Restore Hetch Hetchy

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Executive Director

Ron Good
Ron Good holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics, a master's degree in public policy, a master's degree in education, and a law degree. He has been active with the Sierra Club for over 25 years -- as a volunteer and as a staff person. Ron was the founder of Restore Hetch Hetchy, and served as its first chair from incorporation in January, 2000 until July 24, 2001 when he was appointed the Executive Director by the Board. He is shown here at the United Nations in New York, where he recently made a presentation at an environmental conference.

Board of Directors, Advisory Committee, and Committee Membership

Executive Committee

Chair, Spreck Rosekrans is senior analyst with Environmental Defense in Oakland, California. Since 1988, he has worked to find long-term, economically viable solutions that will protect and restore the aquatic ecosystems in California and the West, while satisfying legitimate needs for water and power. He has provided expert testimony on several occasions --- in court, before legislatures and before the State Water Resources Control Board --- and has written and modified computer models that explore alternatives for water management and electricity production. Spreck is working with the Restore Hetch Hetchy Technical Committee to find alternatives that will allow that the O'Shaughnessy Dam to be removed and the Valley restored without harm to water and power users.

Vice-Chair, Mark Cederborg is a river restoration ecologist living in Vallejo.

Secretary, Mark Palley is a civil litigation attorney and a founding partner of an Oakland law firm called Marion's Inn.

Treasurer, Peter Van Kuran has 30 years business management experience in the global high-tech industry, and is inspired to work on Hetch Hetchy based on a lifelong love of hiking and climbing in Yosemite.

Fifth Officer, Bill Resneck is an Orinda attorney.

At-Large Board Members

Jerry Cadagan is a retired lawyer and newsletter publisher, active river-runner, and lives in Sonora. He is the third Chair of Restore Hetch Hetchy, elected on October 16, 2005.

Donald Fuhrer is chair of our fund-raising committee. He is active in numerous non-profit organizations including Environmental Defense, The Yosemite Association, The Yosemite Fund, and is a lifetime member of the Sierra Club.

Bob Hackamack is an engineer living in Twain Harte, chair of our Technical-Engineeering Committee.

Gerald H. Meral, Ph.D is an environmental public policy expert. He served as the deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources from 1975-1983, and Executive Director of the Planning and Conservation League from 1983-2003. He recently received the Peter Behr award from the Marin Conservation League. He is a Director of the National Wildlife Federation. This leading national environmental organization recently resolved to support the removal of the reservoir from Hetch Hetchy Valley if suitable water and power supply alternatives are implemented.

Lance Olson is a Sacramento attorney who specializes in election and political law. He is an avid back packer and road bike enthusiast. He and his wife Suzette enjoy visiting Yosemite National Park many times each year and are devoted to the cause of restoring Hetch Hetchy. He joined the board in May, 2007.

Richard Rypinski is a 20-plus year resident of San Francisco, now living in Sacramento, and a former Sierra Club San Diego Chapter Chair. He is a land use and environmental law attorney. He served as Chief Counsel for the California Department of Transportation (1979-1983). In the 1970's he served as mayor of the City of Del Mar and was a city council member for 10 years.

Felicia Woytak is a real estate investor and developer with properties in San Francisco and the East Bay. In addition to her work, Felicia is an active volunteer in schools and in the community. She currently serves on the Alameda County Workforce Investment Board, the Boards of the Cross-Cultural Environmental Leadership Academy, a charter high school in San Francisco, and the Community School of the East Bay, and is a Trustee of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Her love of Yosemite and the inspirational beauty of the park along with a strong belief that a major man-made structure like O'Shaughnessy Dam does not belong in a National Park has inspired her to work with her colleagues on the Board of Restore Hetch Hetchy to do exactly that - Restore Hetch Hetchy. She served as vice-chair of Restore Hetch Hetchy until October 16, 2005.

Committees

Technical/Engineering - Bob Hackamack, Chair, Spreck Rosekrans, Mark Cederborg, Harold Wood, Jerry Meral, Ron Allison, Tim Molinare, Barbara Williams, Bob Bell, Jesse Roach, Mike Haines, Patrick Haynes and Tom Dosh.

Restoration - Mark Cederborg, Chair; Marsh Pitman, Richard Wiebe, Tom Dosh.

Fundraising - Don Fuhrer and Peter Van Kuran, Co-Chairs; Jerry Meral, Felicia Woytak.

Legal - Bill Resneck, Chair; Mark Palley, Richard Rypinski, Ron Allison

Financial/Feasibility (financing the restoration) - Laura Lockwood, Jeff Holt, Spreck Rosekrans, and Tim Molinare.

Policy and Governmental Affairs - Jerry Meral, Chair; Jerry Cadagan, Spreck Rosekrans, Don Fuhrer, Mark Palley, Tim Molinare, Jeff Holt.

