Don Erman
Professor of Fisheries Ecology, University of
California, Davis. Dr. Erman was the Science Team Leader on the Sierra Nevada
Ecosystem Project and is an expert on the impacts of land use on aquatic systems
and long-term patterns of aquatic community composition in the Sierra-Nevada.
Panel 1 - Recreation and Tourism
Kay Bennett
Carson City County Supervisor and Board Member of
the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA). Ms. Bennett chairs the TRPA Finance
Committee and started TEAM Tahoe. TEAM Tahoe is a coalition of federal, state,
and local agencies responsible for the designation of Highway #28 as a Nevada
State Scenic Byway.
Tom Davis
Mayor, City of South Lake Tahoe/Managing Partner
President, Tahoe Keys Resort. Mr. Davis is a 26 year resident of South Lake
Tahoe and is a Board member of the Tahoe Airline Guarantee Corporation. His
career includes Chairman of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, the South Lake
Tahoe Airport Commission, and 15 years as a Board member of the South Lake Tahoe
Chamber of Commerce.
Lucy Blake
President, Sierra Business Council. Ms. Blake and
the Sierra Business Council represent the interests of 475 member businesses
working to secure the economic and environmental health of the Sierra Nevada.
Founded in 1994, the Sierra Business Council works toward identifying and
pursuing balanced solutions to economic and environmental challenges.
Don Murphy
Director, California State Parks. Mr. Murphy is a 17
year official of the California State Parks and first director chosen from the
ranks. Before his appointment to his current position, he served as
superintendent of the Big Sur District in California.
Andrew Strain
Senior Planner in Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's
(TRPA) Long Range Planning Division. Mr. Strain specializes in recreation
thresholds and scenic resources. He represents TRPA on the Tahoe Coalition of
Recreation Providers and is the author of the TRPA Ski Area Master Plan.
Michael Weber
General Manager and Vice President, Camp
Richardson Resort. Mr. Weber has been working in the Lake Tahoe tourism
industry since 1976, and with Camp Richardson since 1990. He is on the Board of
Directors of the Tahoe Douglas Chamber of Commerce, South Shore Transportation
Managers Association, and is a member of the Tahoe Coalition of Recreation
Providers.
Vickie McGowen
Executive Director, Incline Village Crystal Bay
Visitors and Convention Bureau. Ms. McGowen has served as Executive Director for
six years. She also serves as Chair of the Nevada Governor's Commission on
Tourism and is on the Board of Directors of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.
Thomas Tait
Executive Director, Nevada Commission on Tourism.
Mr. Tait reports directly to the Governor and is one of only four state travel
directors who holds a cabinet-level position in state government. He is also
Chair of the Western States Tourism Policy Council.
Dennis Harmon
President and C.E.O., Heavenly Ski Resort. Mr.
Harmon has over 20 years experience in the ski industry and serves as President
of the California Ski Industry Association, as well as Director of the National
Ski Area Association. He serves on the Public Lands and Government Affairs
Committees of the National Ski Association.
Robert Hight
Executive Officer, California State Lands
Commission. Mr. Hight has represented the legal interests of the California
State Lands Commission since 1971, and has served as Executive Officer since
1994. He has played a major role in implementing the California Desert
Protection Act, transferring military bases from the federal government to the
state, and the acquisition of 880 acres of wetlands at Bolsa Chica.
Panel 2 - Forest Ecosystem Restoration
Barbara Boyle
Regional Director, California/Nevada/Hawaii,
Sierra Club. Ms. Boyle specializes in forest management and the advocacy of
permanent protection for Sierra Nevada ancient forests. She has worked closely
with volunteers in her organization on Lake Tahoe Basin issues and has
participated as a key contact in the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP)
study.
Patricia Manley
Regional Wildlife Ecologist for the Pacific
Southwest Region, United States Forest Service. Ms. Manley led a team that
produced the Forest Service publication "Sustaining Ecosystems: A
Conceptual Framework," and is currently leading the team to develop a
comprehensive monitoring plan for the 10 national forests in the Sierra- Nevada.
Pam Wilcox
Administrator, Nevada Division of State Lands. Ms.
Wilcox has served in her position since 1983. Her agency holds title to the bed
and bank of Lake Tahoe and implemented the Tahoe Bond Act of 1986, providing $36
million for the acquisition of sensitive lands and erosion control projects.
She and her agency are presently working to implement the Tahoe Bond Act of 1996
and a license plate program to provide resources for the preservation and
restoration of the Basin.
Steve Chilton
Chief, Environmental Compliance Division, Tahoe
Regional Planning Agency (TRPA). Mr. Chilton is the founding member of the Lake
Tahoe Forest Health Consensus Group and TRPA's program manager for vegetation
issues. He and his staff are responsible for oversight of federal, state, and
private timber operations in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Joe Thompson
District Conservationist, Natural Resources
Conservation Service, South Lake Tahoe Field Office. Mr. Thompson's work
includes stream and wetland restoration on Third Creek in Incline Village, Cold
Creek Restoration and the Dunlop Urban Stream Project in South Lake Tahoe. He is
closely involved in the Riparian Grazing Management System developed for private
lands on the Truckee River.
