The Western Section of The Wildlife Society

The Western Section of
The Wildlife Society

Executive Board and Committee Chairs
(and a few other hard-working folks, too!)

Executive Board and Committee Chairs

Committee Descriptions

The business of the Western Section is conducted by its Executive board. Members of the board are elected by the Section at large (President, President-elect and Section Representative to TWS), by Chapters (Chapter Representatives to the Section) or Appointed by the President.

In the mid 1990s, it was decided that the affairs of the Western Section were too demanding to continue to be handled by a volunteer. The Section voted to hire an Executive Secretary. Bill Hull served in this position until his resignation. Barbara Rocco was hired to succeed Bill in August 2000. Since then, the Section's day-to-day operations have again expanded as we continue to be involved in more workshops and conferences either on our own or with a cosponsor. The new bylaw changes, recently passed by a vote of our members, have allowed us to revamp the organizational structure of the Section and become more streamlined and efficient, while removing some of the administration duties of the Section from the President, President-Elect, and other volunteers so that they can focus more of their attention on serving our members through workshops, conferences, symposia, and public relations. The executive board is currently assuming the responsibilities assigned to the staff position of Executive Director.

The Executive Board is a microcosm of the Section's membership: men, women, young, old, from academia, government, private industry and consulting.

This page shows you who we are and what we do. We hope that readers will feel that they have much in common with us and attend our meetings and join the Section. We've asked all board members and committee chairs to provide us with a brief bio and a picture showing us what they do, either professionally or recreationally.

