"Who publishes the sheet-music of the winds or the music of water written in river-lines?"

John Muir     

Pete Pumphrey

- Peter Pumphrey lives near Bishop, California. He is an attorney whose practice is limited to environmental consultation. He is retired from the San Joaquin County Office of the District Attorney where he served in the Environmental Prosecutions Unit. He is an Advisor to the Executive Committee of the State Bar of California Environmental Law Section and serves as the section’s treasurer. Peter is the president and conservation co-chair of the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society Chapter, a member of the Lands Committee of the Eastern Sierra Land Trust, the chair of the Chalfant Valley Fire District and is a hearing board member for the Great Basin Air Pollution Control Board. He is a licensed fishing guide, teaches beginning fly fishing, and writes for California Fly Fisher magazine. As mush of his time as possible is spent gardening, snowshoeing and cross country skiing, hiking, backpacking, horse packing and chasing elusive trout.

Jan Chatten-Brown - 2005-

- Jan Chatten Brown has practiced almost exclusively in the area of environmental law, natural resources, land use, and municipal law since she graduated from UCLA Law School in 1971. For the first twenty-one years of her practice, Jan worked in various public law offices. She served in the California Attorney General's Environmental Unit in the early 70's; organized the first environmental prosecution program in the country in a local prosecutor's office in 1984; and served as Special Assistant for Occupational Safety and Health and Environmental Protection to the Los Angeles District Attorney from 1984-1992. While employed by the City of Los Angeles for over ten years, Jan advised the City on compliance with various environmental laws, and managed a pro-active environmental protection program. While Special Assistant to the Los Angeles District Attorney and Senior Assistant Los Angeles City Attorney, she had substantial litigation experience and experience before administrative agencies and in drafting and commenting upon significant federal and state legislation and regulations. Additionally, Jan served as the Southern California Gubernatorial appointee to the California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency during the time when their Regional Plan was being developed, which was widely considered one of the most innovative of its time. In 1995, she opened her own practice, which is now Chatten-Brown & Carstens. The firm utilizes state and federal laws (including CEQA, NEPA, Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, the public trust doctrine, and other laws) to protect the environmental. The firm has achieved many beneficial reported cases, advancing the development of environmental laws in California, and stopped or modified many projects that would adversely impact the environment. Jan has also served as a member and chair of the California State Bar Committee on the Environment; as a member and three year President of the Coalition for Clean Air; and currently as a Vice President of the Planning and Conservation League, and President of the Sierra Nevada Alliance. She has taught environmental and land use law at UCLA and USC.

Jennifer Cooper - 2006 -

- Jennifer Cooper is founder of Emerald Bay Physical Therapy, a private practice sports medicine clinic in the outdoor athletic paradise of Lake Tahoe California. Since graduating from Northwestern School of Medicine, with a Bachelors of Science in Physical Therapy, Ms. Cooper has spent the better part of two decades working with athletes and personalities including the USSA Olympic snowboarders. She actively cultivates a commitment to hard work, and competitive endeavors while fostering a desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Therapist, author, public-speaker, TV personality, and athlete herself, Jenny seeks opportunity and adventure, and is excited about her new role with the Alliance.

Tracy Grubbs - 2005-

- Tracy Grubbs is currently an Associate for the Center for Collaborative Policy and has fifteen years of experience working on strategic communications, marketing and project management for conservation organizations throughout California. She is currently working as the Public Outreach Coordinator for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project—the largest tidal wetlands restoration project on the West Coast. Tracy was graduated with honors from St. Lawrence University with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Political Science. In addition to her communications work, Tracy brings a wealth of experience managing complicated conservation projects and is a trained facilitator. From 1994 to 2000 Tracy worked as Director of Special Projects for the Sierra Business Council (SBC), a regional business association working to protect the economic and environmental health of the Sierra Nevada region of California. At SBC Tracy managed several major conservation initiatives and research projects, including the Placer Legacy Open Space project which set a new standard for countywide collaborative open space planning in California, and the award winning Planning for Prosperity guidebook for sustainable planning in rural communities.

