Hugh Thomforde, 11 Upper Meadows Road

Hugh Thomforde, 11 Upper Meadows Road Aquaculture Specialist Working in Liberia

Hugh is definitely an Uplander on the go. He is currently working with Tubman University in southern Maryland County, Liberia, on curriculum and infrastructure development for aquaculture. He has worked under sponsorship of the US Agency for International Development as volunteer trainer and consultant to fish producers in Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Liberia. None of this is new to Hugh. He spent 12 years in the Philippines, Cook Islands, and Hawaii as a commercial aquaculture manager, and 16 years on the graduate faculty of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) as Extension Aquaculture Specialist, providing advice and technical assistance throughout Arkansas (a major fish producing state) and neighboring states on aquatic plant management, water quality management, and aquatic animal health. Hugh has a doctoral degree from Auburn University in water quality management for living aquatic resources. From 1999 to 2004 he was a member of the Aquaculture Effluents Task Force of the Joint Subcommittee on Aquaculture, a statutory USDA committee operating under the Office of the Science Advisor to the President. From 2009 to 2012 he served on the board of Rose Creek Park Initiative in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, providing leadership on water quality and environmental assessment for a wooded urban stream park. He retired from UAPB in 2012 and then worked full-time at Crossville Head Start as Assistant Teacher until June 2015. Hugh is a Quaker, and member of Cookeville Friends Meeting. His father was mayor of Pleasant Hill for 6 years in the 1980s. Hugh’s commitment to stewardship of Wilkerson Creek led him to join the board of directors of the Obed Watershed Community Association. Wilkerson Creek flows north of Pleasant Hill, and then joins the Caney Fork flowing east and south of Pleasant Hill. It is classified by the Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation as a high quality watershed because of the presence of two indicator species – the Pristine Crayfish (Cambarus pristinus) and the Allegheny Snaketail dragonfly (Ophiogomphus alleghaniensis). As it happens, these and other species present within the confines of our local watershed are classified under the Endangered Species Act as threatened and endangered. At Uplands Hugh contributes his expertise by serving as a member of the Environmental Quality Committee (Green Team) of the UV Board.