Three Rivers Fibershed Board
Maddy Bartsch (they/them)
President and Director of Community Outreach
Maddy Bartsch is a farmer, educator and organizer of decentralized textile economies based in Minneapolis. Maddy has helped a broad range of clients navigate local textile economies through projects like the Minnesota Hemp Wool Project, the TRF Regional Fiber Sourcebook, the National Mill Inventory Survey, and as a Yarn Incubator for Fibershed. In addition to fiber systems, Maddy’s work includes tackling food systems as the Community Connector for the Cannon River chapter of the Sustainable Farming Association. More recently, Maddy received a Farmer-Rancher SARE grant which has enabled them to focus on 2 years of research around building a natural dye cooperative in the midwest. Maddy is co-founder and co-president of the Three Rivers Fibershed and teaches and speaks on the topic of local fiber systems and sustainable textiles to learners of all ages throughout the Midwest.
Maddy can be reached at hello@threeriversfibershed.org
Rachel Schindler (she/her)
Grants and Program Director
After growing up on a dairy farm in north central Wisconsin, Rachel spent time working for a variety of non-profit organizations around the country, most recently in Washington State with a farm incubator program that trained and supported new organic farmers just south of Seattle. It was there that she found herself feeling at home in the world of sustainable agriculture education and advocacy. In 2020 she graduated with her MS in Agroecology from UW-Madison where she studied training and land access programs for new farmers. As a long-time crafter with skills learned from her grandmothers and mother, Rachel is excited to bring together her agroecology background and skills with her love for fiber craft while volunteering with Three Rivers Fibershed. Rachel can usually be found hand-quilting, working with wool, or growing plants.
Rachel can be reached at programs@threeriversfibershed.org
Josie Cooke
Regional Outreach Coordinator (Northern Minnesota; Duluth Area)
Jane Hansen (she/her)
Steward Outreach Director
Jane Hansen is passionate about sustainable and regenerative agriculture and the environment. What started as a love of knitting led her to learning to spin and finally to raising the wool herself. She began keeping sheep on her farm in Ogema, WI in 2009 and got her foundation flock of Coopworth sheep in 2012.
In addition to the Coopworth breeding stock, she keeps a trio of Romeldale/CVM wethers. Jane loves that agriculture and specifically raising sheep for wool is a pursuit that involves constant learning. She works tirelessly to improve her pastures, flock health, wool quality and her business skills as well. Jane received an education in Architecture and worked as a construction manager. She finds that translates nicely to the problem solving skills needed on the farm.
She also worked for a decade as the coordinator of the Wisconsin Local Food Network and through that work, she discovered that her forte is connecting people. When Jane discovered Three Rivers Fibershed, and became a member in 2017, she knew she had found a fiber home. The vision and mission of Three Rivers Fibershed to develop regional fiber systems that build soil health and protect the wellbeing of our biosphere right here in our little corner of the world aligns perfectly with her own philosophy.
Jane strives to help the members of Three Rivers Fibershed connect with one another and with customers for their beautiful locally produced and processed fiber and also to continually improve the wellbeing of the land and their flocks.
Jane can be reached at stewardoutreach@threeriversfibershed.org
Lily Peterson
Volunteer Director
Lily can be reached at volunteer@threeriversfibershed.org
Cerissa Stockton
Regional Outreach Coordinator (NW Wisconsin)
Cerissa can be reached at
regionaloutreachnorth@threeriversfibershed.org
About our board of directors
Three Rivers Fibershed relies on a small but mighty board of directors to oversee and conduct the work for all aspects of our growing non-profit organization. Our board is made up of shepherds, fiber enthusiasts, and individuals with professional skills and a desire to support and grow our organization. The board of directors is entirely volunteer run and acts through consensus decision making. We currently meet monthly on the second Monday of each month from 6:00-7:30 pm (Central Time).
If you are curious about getting more involved with Three Rivers Fibershed, please reach out to us at hello@threeriversfibershed.org. We would love to talk with you more about opportunities for involvement.
