Our Board
View the North Florida Burn Association’s Board Member Distribution
John Herbert - President
John grew up in Gainesville, hunting shark teeth in creeks, camping and fishing with his family. John is a hydrogeologist, semi-retired from the environmental consulting field. He is interested in maintaining a healthy ecosystem in Florida – and is active in controlling invasive species (via the North Central Florida Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area) and using prescribed fire to manage land (via the NFPBA). He joined the NFPBA in 2019, has received his Certified Prescribed Burn Manager certification, and is assisting landowners to conduct prescribed burns on their property. John enjoys learning new things – including fire weather, fire behavior, and smoke management. Let’s not forget about smoke.
Bob Jenkins - Vice President
Bob Jenkins is a Putnam County, Florida native whose lifelong interest in forestry began in his childhood while working on a Scouting Forestry Merit Badge. Bob put that interest into practice in 1995 when he acquired 50 acres in Putnam County and set about a lengthy process of converting a former commercial grape vineyard into a working pine plantation. In 2020 his forest management activities shifted into a higher gear after his retirement from a 43-year career in law enforcement. Bob has since become a Certified Prescribed Burn Manager and enjoys helping his fellow landowners with their prescribed burning practices. Bob holds a BA in criminal justice from the University of Central Florida, along with an MBA from Saint Leo University. Bob is a member of the Forest Stewardship Program, American Forest Foundation’s Certified Tree Farm Program, Florida Forestry Association and the National Woodland Owners Association.
Cara Smith - Secretary
After living in Wisconsin, Illinois and Southern California, Cara relocated to Florida in 1977. She worked as an electrician and then as a state certified electrical contractor before returning to college, earning her Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from the University of South Florida. Cara loves the outdoors and has been fortunate to camp and hike all around the U.S. Cara recently retired from Florida Power & Light where she spent 13 years managing major capital projects within the Transmission & Substation group. Working on these very large and complex projects afforded her the opportunity to interact with many environmental agencies and gain a great appreciation for the need to preserve Florida’s habitats. She and her husband Terry live on a beautiful piece of long leaf sand hill in Levy County which they are working on enhancing and restoring. She has firsthand experience seeing the benefits of prescribed fire, in the past volunteered her time with the North Florida Prescribed Burn Association to help others accomplish their land management goals and now has brought her managerial skills to the NFPBA Board.
Lori Carroll - Treasurer
Lori is a Florida native. She was raised on a farm in Providence, a small town about forty minutes north of Gainesville. Just as when she was growing up, Lori spends as much time as possible outdoors. She and her husband Bob own a collection of cypress swamp and sandhills in Gilchrist County which they are slowly but surely restoring to Old Florida. She and Bob are new to prescribed fire but love what it has done and will continue to do for their land and wildlife.
Ben Williams
Ben is a former commercial fisherman who, with his wife Louann, bought their initial timberland in 2009 after spending 35 years in the seafood business. While getting up to speed on forestry, a great portion of that education being through UF’s Forest Stewardship Program, he quickly realized that prescribed fire was something their land needed. He also took note of the fact that proper land stewardship as exemplified by the American Tree Farm System’s Standards and Florida Forest Service BMPs was indispensable to protecting Florida’s waters, something that is understandably important to his passion for the seafood industry but also Florida’s recreational fishing and tourism. He is a Certified Burn Manager.
Lee Diercks
Lee, and his wife, Jody are originally from Minnesota and grew up in the outdoors. They have lived in Bradenton, Fl for the past 27 years. They became forest landowners in 2013 when they purchased 80 acres of hydric flatwoods in Union County. In 2019, they purchased an adjacent 120 acres. Since the original purchase they have been gathering as much information as they can, getting great advice from timber, forest, and habitat professionals, attending educational classes, and reading as much as they can about being good stewards of the land. They both enjoy working on the land and they have obtained the Certified Tree Farm designation. They entered into a Conservation Easement with the State of Florida in 2024 to ensure that their land is never developed, and to ensure the habitat remains protected. They are members of the Florida Forestry Association and Florida Cattlemen's Association.
Lee & Jody joined the NFPBA in 2021 and experienced their first burn on their property in 2022 with the help of ACT and NFPBA. Lee completed the Prescribed Burn Manager course in 2024 and looks forward to completing his checkoff burn to become certified, so that he can help other NFPBA members burn in the future. Lee was appointed to the NFPBA board in October of 2024.
Cory Young
Cory’s family has owned a tree farm on 85 acres of Sandhill property in southwest Putnam County for over 60 years. In recent years, Cory has become more interested in improving the property’s wildlife habitat. In 2021, Cory joined the NFPBA and saw the value of prescribed fire by helping other members burn their property. Before long, he was ready to burn his property with the help of the NFPBA. Because of this cooperative effort, Cory has firsthand experience with prescribed fire and other forestry improvements. Cory will soon become a Certified Prescribed Burn Manager having recently completed the training class. Cory was recently appointed to the NFPBA Board and enjoys promoting the benefits of prescribed fire while continuing to help his fellow NFPBA landowners burn their properties.
Barry Coulliette - Advisor to the Board
Barry spent 36 years at the Florida Forest Service where he focused on instructing prescribed fire training, working with private landowners and most importantly, actually conducting burns at various state forests and private lands in the north Florida region. His focus is assisting private landowners and helping them get prepared to implement their prescribed burning goals.
