Who We Are
Richard Remmer
President and Board Chair
Richard holds a JD degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law
where he focused on natural resource and corporate law and a
bachelor's degree from Williams College where he majored in geology,
biology, and environmental studies.
Richard's legal and business resume includes over forty years as an attorney specializing in real property, natural resources, construction, riparian rights, environmental protection, restaurants, marinas, securities, and petroleum exploration. During these past forty years of practicing law, Richard has also provided pro bono services to an array of organizations supporting conservation, parks, the environment, and historic preservation including the New York State Parks Long Island Commission, National Wildlife Refuge Association, Parks & Trails NY, Friends of Pickman-Remmer Wetlands, Friends of the Connetquot River State Park Preserve, Preserve Plum Island Coalition, the Rappahannock Fones Cliffs partnership, and many others.
Richard's environmental & historic preservation awards include the Stewardship Award from the NYS Department of State South Shore Estuary Reserve Council; the Long Island Conservationist of the Year Award from Trout Unlimited; the Polaris Award for Excellence from the Long Island Maritime Museum, and the Peter Fox Cohalan History Award from the Town of Islip.
His passion and advocacy for the environment, conservation, parks, and the outdoors has included publication by national and regional outlets including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CBS News, National Public Radio, Long Island News 12, and Sport Fishing Magazine, to name just a few.
John Turner
Vice President/Board Member
John Turner has been involved with numerous groups whose focus is on either open space preservation or environmental conservation.
John is a co-founder and spokesman for the Preserve Plum Island Coalition and has been active in trying to preserve Plum Island for over a decade.
John currently works a senior policy advisory for Senior Policy Advisor.
John was co-founder of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, a group whose mission is to promote education, to advocate for the protection of Long Island’s drinking water and to preserve open spaces especially in the Pine Barrens.
Chris Zeeman
Secretary, Treasurer, Board Member
Christopher Zeeman has been studying the historic fortifications for the past 30 years. He has been a member of the Coast Defense Study Group for 20 years, having served as it’s Chairperson for two terms. He has been involved with the effort to preserve Plum Island since 2012. And currently serves as one of the founding directors of Friends of Plum Island, New York. In addition, he often serves as a resource for local authors and has been credited in several books. He often helps other historic sites in the region with knowledge and physical labor. Recently he has assisted Jamestown Historic Society with their efforts to restore one of the fire control stations on Prospect Hill in Jamestown. He has also assisted with the efforts to restore Butt’s Hill Fort in Portsmouth.
Mr. Zeeman has also been involved at Fort Adams in Newport with his efforts to start a volunteer group at the Fort starting in 2003. Since that time, many of the historic fortifications at the Fort have been uncovered and preserved. Christopher has served as a board member at Fort Adams Trust from 2012 - 2024, having recently completed two terms as it’s President. He currently a member of the Fort Adams Foundation, an organization charged with planning and oversight of Fort Adams State Park.
Vanessa Lockel
Board Member
In September 2020, Vanessa Lockel assumed the role of Executive Director at Cornell Cooperative
Extension of Suffolk County (CCE Suffolk). With a wealth of experience spanning over two decades in
collaboration with Suffolk County and New York State entities, Ms. Lockel brought her expertise to CCE
Suffolk after serving as the Director of Government and Community Affairs at the MTA-Long Island
Railroad. During this tenure, she played a pivotal role in the Governor's transition team, contributing to
the consolidation of the MTA.
Aligned with CCE Suffolk's mission, Ms. Lockel's proficiency in community engagement and government relations underscores her commitment to inclusive collaboration, public engagement, transparency, and responsiveness in addressing the needs of Suffolk County. Her prior roles include serving as a Regional Representative in the Governor's Office, directing resiliency projects at the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery during Hurricane Sandy, and acting as Deputy Press Secretary in the Office of State Comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli. She also held the position of Director of Community Outreach at the former New York State Banking Department under Superintendent Diana Taylor.
Beyond her government roles, Ms. Lockel has a diverse professional background, having been a registered lobbyist for the New York City Beverage component of the American Beverage Association, an International Product Manager for Merrill Lynch, a Research Specialist at JP Morgan, and a Program Director at Ossining Correctional Facility, where she trained transitional inmates for Community Capital Resources, a Westchester-based nonprofit.
Vanessa's dedication to community improvement extends to her involvement in the Latina Mentoring Program at Brentwood High School. Actively participating as a mentor and committee member, she contributes to the New York State Mentoring Program by pairing Latina leaders in government, community, and corporate sectors with student mentees. Her mentorship focuses on connecting young Latinas with valuable opportunities such as internships, scholarships, and professional development, all while celebrating their heritage and nurturing a sense of community pride.
Ms. Lockel holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bates College, a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and has completed doctoral coursework in Social Welfare at Stony Brook University.
Vanessa, along with her husband and two teenage children, resides in Miller Place.
Louise Harrison
Board Member
Louise Harrison is a conservation biologist who has served on Long Island in federal, New York State, and Suffolk County agencies as well as in leadership and consulting positions for not-for-profit environmental organizations. She has led task forces and community coalitions in protecting open space and has received numerous awards for the same.
Louise worked in Stamford, CT, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service liaison to the Long Island Sound Study, where she concentrated on stewardship of Long Island Sound’s ecosystems, habitat restoration projects, and invasive species control.
Louise currently works for Save the Sound, coordinating the activities of the Preserve Plum Island Coalition, lobbying for preservation of Plum Island, and preparing a wide variety of outreach materials. She also advises community environmental associations along Long Island’s North Shore from Queens to the North Fork in undertaking ecological restoration projects and analyzing environmental impacts of development proposals.
