Board Nominees 2024

Vote for your Board Nominees at the January 13, 2024 Annual Meeting

Katie Easter

Katie Easter is a Tsalagi (Cherokee) citizen from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Katie lives in the Spring Creek Watershed with her husband and 11-year-old son, Tsutli. She has a background in fisheries and wildlife biology and is completing her last semester of graduate school at Northeastern State University. Her research focuses on public health and wildlife issues throughout Cherokee Nation Reservation such as the environmental and cultural implications of poultry farms, describing the epidemiology of Oklahoma’s only freshwater parasitic jellyfish, and using GIS to explore the reasons why private wells are testing positive for E. coli. Katie currently works as a federal contractor for the United States Geological Survey looking at the potential socioeconomic effects of chronic wasting disease on Native Americans.

Katie is committed to protecting the waters of Spring Creek and believes that data will play a large role in this endeavor. While anecdotal evidence is meaningful, it doesn’t stand up in court. She thinks that using data to explain our side of the story is the best approach when interacting with ODAFF. Katie feels a deep responsibility to be a good steward of the creek and would be honored to serve on the board.

Ron Moss

My wife and I have been property owners on Spring Creek since 2018, but I have been in love with the creek since the early 1980s, when my brother Mike, who lives on Spring Creek, bought 150 acres east of Lucky Spring.  His land includes approximately one-half mile of Spring Creek, including multiple pools that are perfect for swimming and fishing.

I am very interested in the conservation of natural resources generally, and I am particularly concerned about the state of our precious water resources.  Too many landowners on and near our Oklahoma waterways treat them as resources to be exploited, rather than as treasures to be preserved for ourselves and future generations.  When that occurs, it is sometimes necessary to invoke legal protections to protect the water, and I have been impressed with the Spring Creek Coalition’s efforts in that regard.  I would like to support those efforts in whatever way I can, including the formulation of legal strategies.

Meredith Fraily

It would be an honor and privilege to serve on the Coalition board of directors to give back to Spring Creek and work with others in preserving such a special and unique resource.  Spring Creek is special to me because I grew up on my family’s Cherokee allotment that bordered Spring Creek in a 3-room log house.  The creek provided a means of survival for my family.

We watered our cows, horses and goats at springs flowing into the creek and carried the spring water to our house for our own cooking, drinking, and household needs.  We swam in the clear, clean waters, laundered our clothes along the banks, and caught fish and crawdads, cooking them in large cast iron skillets over a fire.

As an attorney and a former Mayes County Commissioner, I want to help develop and implement sound policy that provides holistic protection of our waters and environment. There is much work to be done to ensure a pristine, clean water source and a healthy watershed.  I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and help make it happen.