Directors
High Impact Environmental Board of Directors
President/Founder- Samuel S. Owings
Samuel Sheridan Owings founder and President of HIE is a graduate of Chestertown High School, then went on to Delhi State University of New York (SUNY) graduating in 1974 with an associate’s degree in General Agriculture. Returning to the family farm after graduation where he had hands on experience in vegetable, grain and livestock farming until 1981.
Then started a business in asphalt paving and site development, whose base of operation was located in Anne Arundel County where he worked for organizations such as Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning, Anne Arundel County, along with other Federal Government agencies and various public and private enterprises throughout the state of Maryland from 1981 thru 1998.
In 2001 Sam returned to the farming industry and started Hambleton Creek Farms a 392 acre grain producing operation located in Queen Anne’s County. On his farm he has focused on conservation farming practices and experimented with stormwater control.
Using knowledge gained in the construction industry combined with his agricultural back ground he developed the “Cascading System” with the use of “Floodplain Stormwater Containment Basin’s” then started HIE a 501 (c) (3) non profit environmental organization focused on controlling agricultural nutrient and sediment pollution.
Sam is a avid outdoorsman who enjoys traveling, sail boat racing, hunting, fishing, hiking, exploring and was a member of Annapolis Yacht Club from 1992 thru 2010.
Vice President– Andrew Hughs
Treasurer/Secretary – Patricia Robinson
Member– Michael Downing Taylor
Member– Bill Snyder
Member- J. Taylor Buckley
Taylor Buckley was a journalist for nearly 40 years before retiring to his home in Broad Neck in 2002. A career begun as a sports writer in West Chester, Pa.. took him to Chestertown as editor of the defunct Chester River Press, to Wilmington as managing editor of The Morning News and Evening Journal, to Arlington, Va., as the founding managing editor of the USA TODAY Money section and then around the world on assignment for USA TODAY and its parent Gannet Co., from Hawaii to Guam to Korea, Kazakstan, Siberia, the Crimea, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Finland, Tanzania, England and beyond. The newspaper posted him to Moscow in the early 90s – as the Soviet Union was collapsing – to open its first permanent foreign bureau. Throughout his career, however, he fancied himself more a writer than a newsroom manager. In later years, as a Senior Writer for USA TODAY, he wrote about everything from tournament bass fishermen to duct tape and license plates to campus crime and the perils of study abroad. He once wrote a cover story about dirt. Though born in Philadelphia, Taylor considers himself a child of the Chesapeake, having grown up on the banks of the Northeast River, where his father taught him to fish, crab and shoot ducks.
In his youth, he raced outboards and was a national schoolboy rowing champion, later to become among the first American high school oarsmen to compete in the Royal Henley Regatta. He holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia. He also serves on the board of Sultana Projects, which operates the Chestertown-based schooner Sultana, “Schoolship of the Chesapeake.”
Member– Neil Brayton
Member- Eric Hadaway
Eric Hadaway is a principle and Director of Environmental Services for the Towson-based land planning, engineering, and surveying firm of Daft-McCune-Walker, Inc. where he coordinates natural resources environmental compliance for land development and redevelopment projects throughout Maryland. Eric holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Towson University, is a Certified Wetland Delineator, Qualified Forestry Professional, and Professional Wetland Scientist specializing in wetlands, forest conservation, water quality, and Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas law and policy. He works closely with planners and engineers to design storm water management facilities such as wet retention ponds, dry extended detention facilities, bioretention areas, and shallow marshes. He also prepares water quality and riparian planting plans, reforestation plans, as well as stream restoration and wetland mitigation designs. Mr. Hadaway is Chairman of the Baltimore County Engineering Association, serves on the Membership Board of Leadership Baltimore County, and is a member of the United States Green Building Council and the Maryland Daffodil Society. In his spare time, Eric is an avid outdoorsman and life-long gardener who enjoys collecting and cultivating daffodils, working in his perennial beds and tending to his vegetable crops, as well as hunting, fishing, boating, bird watching, hiking, nature study, and pitching horse shoes.
Member– Judge Anthony
Judge Anthony is a native of Chestertown, MD. His grandfather, E. Rumsey Anthony, moved to Queen Anne’s county and began a florist business, Anthony’s Flowers, in 1903. When Judge was a boy, he worked in the greenhouses for his uncle who had assumed operation of the business. From this experience was born a life-long interest in plants for this third generation horticulturalist.
Judge graduated from Woodberry Forest School in 1971. He went on to attend the University of Denver for a couple of semesters. Eager to get out of school and get to work, he returned to Chestertown and went to work for a local tree service company in 1972. There he began to realize his passion for the care of trees. He quickly rose to the position of foreman.
In 1976 Judge became a Maryland Licensed Tree Expert and opened his present business, Anthony Tree Experts. Soon thereafter he added Certified Pesticide Applicator to his credentials. At that time, the traditional method of controlling tree pests was to apply “cover sprays”. This shotgun approach using a lot of pesticide and eliminating the beneficial insects as well as the pests was being challenged by the concept of integrated pest management. IPM was instantly appealing to Judge because it providing an alternative to spraying large quantities of pesticides to achieve desired results. In arboriculture, IPM has become one essential tool in the practice of Plant Health Care. PHC employs a holistic approach to tree care.
Judge continued to study and attend training seminars and, in 1998, became an ISA Certified Arborist. In July 2009 he became one of a relatively few who have attained ISA Board Certified Master Arborist status, the highest level of certification in the field of arboriculture. In December, 2009, he attended and graduated from the Consulting Academy of the American Society of Consulting Arborists. In 2010 Judge became a Certified Tree Risk Assessor. He is working to become a Registered Consulting Arborist.
Judge is a long time member of the Maryland Arborist Association, the International Society of Arboriculture and, more recently, the American Society of Consulting Arborists. He continues to live and work near Chestertown. He enjoys crabbing, fishing and hunting in the fields and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay region. His other interests include kayaking, camping, outdoor photography, snow skiing, motorcycling, and playing drums.