Addie Jacobson - 2006 -

- Addie Jacobson lives outside Murphys in Calaveras County with her husband, dogs, and banty chickens. She has three grown children and two grandchildren. Addie does project development consultation in addition to her environmental work. Over the past ten years, Addie has helped to organize and obtain grant funding for local projects benefiting children and families in Calaveras County. Environmentally, she is active in Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch, having been a board member and officer. She is the Sierra Nevada Forestry Advocate for several Sierra Club chapters. Addie is also am a community contractor with the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection campaign. She is an alternate board member for the West Point CHIPS project, which is a smallwood and biomass utilization project, for which she has worked since its inception and helped them obtain start-up grant funding. Addie is also a founder and board member of CAP (Community Action Project), a participatory democracy and land-use organization in Calaveras County. As an outgrowth of that, she is involved with the newly-formed Calaveras Planning Coalition.

Bob Johnston - 2006 -

- Professor Johnston has been a member of state and regional advisory committees for transportation and air quality planning agencies and a local transportation commission. He reviews articles and grant proposals for several organizations and has published over 70 refereed articles and book chapters. He has given invited talks at many conferences and universities and has been a faculty member?in?residence at the University of Iowa. He is a member of the TRB Transportation and Land Development Committee, the NAS Committee on the Determination of the State of Practice of Metropolitan Travel Modeling, and is a Town Planning Commissioner in Truckee, CA. He is an expert in several lawsuits all over the U.S. on freeway widenings, over last 30 years; a member of three citizens groups in Davis in the 70s and 80s that stopped the widening of the underpass entrance to the City; a member of citizens group in Davis that got Central Park doubled in size; a member of Davis transportation advisory commission in late 80s; and a member of Truckee Planning Commission, currently. His current research includes: 1) Implementing a simple urban growth model in 15 California counties, including some Sierra ones and 2) Developing a statewide urban growth model over the next 3 years.

Tim Little - 2005 -

- Tim is the Executive Director & Co-Founder, The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment. Tim directs the Foundation's grantmaking programs and its Environmental Fiduciary Project, which encourages fiduciaries to incorporate environmental factors into prudent portfolio management. Tim formerly directed Los Angeles’ Coalition for Clean Air, and served as a founding steering committee member for UCLA’s Certificate in Air Quality Management Program. Prior to that, he coordinated fundraising and public outreach for Heal the Bay and Communities for a Better Environment. Tim is accepted by Congress’ Government Accountability Office as an expert on corporate environmental disclosures and has co-authored a series of publications related to fiduciary responsibility and corporate environmental performance, including: “The Environmental Fiduciary: The Case for Incorporating Environmental Factors into Investment Management Policies” (2002), “The Gap in GAAP: An Examination of Environmental Accounting Loopholes” (2003), and “Fooling Investors and Fooling Themselves: How Aggressive Corporate Accounting and Asset Management Tactics Can Lead to Environmental Accounting Fraud” (2004). Tim is a resident of Oakland, California.

Terry Manning (President) - 2002 -

- Terry is a board member of the Sequoia Riverlands Trust and lives outside of Porterville in the Southern Sierra. Terry is a retired Porterville Highschool English teacher and he and his wife currently own a small apple orchard and produce apple products. Terry is a strong addition to the board representing the Southern Sierra, understanding local land trust issues, and bringing a passion and commitment to the Sierra.

Geoff McQuilkin - 2002 -

- Geoff is Co-Director of the Mono Lake Committee and lives in Lee Vining with his wife and nine month old daughter. Geoff has worked at the Mono Lake Committee in a variety of positions – from leading their local education outreach projects to being the Communication Director before becoming the co-director. Geoff has played a key role in helping the Mono Lake Committee donor list grow from two hundred members to over fifteen thousand.

Betsy Reifsnider - 2006 -

- Betsy Reifsnider (Sacramento, CA) was introduced to the Range of Light in 1978 when she climbed Lone Pine Peak in the Eastern Sierra. She went on to work for the Sierra Club in Los Angeles and then as a legislative deputy for environmentalist and City Councilmember Ruth Galanter. Betsy was also the Associate Director of the Mono Lake Committee, the Water Conservation Manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Mid-Pacific Region, and the Executive Director of Friends of the River. For the past two years, she has run her own consulting firm with such diverse clients as the Sacramento Water Forum, Santa Clara University, and Catholic Diocese of Stockton’s Environmental Justice Project.