She has extensive field experience working in Long Island’s coastal communities and natural ecosystems, from the boroughs of New York City to Montauk and Orient Points, and out to Fishers Island.
Sandy Brewster-Walker
Board Member
Sandi Brewster-walker is an independent historian, genealogist, freelance writer, and business owner born in the old Copiague Lakeside Hospital, and raised in the Hamlet of North Amityville, where her ancestors signed many of the Indian Deeds. She is an enrolled-citizen of the Montaukett Indian Nation, and serves as Executive Director & Government Affairs Officer. She is also one of the Nation’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPO).
Prior to Governor William Jefferson Clinton being elected as President, during the primary and general campaign, she served as an Advance Team Lead throughout the United States. During the Clinton – Gore Inauguration, Sandi was appointed Advance Lead for the First Family. Soon after, Brewster-walker joined President Clinton’s Administration, and was appointed Deputy Director of the Office of Communications at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). She later served as director of the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community (EZ/EC), an economic development Program. After leaving the administration as part of the Senior Executive Service (SES), Sandi founded L & P International (LPI), a global meeting management and public relations company. LPI’s clients have included major corporations and high-profile individuals, as she has traveled throughout the world.
As a freelance journalist her writings concentrate on local, regional, and national history dealing with diversity including the Native American community, and maritime issues. For over forty years, Brewster-Walker has researched the history and growth of the diverse indigenous communities of the original thirteen colonies from first Europeans contact to 1920.
She has been published and featured by various global newspapers and magazines. Her column, “North of the Village Green” appears in the Amityville Record, and “Along the Native American Footpath” in the Babylon Beacon, and Massapequa Post newspapers. Both columns highlight local history, as well as accomplishments of the Indigenous people and those of color, who contributed to the culture and heritage of the region. Sandi has also been a freelance columnist for Long Island Boating World newspaper.
The History Press Company will be publishing her manuscript, Gone Whaling: Long Island Seamen of Color, and she has completed another manuscript with the working title, Gone Whaling: Connecticut Seamen of Color. Her other writing projects include manuscripts with the following working titles:
- Long Island (NY) Black and Native Americans in World War I
- The Forgotten Indigenous People of Long Island, & Their Lost Lands
- Reinterment: Your Final Resting Place Might Not be Final!
- The Long Island Grantees of Gerrit Smith’s Land
- Long Island People of Color: the Horse Drawn Vehicles Industry, 1850 – 1920
- The Colored Schools of Long Island
- Enslaved, Indentured, & Free People of Color 1640 to 1870: The North Fork
- Howard Colored Asylum: We Moved Further Out on the Island
During her early career, she has taught American History in the secondary education public school system, as well as served as (acting) Assistant Director for the Urban Center for Black Studies at Vassar College.
Within the Long Island Region, Brewster-walker is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Long Island Museum, Friends of Plum Island, Friends of Heckscher State Park, and serves on the Steering Committee for a new Minor in Native American & Indigenous Studies Program at Stony Brook University. She also serves on the Stolen Relations Program’s Native American Community Partners at Brown University, and the Advisory Board for Connetquot River State Park Preserve. In the past she has served on the New London Maritime Society Board of Trustees.
Sandi has taught genealogy classes throughout the United States and has also been a guest speaker at numerous libraries, historical societies, and events. She has given numerous presentations, lectures, and workshops within the United States, and internationally at local historical societies, museums, educational institutions, and public libraries, as well as at community-based organizations. These have been in-person, virtual, and hybrid to a global audience.
On March 11, 2014, the New York State Board of Regents, Department of Education, University of the State of New York awarded a provisional charter to the LONG ISLAND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE MUSEUM & RESEARCH INSTITUTE, which she is the chair of the Board of Trustees and acting Executive Director. The museum is a combined Native American history museum and historical society with the goal to bring together those people interested in history, programs and events for the public, and issue publication regarding the Island’s Indigenous people. The museum covers the history of the Indigenous people of the Island from the west end (Brooklyn/Queens) to the east end (Orient Point/Montauk Point). The museum is planning to be more than a traditional museum focusing on retention, reinforcement, and reintroduction!
Finally, Brewster-Walker has received numerous awards including being one of Dowling College’s Top 40 Graduates; Hofstra University’s Suburban Diversity Award, and Winner of the Press Club of Long Island’s 2017 Media Award – 3rd Place for Narrative: Column.
David Reisfield
Executive Director
In addition to being the executive Director of the Friends of Plum Island, David currently serves as President of the Long Island Greenbelt Trail conference, board member of Stage the Change Inc., Vice President and board member of Friends of Connetquot River State Park Preserve, and board member and founder of Friends of New York State DEC region one.
Thomas Glascock
Board Member
Thomas D. Glascock (BA, JD, MBA, LLM in Taxation, LLM in Estate Planning, AEP) is admitted to practice law in New York, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, and South Dakota, and he concentrates his legal practice in business and estate planning, corporate transactional, and commercial real estate matters. Mr. Glascock also has significant experience handling municipal, economic development, and public finance matters.
Actively involved in the community, he is a member of numerous professional organizations and serves (or has served) as a director for multiple not-for-profit and community entities. He has also authored several published professional articles and participated in numerous speaking engagements, including as a presenter for continuing legal education seminar events. In addition, Mr. Glascock serves as an adjunct instructor for the Bruce F. Braden School of Taxation at Golden Gate University, and he is Editor-In-Chief to the Golden Gate University Tax and Estate Planning Review.