People
Board of Directors
John Pobedinsky, Chair
Senior Content Developer, Hypertherm Associates
Kevin Bliss, Secretary
Division Director, Ric Energy Group
Christine Body, Board Member
Occupational Safety and Training Specialist, SUNY Oswego
Samuel H. Sage, Board Member
Retired, ASLF co-founder and Board President
Jim Darlington, Board Member
Cultural Resource Coordinator, New York State Department of Transportation
Karen Noyes, Board Member
Associate Planner, Oswego County
OUR STAFF
Dylan Seaver
Executive Director
dseaver@aslf.org
Dylan Seaver comes to ASLF from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) where he earned an MPS in environmental policy, water resources management, & governance. He also has a professional background in forestry, having worked at Heiberg Memorial Forest in Tully, NY, as well as 5-years of military experience serving in the United States Marine Corps. He is excited to bring a fresh perspective to the organization’s mission and goals, while serving the community through ASLF’s programs and projects.
Paul M. Harris
Program Director
Paul earned his MS in Landscape Architecture from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in 2009, having conducted research on perception of visual landscape quality in rural Central New York. He completed a second MS degree in Natural Resources Management with an emphasis in agroforestry from the University of Missouri in 2026. Additionally, Paul has worked for the National Park Service’s Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, the USDA Forest Service, and the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology. He specializes in program design and implementation, visual landscape quality assessment, natural resource planning, agroforestry planning, urban forestry, survey research, technical writing, landscape design, grant writing & administration, and social entrepreneurship.
Samuel Sage
Acting President
Samuel Sage is the cofounder of ASLF and currently serves as Board member and unpaid Acting President. He holds an A.B. in Chemistry from Cornell University (1965), and was a Candidate of Philosophy, Inorganic Chemistry University of Minnesota (1965-1969). Mr. Sage has worked for over 38 years on environmental issues for different organizations; the last 28 at ASLF. He is also Vice President of the International Fund for China’s Environment. Mr. Sage has extensive experience with water resource issues both from a scientific as well as a policy perspective. He helped develop the major United States laws relating to water resources (especially the Clean Water Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act). He has been involved in their implementation, and has assisted citizens and local governments at home and abroad in working in these areas. In recent years, Mr. Sage has used his expertise to help interested communities around the world become more sensitive to the need for environmental sanity and sustainable use of their resources. Much of this work uses the lessons learned from work on management of the world’s greatest fresh water source, the United States-Canadian Great Lakes, to further similar goals around the Danube Basin-Black Sea, the Baltic, and Chinese riverine systems, and other major watersheds around the world. Other work by Mr. Sage covers the gamut of contemporary environmental issues including energy, biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, and livable cities. A major component of his current agenda relates to pressing urban issues: green jobs, green infrastructure to control stormwater, and deconstruction of buildings to preserve and recycle their materials and energy.
Dr. Medani P. Bhandari
International Program Director
Dr. Medani P. Bhandari has been working as international program coordinator since 2011. His duties include, but are not limited to, directing international programs and serving as an expert in policy fields including climate change, biodiversity conservation, globalization issues that transcend the nation state, global and environmental governance, sustainability, international organization/relations, global policy and public/social policy, conflict over natural resources, and other issues related to sustainable development and environmental change. Dr. Bhandari is also responsible for exploring relevant funding agencies, preparing research and action plan proposals; and continuing to expand ASLF networks with similarly oriented agencies. Dr. Bhandari represents ASLF to United Nations organizations and the World Bank-Global Environmental Facility, and maintains and expands ASLF’s relationships while exploring the mutual ground of collaborative works in North America, Europe, Asia pacific, Africa and Caribbean.