Nominating - Harold Wood, Don Fuhrer, Felicia Woytak

Community Events - Dan Lucas, Marilyn Norton, Co-Chairs

Education - Kay Pitts

Coalition Building - Mark Palley, Chair; Jerry Cadagan, Spreck Rosekrans, Anne Hayden, Harold Wood

Internet - Harold Wood

Outings & Nature Interpretation - Mark Cederborg and Marsh Pitman, Co-Chairs; Merv Cancio, Dennis Pottenger, Richard Wiebe

Public Relations: Jerry Cadagan, Chair

Southern California Outreach: Peter Van Kuran, Chair; Don Fuhrer, Mark Palley, Richard Rypinski, Harold Wood.

Advisory Committee

Ronald Alessio Allison is both an attorney and a practicing physician living in Stockton.

Peter Andersen is a Professor of Communication at San Diego State University.

Carl Boronkay served as General Manager of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District, serving between 1984-1993. Before that he was general counsel. He became an RHH advisory committee member in 2005.

James Bush is an active outdoors person and lives in Fresno.

Yvon Chouinard is one of the world's pre-eminent mountaineers, and is the founder of Patagonia, Inc. He lives in Ventura.

Thomas N. Clark was General Manager of the Kern County Water Agency until he retired in January, 2005. He received the Association of California Water Agencies Lifetime Achievement Award on December 2, 2004 in recognition of his leadership in the water industry in California throughout his career. You can read an extensive biography in a special issue of the Kern County Water Agency's newsletter, Water Age (PDF). He became an RHH advisory committee member in 2005.

David Curry was born and raised in Yosemite National park and is a descendant of the Curry family, which operated the concessions within the park from 1899 to 1966 including Camp Curry, Wawona and Ahwahnee hotels (now historical landmarks), the Lodge, transportation, high sierra camps, and all other commercial operations. He maintains an active interest in the Park, it's residents, and future. He moved to Los Angeles in 1967 where he became a professional musician, songwriter, and electronic engineer. Currently he is an electronic communications design specialist for the City of Los Angeles Fire, Police, and public safety departments. Dave is the owner of Curry Communications.

Paul Davis first visited Hetch Hetchy Valley in spring 1988. Since that first trip, he has held a deep desire to restore Hetch Hetchy. Paul learned of Restore Hetch Hetchy at a Lee Stetson (John Muir) performance in Yosemite Valley in spring 2000.

Thomas J. Dosh is a water engineer from Stockton.

Larry Fahn, of Mill Valley, is Executive Director of As You Sow, a leading San Francisco based non-profit organization that focuses on corporate accountability issues involving the environment and public health. Larry was elected to the national Board of Directors of the Sierra Club in 1999. In 2002 Larry was elected by his fellow Sierra Club board members to serve as national Vice President for Conservation, and in 2003 the Board elected him to serve as national President, a position he held for two years. He became an RHH advisory committee member in 2005.

Richard F. Fleck Ph.D, recently retired from his position of Dean of Arts and Humanities at the Community College of Denver, is author of Henry Thoreau and John Muir Among the Indians as well as Editor of a number of Muir trade paperback editions including Mountaineering Essays and Our National Parks.

Donald Hodel held two cabinet level positions in President Reagan’s Administration; Secretary of Interior (1985 – 1989) and Secretary of Energy (1982 - 1985). Earlier he had served as Undersecretary of Interior (1981 – 1982). Previously he had been both Deputy Administrator (1969 – 1972) and Administrator (1972 – 1978) of the Bonneville Power Administration. At the end of President Reagan’s term in office, Don and his wife Barbara moved to Colorado where they run an energy consulting firm. Don also sits on a number of religious, charitable and corporate boards. To Hetch Hetchy restoration advocates, Don is known as the person who, in 1987, listened to the suggestion of fellow Advisory Committee member Ike Livermore and first publicly suggested that Hetch Hetchy Valley could be restored with no harm to the San Francisco Bay Area. Don remains committed to that belief to this day. His vast experience in water and power issues and his first hand insights into the workings of the nation’s capitol are of invaluable assistance as a member of the RHH Advisory Committee.

Jeffrey D. Holt is and investment banker with Goldman, Sachs and Co. in San Francisco.

Huey Johnson is the founder and President of the Resource Renewal Institute in San Francisco. He is the former Director of Resources for the State of California during the administration of Governor Jerry Brown. He was co-founder of the Trust for Public Land, and a past western regional director for the Nature Conservancy. In 2001, the United Nations Environmental Programme named Johnson the sole recipient of its $200,000 Sasakawa Prize, considered one of the world's most prestigious environmental awards. United Nations officials called Johnson "a catalyst and champion for environmental protection," and praised his work in resource management for having a global perspective.

Bob Kallman of Santa Barbara was a former Special Assistant to former Interior Secretary Don Hodel. He first became aware of the Hetch Hetchy Valley when attending UC Berkeley as a Forestry major. Bob has served on the California Coastal Commission, on the Santa Barbara Park and Recreation Commissions, on the Santa Barbara Board of Education and on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. He served in the Reagan and Bush administrations as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Interior, Director of the Mineral Management Service, as Director of the Presidential Offshore Oil and Gas Task Force, and as Offshore Program Advisor. He retired in 1994.