Rhys Evans (sirsnave "at" verizon "dot" net), President, is a TWS Certified Wildlife Biologist and one of many TWS-affiliated graduates from Humboldt State (BS 1991). He served in the US Peace Corps in Zakopane, Poland. He currently is employed as Natural Resources Lead / Wildlife Biologist at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. He is also a Past-President of the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association. Activity in the photo shown above was at his previous work location, the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in 29 Palms, CA.	Scott Osborn (ScottOsbornTWS "at" gmail.com), President-elect, is a Staff Environmental Scientist with the California Department of Fish and Game in Eureka, where he works with forest landowners to conserve wildlife, fish, and native plants. Scott is married (to a NY Yankees fan) and has one daughter, age 4 years. He enjoys whitewater rafting in the summer and intends to travel into the depths of the Grand Canyon to row the Colorado River again in May and June 2008.
Julie Vance, (jvance "at" dfg.ca.gov), Past-President	Don Yasuda, (dyasudaTWS "at" comcast.net), Section Representative and Membership Services Subcommittee Chair, is a Certified Wildlife Biologist employed by the U.S. Forest Service and works on the Pacific Southwest Region's Stewardship and Fireshed Assessment Cadre. He received his B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from U.C. Davis in 1987 and immediately started working for the Forest Service monitoring bald eagles. His professional interests are in forest management, fire ecology, and collaboration in natural resource management, particularly as it relates to sustainable wildlife habitats.
Gary Falxa (gfalxa "at" earthlink.net), Treasurer, is a wildlife biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Arcata, where his work involves habitat conservation planning on private lands and recovery work for listed species. Current projects include marbled murrelet population monitoring and conservation of butterflies and forest amphibians. During his career, he also pursued interests in vertebrate ecology, conservation biology and resource management through field research and teaching. Other interests include birding, and boating and hiking through wild areas. Gary received a Ph.D. in Zoology from U.C. Davis, and a BA from the Evergreen State College.	Janae Scruggs (jscruggs "at" tidepool.com), Secretary, is an Airport Wildlife Biologist for the Sacramento County Airport System. She received her B.S. degree in Wildlife Management with minors in Environmental Ethics and Leadership Studies from Humboldt State University in 2004. Previous work includes wildlife-habitat assessments and restoration. Her spare time is spent with friends and family, including her dog, and preferably outside!
John Harris (johnh "at" mills.edu), Transactions Editor, is a professor of biology at Mills College in Oakland, California, where he has taught courses in ecology, natural history and vertebrate zoology since 1986. He earned his Ph.D. in Ecology at UC Davis in 1983 and his B.S. in Biology at Stanford in 1976. John's interests include small mammal ecology, birding, renaissance music, and sailing.	Denise Walker-Brown, (deniselwalker "at" hotmail.com) co-chair of Professional Development Committee is currently the Wildlife Monitor for Pacific Lumber Company's Habitat Conservation Plan. She received her B.S. Degree in Wildlife Management from Humboldt State University in 1998. Previous projects have included marbled murrelet and spotted owl surveys, neotropical passerine surveys in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina and willow flycatchers surveys within the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In her spare time she enjoys running with her dog Kelby, mountain biking, road riding, backpacking, traveling and anything else outdoors.
Katie Moriarty (ktmoriarty22 "at" yahoo.com), Student Affairs Committee co-chair, is a graduate student at Oregon State University working on a corporative project with Redwood Sciences Laboratory. Current focus includes, but is not limited to, investigating forest landscape change on American marten in Sagehen Creek Experimental Forest. She received her B.S. degree in Wildlife Management with minors in botany and environmental ethics from Humboldt State in 2004. "Spare" time is spent outside and away from the computer however possible.	Cynthia Perrine, (csgperrine "at" yahoo.com) Newsletter Editor and Interim Representative of Central Coast Chapter, received a B.S. in Environmental Biology from UC, Davis (Go AGS!), and attended CSU, Chico for graduate school. Former employment includes Field Training Biologist Program Coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Game and Education Coordinator for Jepson Herbarium at the Berkeley Natural History Museums. Professional interests include fire ecology, introduced species, and public outreach. Her spare time is spent with family, mostly outdoors.
Lisa Ollivier, (lollivier "at" fs.fed.us), California North Coast Chapter Representative, has worked in Forest Service Research for 20 years on studies of amphibian life history, habitat associations, protocol development for sampling and surveying, and statistical analyses on a wide array of species and issues: amphibian population size and habitat use, spotted owl habitat use and response to noise, small mammal response to prairie burns, roadway crossing issues and solutions, to name a few. She graduated from Humboldt State University in 1989 with a B.S. in Wildlife Management. She is working on her M.S. in Wildlife Management. Throughout this time she has been active with the North Coast Chapter TWS as a mentor, Chapter President, Professional Development Chair, and in fund-raising	Bill Standley, (bill.standley "at" wildlifer.com) Hawaii Chapter Representative and webmaster, is a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Islands Office. He works with private landowners in implementing management practices and habitat restoration projects to benefit endangered species through Safe Harbor Agreements and Habitat Conservation Plans.
Jessica Pouder, Humboldt State Student Chapter Representative	Danny Rakestraw, (danny_rakestraw "at" urscorp.com) Nevada Chapter Representative
Armand Gonzales Sacramento/Shasta Chapter Representative	Natasha Dvorak San Francisco Bay Area Chapter Representative is a biologist with Environmental Science Associates. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in general Biology and 3rd World Development Studies from Pitzer College. Her senior projects and thesis were plant related and usually involved analytical chemistry; however, at ESA, she is a general wildlife biologist focusing on special-status species. Life before biology included an AA degree in Paralegal Studies and a career as a family law paralegal, professional facilitator, program specialist for county government, and program coordinator for ESRI where she learned some GIS. Natasha looks forward to developing her career in wildlife biology.
Craig Bailey, San Joaquin Valley Chapter Representative	Don Mitchell (dmitchell "at" ecorpconsulting.com), Southern California Chapter Representative, is Inland Empire Operations Manager in the Redlands, CA office for ECORP Consulting, Inc. an environmental consulting firm based in Roseville, California. He has worked with a number of sensitive species in the Mojave Desert and throughout southern California and has particular experience in the design and management of large biological studies for the military. When not working, Don can be found working with his wife Jimmi on their small antique business, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, or playing with his dogs Chardonnay and Meritage.
Robyn Boothby (rcboothby "at" ucdavis.edu) and Christian Commander (cjcommander "at" ucdavis.edu) are the UC Davis Student Chapter Co-Reps.	TBA, Western Section Representative to the TWS Student Affairs Committee
Richard Burg (rburg "at" parks.ca.gov), Awards and Grants Committee Chairperson, is currently a Resource Ecologist with State Parks in San Diego, California. He received his B.S. degree in Wildlife Management from the nations top wildlife school (Humboldt State University) in 1997 and previously worked at CDFG in the CWHR Program and inventorying CDFG owned and managed properties. In his spare time he mountain bikes, plays basketball, dabbles in woodworking, but mostly spends his time watching his beautiful child Zoe grow.	Mike Skuja, Conservation Affairs Committee Chairperson

