Geri Unger
Geri is the Agroforestry and Water Program Manager. She served as Executive Director of the Society for Conservation Biology, before returning to Cleveland, OH to work on ecosystem restoration and aquaponic initiatives. As the Director of Education and Research at the Cleveland Botanical Garden she was responsible for initiating the Vacant-to-Vibrant restoration program in 11 cities in the Great Lakes States, and Green Corps, a high-school education project restoring damaged urban properties into neighborhood farms.
As a program officer for the George Gund Foundation, she initiated the environmental protection and climate change programs creating the regional Environmental Law and Policy Center, and The Great Lakes Protection Fund. She has worked extensively in the Middle East and received her M.Sc. in Environmental Biology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and her bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan. As her adult children would say “Mom has been a foodie before it was a thing!”
Assistance For Landholders
Water Quality Program
Planting trees on farms and along shorelines can reduce nutrient pollution in local lakes, rivers, and streams. Our Water Quality Program establishes demonstration farms around the Great Lakes, and shares research and education on the potential for agroforestry systems to meet the challenge of the water crisis.