Steve Robinson - 2004-

- Steve Robinson is the President and Founder of the Mountain Meadows Conservancy and has lived in Westwood in Lassen County for 31 years and is originally from San Diego. He graduated from Mission Bay High School and received an A.A. degree from Lassen College. He served as a Sergeant in the United States Air Force from 1966-1970. He then worked as a carpenter until he retired in 1991. Steve is the driving force behind Mountain Meadows Conservancy and serves in the capacity of Executive Director. He is a member of the Planetary Society, National Geographic Society, B.A.S.S., Butte Environmental Council, Westwood Museum Association, Board of Directors Sierra Cascade Land Trust Council, and the Sierra Environmental Water Caucus. His special interests are fishing, photography, and camping, all of which he shares with his family. He treasures and enjoys his connection to Mountain Meadows and Mountain Meadows Reservoir.

Christine Rozance - 2006 -

- Christine Rozance was born and raised in Berkeley. After receiving her BA. degree from U.C.Berkeley, she attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, New York. The early part of her medical career was with the University of California School of Medicine. Since 1998 she has served as primary care physician and medical director for Sutter SeniorCare which is a multidisciplinary agency serving a population of frail elder individuals. She has longstanding interest in environmental issues. A long term camper and hiker, she has enjoyed summers at Lake Tahoe and other areas of the Sierra Nevada. She served as a member of the Board of Directors for the League to Save Lake Tahoe for over 10 years. In addition to hiking and camping, special interests include vocal and instrumental music. She has three sons and a daughter and is proud that her daughter has chosen environmental resource management as a career. She is looking forward to serving on the Board of Directors for the Sierra Nevada Alliance.

Gary Adest

- Gary Adest lives in Springville, CA in the southern Sierra and is trained in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology. Since 1990, Gary has worked with his wife Barbara on a variety of field research projects in Wildlife Biology. In 2000, Gary and Barbara bought River Ridge ranch on the Tule River when it looked as if the land would end up as a major housing development. By working with the Sequoia Riverlands Trust, and a number of partners and donors, they were able to place a conservation easement on the ranch and market the development rights. River Ridge is now fully protected in perpetuity and will remain a haven for the public seeking personal restoration and recreation and for the flora and fauna which abound on the property. In order to afford the costs of the Ranch, Barbara and Gary decided to do what they knew best: to teach people about the outdoors. River Ridge ranch is host to many community and youth outdoor education programs. Gary also ended up learning to do what he knew nothing about: managing the day-to-day affairs of a working cattle ranch, a grazing regime and the myriad details involved in planning and providing for people to have a rewarding and memorable experience when visiting their ranch.

Tanya Africa - 2004-2006

- Tanya Africa is the Associate Director of the Truckee Donner Land Trust. Previously she served as Associate Director of the Sierra Business Council, a nationally recognized non-profit organization that has involved Sierra business leaders in working to protect the economic and environmental health of the Sierra Nevada. Before relocating to Truckee and after graduating from UC Berkeley, Tanya worked for the Public Interest Research Groups in their national headquarters in Santa Barbara. A Reno Native, Tanya is thrilled to have returned home to the Sierra Nevada region.

Laurel Ames - 1993; 2003 -

- Laurel has been involved in Lake Tahoe, Sierra Nevada and statewide environmental and watershed issues for many years. A former Executive Director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe and as one of the founders and the first Executive Director of the Sierra Nevada Alliance, she has helped shaped policies that have endured the tests of time. Laurel is currently a board member of the California Watershed Network and is retired from daily meetings - - thereby having more time for volunteering.

Jim Baetge - 1998-2001; 2004 -

- Jim Baetge is the former Executive Director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and former Executive Director of the California State Water Resources Control Board, past Supervising Planner for the California Department of Transportation, past Executive Officer of the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, and past Civil Engineer/Planner with the California Department of Transportation. Jim holds a degree in Public Administration from California State University Sacramento.

Randy Barrow (Vice President) - 1999-2005

- Randy Barrow is a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice. He has experience in land use litigation (Families Unafraid to Uphold Rural Etc. County v. Board of Supervisors (1998) 62 Cal.App.4th 1332), and is the chair of the Maidu Group of the Sierra Club. Randy is a former whitewater guide and a resident of rural El Dorado County.

- Joan Boothe was a corporate officer of Chevron, and now teaches graduate courses in organizational behavior at St. Mary's College in Moraga and does private consulting. She is a phi beta kappa graduate of Wellesley College and has an MBA in Finance from the University of California Berkeley. Joan owns a second home in Blue Canyon and is an active hiker, backpacker and skier in the range, and is a founding member of the Sierra Nevada Alliance.