Committees of TWS-Western Section

Membership Services Subcommittee

The Membership Services Subcommittee addresses services currently provided to the Section's membership and identifies services wanted by the membership. Examples include a member directory, listserver, and an outreach program. The subcommittee also manages the Western Section membership database and Yahoo Group mailing list. This subcommittee examines short- and long-term goals of the Section.

Program Committee

This Committee arranges programs of all regular meetings and Annual Conferences and provides the President with a proposed agenda for the Annual Conference. The President-elect chairs this Committee.

Conservation Affairs Committee

This Committee reviews environmental planning documents, proposed changes to environmental laws, and other documents bearing on wildlife conservation or the use of science and scientific data in wildlife conservation. This Committee prepares comments on behalf of the Western Section, as well as position statements. The Conservation Affairs Committee works to achieve wildlife conservation goals of The Wildlife Society -- Western Section.

Public Information Committee

This Committee shall seek and employ methods of informing the public of basic wildlife management concepts and of Section and Society activities and interests. It will also function in a liaison capacity with agencies and other professional societies. The Educational Subcommittee and The Golden Wildlife Program operate under the Public Information Committee.

The Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) was created to explore, develop and maintain methods of electronic communication. The purposes of these communications are:

Communication and service to the membership of the Section, including registration for programs and membership
Outreach to potential new members
Service to the community seeking information about wildlife issues

In order to achieve these objectives, the ECC has developed and maintains an up-to-date website, a listserver and several e-mail Group Lists for Section boards and committees. The Section's web site also hosts the web sites of some of the Section's Chapters.

Audit Committee

This Committee reviews the financial records and support documents of the Treasurer at least annually.

Publications Committee

This Committee advises the Executive Board on policy regarding publications of the Section Newsletter and the Annual Conference Transactions. It is chaired by the Newsletter Editor.

Awards Committee

This Committee is responsible for administering the solicitation of nominees for the four awards presented annually by the Western Section: the Raymond F. Dasmann Award for the Professional of the Year, the Conservationist of the Year, the James D. Yoakum Award for Outstanding Service and Commitment to the Western Section of The Wildlife Society, and the Chapter of the Year. The Committee reviews nominations, prepares awards proposal of recipients for the Executive Board, prepares awards and statements of presentation, and keeps a current list of all previous award winners and nominees.

Professional Development Committee

This Committee coordinates all facets of the Section Professional Development Program, oversees development of technical workshops for the Annual Conference, identifies workshops, training sessions, professional meetings and course work offered by other organizations meeting the requirements of Categories I and II of the Professional Development Program, advises members of professional development opportunities via the Newsletter, and provides training activities in subject areas where current providers are not meeting the needs of the Section's members.

Professional Affairs Committee

Encourage the maximum number of qualified persons residing or working within the Section's organizational area to become members of The Wildlife Society and the Western Section, and it shall encourage Certification of eligible professionals. The Committee may be assigned special activities by the President, such as advice on accreditation, or serve on building fund drives. A Certification Subcommittee will operate under the Professional Affairs Committee.

Resolution and Public Statements Committee

This Committee shall receive proposed resolutions and public statements from two or more members and shall prepare, submit, and recommend action on such items to the Executive Board.