natural treasures need to be protected against the irreversible environmental damage caused by overdevelopment. Stand with us as we work to save natural Florida.