Al Aramburu
Director, California Conservation Corps (CCC). The
CCC is a department within the State of California dedicated to preserving the
environment and developing youth. Mr. Aramburu has served in numerous regional
government assignments, including the Associated Bay Area Government Executive
and Regional Planning Committee, Commissioner of the San Francisco Bay
Conservation and Development Commission, and Chair/Director of the Bay Area Air
Quality Management District.
Daniel Tomascheski
Vice-President Resources, Sierra Pacific
Industries. Mr. Tomascheski manages the timberlands and raw material
acquisition for Sierra Pacific. Sierra Pacific owns 1.4 million acres of
California forest and is the third largest producer of lumber products in the
United States.
Rochelle Nason
Executive Director, League to Save Lake Tahoe.
Ms. Nason represents the League to promote funding for environmental programs at
Lake Tahoe. Prior to joining the League she practiced law in the San Francisco
office of Morrison & Foerster where she represented the California State
Park Rangers Association in its successful effort to protect Bodie State
Historic Park.
Andrea Meade-Lawrence
County Supervisor, District 5, Mono
County, California. Ms. Meade-Lawrence represented the Mono County Board of
Supervisors before the U.S. Congress to support a National Academy of Science
Study on Mono Basin. She has testified before Congress in support of the Desert
Protection Act, Mono Lake National Forest Scenic Act, Bodie Protection Act, and
the San Joaquin Wilderness Act. She founded Friends of Mammoth and the Sierra
Nevada Alliance and is the winner of two Olympic Gold Medals in alpine skiing.
John Christopherson
Forest Health Specialist, Nevada State
Division of Forestry. Mr. Christopherson coordinates the Forest Health
Protection Program for the State of Nevada and has worked on forest health
problems at Lake Tahoe since 1991. He previously served on the faculty of the
University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, and was a Timber Management Officer
for the state of New Mexico.
Panel 3 - Fire Hazard Reduction
Linda Blum
Consultant, Quincy Library Group/Lake Tahoe Forest
Health Consensus Group. Ms. Blum consults on public lands management,
specializing in national forest planning. She has served on the board of the
Western Ancient Forest Campaign, the steering committee of the California
Ancient Forest Alliance, and is a founding board member of the Sierra Nevada
Alliance.
Jim Plake
Fire Chief, City of South Lake Tahoe for 30 years
where he has been involved in efforts to reduce the danger of urban/wildlife
fire within the Tahoe Basin. Chief Plake is active in area-wide fire prevention
efforts and is the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Chiefs' Association representative on
the Unified Command of the Tahoe ReGreen project.
Gary Midkiff
President, Midkiff & Associates, Inc. Midkiff &
Associates is a planning and environmental consulting firm representing Park
Cattle Company, one of the Basin's largest landowners. Mr. Midkiff was
previously the Assistant Director and Acting Director of Tahoe Regional Planning
Agency.
Richard Wilson
Director, California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection. Mr. Wilson oversees one of the largest fire departments in the
nation with over 3,800 full time employees, which increases to 5000 during fire
season. He has helped to create the Tahoe ReGreen Program and has over 30 years
of experience helping to shape policy in the area of environmental protection.
Ryan Henson
Conservation Associate, California Wilderness
Coalition. Mr. Henson has 11 years experience in public lands activism. He
presently supervises public lands defense, education, and grassroots organizing
efforts of the California Wilderness Coalition.
Gerald Adams
Fire Marshal, North Lake Tahoe Forest Protection
District. Mr. Adams has worked with wildland urban intermix issues for the past
11 years, including a defensible space program that set the standards in the
Tahoe Basin and throughout the West. He is known as a regional expert on
wildland urban fire management issues.
Michael Solt
Senior Environmental Specialist, Tahoe Regional
Planning Agency (TRPA). Mr. Solt has worked with TRPA since 1985, providing
technical information and drafting regulations pertaining to tree removal
activities. He has participated in planning and compliance monitoring for
timber harvest activities on over 6,000 acres in the Tahoe Basin, and is a
participant in the Lake Tahoe Forest Health Consensus Group.
Ed Smith
Natural Resource Management Specialist, University of
Nevada Cooperative Extension. Mr. Smith developed the Incline Village/Crystal
Bay Defensible Space Program and participates on the Incline Village Prescribed
Fire Management Team. He is presently working to address wildfire hazards in
western Nevada and the Tahoe Basin through coordinated federal, state, local,
and university efforts.
Roy Trenoweth
Nevada State Forester-Firewarden, Nevada Division
of Forestry. Mr. Trenoweth has overall leadership responsibility for wildland
and wildland/urban fire protection for nearly 9 million acres in Nevada and
along the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Sue Husari
Assistant Director, Fire and Aviation Management,
U.S. Forest Pacific Southwest Region. Ms. Husari is a wildland fire manager
with an expertise in fuels management with 23 years of experience working on hot
shot crews, fire engines, as a Fire Management Officer and prescribed burn
specialist.
Moderator/Facilitator
Kerry Miller
City Manager, City of South Lake Tahoe. Mr. Miller
has served in his position since 1987 and has 20 years experience in city
management. He has overseen the redevelopment efforts in South Lake Tahoe and
served on the boards of economic redevelopment corporations in Fresno and El
Dorado Counties. Mr. Miller is on the faculty of Lake Tahoe Community College
and has facilitated numerous regional and statewide meetings.