Cristi Bozora Creegan - 2004 -

- Cristi Creegan has worked for nonprofit conservation organizations since 1995, when she interned for the Environmental Defense Fund (now environmental defense) as a second-year law student at the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. After obtaining her J.D. in 1996 with a certificate in Environmental Law, Cristi worked for Friends of the Columbia Gorge before moving to South Lake Tahoe to become the first Program Coordinator for the Sierra Nevada Alliance. After 1 ½ years, Cristi became the Alliance’s Associate Executive Director, a position she held for another year before leaving the Alliance to pursue other opportunities. From March 2001 to May 2004, Cristi was the Managing Director of the California Rangeland Trust, a statewide agricultural land trust based in Sacramento. Cristi has been a member of the Board of Directors of Sonoma Photonics, Inc., and of Tahoe Tomorrow and is a member of the Bar in both California and Oregon. Cristi holds a B.A. in English from the University of California at Berkeley.

Patty Brissenden

Patty Brissenden - 1993-2001

- Patty Brissenden, co-owner of Sorensen's Resort, is a core member of Friends of Hope Valley, which garnered widespread support from all segments of the population of Alpine County as well as local officials for the successful effort to preserve Hope Valley. From 1980-1984 Patty was Field Representative to then-Assemblymember Sam Farr as well as a Santa Cruz County Port Commissioner. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of both the Planning and Conservation League and The Conservation Alliance, and is a founding member of the Sierra Nevada Alliance. Patty served as first Chair of the Futures Fund Committee.

Bill Center

Bill Center - 1998-2006

- Bill Center, owner of Camp Lotus on the South Fork of the American River, has been involved in commercial rafting for 25 years, and is a past El Dorado County Supervisor. Bill is on the Board of the Great Valley Center and the Planning and Conservation League. Along with Patty Brissenden and Martha Davis, he served on the planning committee for the 1992 Sierra Now Conference, which launched the Alliance.

Martha Davis (Advisory Committee Chair) - 1994-2000

- Martha Davis is currently serving as Manager of Strategic Policy Development of the Inland Empire Utility Agency. She has extensive background in state and federal water policy. She is the former Executive Director for Californians and the Land, a non-profit organization focused on water and land issues, and the Mono Lake Committee, where she received numerous awards and acknowledgments for her creative problem-solving skills in resolving the Mono Lake dispute.

Tom DeVries

- Tom DeVries is the Executive Producer and President of DeVries Media. Tom DeVries began his communications career with the Chicago SunTimes in one of the world's most competitive newspaper towns. He also founded and managed a national educational press service headquartered in Philadelphia. He was a speech writer for the director of the Peace Corps and assistant to the Mayor of New York. He has designed and supervised public opinion polling, and works in Bosnia as a media consultant contracted to the US State Department. In 2002-03 he was Senior Producer for the Ted Turner Documentaries project on weapons of mass destruction. He has worked for or published in The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Examiner, California magazine, Harper's and elsewhere. He has worked as a writer, producer and reporter for many television networks including CBS, Fox, NBC, Discovery, and PBS, and for several major market broadcast stations.

Ray Griffiths (Secretary) - 2000-2006

- Ray was born in Willows, Glenn County, in the middle of the Sacramento Valley on a small cattle ranch. He holds a B.A. Biology from CSU Chico and a M.S. Ecology from UCDavis. He moved to El Dorado County (Georgetown) in 1978, where he lives with his wife Irene Sakaishi, and has two children, Pippin, 18 and Ashlee, 15. Ray helped start the farmers market in Garden Valley in 1985, and began a consulting business in 1989, working with soil scientists, doing wetland delineations, rare plant surveys, etc. He served on the El Dorado County Planning Commission from 1990-94, during part of the preparation of the El Dorado County General Plan. He has subsequently worked with activist groups to sue El Dorado County, culminating in the setting aside of the 1996 General Plan approval in 1999. Ray currently serves on the Georgetown Divide Resource Conservation District (since 1996), and County affiliated groups such as the Plant and Wildlife Technical Advisory Committee and the El Dorado County Noxious Weed Group. He currently teaches at the Cosumnes River College, El Dorado Center. Ray is also a member of the Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation.

Bob Kelso

Bob Kelso (Treasurer) - 1999-2005

- Bob Kelso worked with others in the Arnold-Avery area of Calaveras County to start the Mountain Alliance to deal with rapid and poorly planned growth along Highway 4. Bob worked to protect the North Fork of the Stanislaus for many years, is a former Central Sierra Watershed Coalition board member, and a previous Sierra Nevada Alliance Futures Fund Committee member. Bob lives in the Bay Area and has a vacation home in Calaveras County.

Scott Kruse

Scott Kruse - 1998-2004

- Scott Kruse is a Biophysical geographer, and has been an Alliance supporter since the beginning. He is currently working on the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) project, a hands-on, school-based international environmental science and education program in 5,000 kindergarten through 12th grade schools in more than 70 countries, with 30 schools in the Sierra. Scott served on the Futures Fund Committee prior to becoming a Board member.

Tom Martens

Tom Martens

- Tom Martens works as a consultant, who specializes in business development, fundraising, nonprofit research, marketing and media relations work. He recently co-founded and serves as the Executive Director of the Foundation for Wildlife Habitat Restoration, which restores wildlife habitat in the Sierra Nevada and other areas of California. Martens writes feature stories and columns as the Editor-at-Large of the Truckee-based California Fly Fisher Magazine, is an award-winning member of the Outdoor Writers Association of California and serves on the Board of Advisors for the University of California Center for Water and Wildlands Policies. He has worked as a reporter, columnist or editor for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, Green Bay Press Gazette, Pacific News Service in San Francisco, Green Bay Daily News, Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, CA., Herald and News in Klamath Falls, OR. and the Reno Gazette Journal, and worked as the editor of the Tahoe World in Tahoe City, CA. and North Lake Tahoe Bonanza at Incline Village, NV. He has worked as Executive Director of the California Wildlife Foundation, Friends of the River and the League to Save Lake Tahoe, and has held fundraising executive positions at the Mountain Lion Foundation, Planning and Conservation League Foundation and the Trust for Public Land. With a $30,000 grant from Aspen Institute in 1998, Martens completed a one-year study and produced a 250-page research report and working paper on how California newspapers cover nonprofit groups. He is co-author of "Five Easy Turns," a how-to book on cross-country skiing. He has earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master of Nonprofit Administration Degree from the University of San Francisco and a Planning Giving Officer Certificate from Institute for Philanthropic Studies at California State University at Long Beach. He served on the planning committee for the SIERRA NOW conference on the future of the Sierra Nevada and worked to create the Sierra Nevada Alliance.

- Teri Olle most recently was the Program Development Director at Environment California, a statewide environmental policy and advocacy organization. In that capacity she developed and implemented campaigns to change public policy in the area of environmental health, with an emphasis on reducing exposure to chemicals that can cause reproductive and developmental harm. She is most proud of her role in the successful 2003 campaign to pass landmark legislation that banned two neurotoxic flame retardants commonly used in furniture and textiles. She has also advocated to increase parents’ right to know about school pesticide use, prohibit toxic chemicals in baby products, establish environmental health tracking, protect California’s waterways from pesticide-laden agricultural discharge and the coast from oil drilling. In 2004, Teri relocated to her home state of Wisconsin to turn out infrequent voters as a lead organizer for MoveOn’s Leave No Voter Behind Campaign. Teri holds a B.A. in Political Science, with honors, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a J.D. from the University of Chicago. Teri worked as a litigation associate at McCutchen Doyle Brown and Enersen in San Francisco, and served as a law clerk for The Honorable Alicemarie Stotler, U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California. She is a member of the California State Bar. Teri serves on the Board of the Craigslist Foundation, Emerge—Women Leaders for a Democratic Future, and the Advisory Board of Emerge America. She lives in San Francisco with her spouse, two daughters and dog. She co-owns a cabin in the Tahoe area and hopes to spend more time there in the coming years.

- Lynn Sadler is the executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation, a 25,000-member organization dedicated to the protection of California's wildlife. Prior to the Mountain Lion Foundation, Lynn served eight years as Natural Resources Director for the Planning and Conservation League. She holds degrees in Political Science and Journalism and has 27 years experience running political, fundraising and media campaigns throughout the country.

Stan Weidert

Stan Weidert - 1998-2004

- Stan Weidert, a Biologist and Botanist, has a business that furnishes pollens to laboratories and is a member of the Sierra Business Council. He has a master's degree in biology from Cal State Fullerton. Stan has worked in consensus building and facilitation of groups. He has been a Vice President of Sierra Club California, very active in the Mother Lode Chapter of the Sierra Club and received its 1998 conservation award for his work.