Christine White Loberg is a professional photographer living in Yosemite.

Laura Lockwood was a founding board member of Restore Hetch Hetchy, and served as our Treasurer for several years. She is a public finance expert (former Finance Director Finance Director for Contra Costa County and for the City and County of San Francisco), now living in Oregon.

Paolo Maffel, Member, Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors.

Dave Mihalic is the retired Superintendent of Yosemite National Park. He and his family returned to Montana in 2003 after a distinguished 30-year career with the National Park Service. Prior to being Superintendent of Yosemite, Dave was superintendent of Glacier National Park, transferring to Yosemite in 1999. Previously, he was superintendent of Mammoth Cave and Yukon-Charley Rivers national parks and served in Yellowstone, the Great Smokies and Washington, D.C. Dave is now an artist and has established a studio in Missoula. He became an RHH advisory committee member in 2005.

George Miller, of San Francisco, retired in 1996 after serving as Chairman of the Board of Capital Research Company and earlier as Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of American Express Investment Management. He is a Trustee at the University of California-Berkeley and on the Advisory Board of the UC Library, as well as serving on the boards or advisory boards of numerous other organizations. George may be the only person to have read every one of Michael O�Shaughnessy�s personal papers in the UC Bancroft Library. He became an RHH advisory committee member in 2005.

Tim Molinare is a civil engineer with over 25 years of experience in community and economic development from San Francisco.

Mike McCloskey is the retired Chairman of the Sierra Club, and was the former Executive Director of the Sierra Club for many years. He lives in Portland, Oregon. He currently serves as President of the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs.

Geoffrey McQuilkin is Co-Executive Director of the Mono Lake Committee, based in Lee Vining, California.

Barbara Mossberg is Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science at California State University, Monterey Bay, and an internationally known literary scholar.

Roderick Frazier Nash is Professor Emeritus of History and Environmental Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara. His classic book, Wilderness and the American Mind, features a full chapter about Hetch Hetchy.

Jeff Nixon is a professional photographer in Salinas, California.

Thomas C. Parker is the President of the Hutton Foundation and has worked with the organization since 1995. The Foundation's goals are to make funds available to educational, health and community organizations currently providing such programs and services and to act as a catalyst to encourage development of new programs and services for future generations. The Foundation contributes over $2 million annually to local non-profits. The Foundation funnels grants and cash donations to more than 200 County organizations each year. For his work in the community, he recently received the lifetime achievement award from the Santa Barbara News Press. He became an RHH advisory committee member in 2005.

Kathryn Petersen is a long-time Sierra Club and wilderness activist from Lafayette, California.

Marsh Pitman is a naturalist and educator living in Merced.

Kay Pitts is an artist and educator from Yosemite.

Mark Ross is a member of the Martinez City Council.

Tony Rowell is a photographer and the son of renowned mountaineer and photographer Galen Rowell. His photos have been published in books, calendars, and in Backpacker and Outdoor Photographer magazines. His work is on exhibit at Mountain Light Gallery and the Tioga Pass Resort near Yosemite. Rowell's photography expeditions have taken him from the Arctic Circle to the mountains of Tibet. Tony is the vice president of Mountain Light Photography, is a member of the Sierra Club and serves on the advisory board for the Rowell Legacy Committee and the Rowell Fund for Tibet. Rowell lives in the Eastern Sierra in Bishop California. His photos can be viewed on his online gallery at www.tonyrowell.com.

Lee Stetson is an actor who has been portraying the life of John Muir for more than fifteen years in Yosemite Valley, and lives in Midpines.

Dr. Ed Wayburn is the Honorary President of the Sierra Club, and was recently awarded the Medal of Freedom by the President of the United States, the highest civilian honor that can be awarded by a President. He lives in San Francisco.

Richard Wiebe is Professor of Philosophy and History at Fresno Pacific University. He was a founding board member of RHH. He is also Executive Director of The Biophilia Society, a Research Associate at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Arizona, working on Navajo philosophy, and President/CEO of Creative Teaching Associates, Inc. an educational products company in Fresno, California. He is active in the work of the Mono Lake Committee, the Sierra Club's LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite, and has been a member of the Advisory Committee of YARTS (Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System) since its inception in 1994, as an appointee of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

Harold Wood. Harold was the second chair of Restore Hetch Hetchy, from July 24, 2001, until October 16, 2005. He remained active on the Board of Directors until moving to the Advisory Committee in the fall of 2007. He has been a wilderness advocate and environmental activist for over 30 years. He is a member of the Sierra Club Hetch Hetchy Restoration Task Force, and has been since the mid-80's. He is active in the Sierra Club, and currently chairs its LeConte Memorial Lodge Committee and John Muir Education Committee. An attorney by profession, he is the volunteer webmaster for the award-winning John Muir Exhibit website as well as for the Restore Hetch Hetchy website.

In Memorium

David Brower (1912-2000) was one of our founding board members. David Brower was the Sierra Club's first Executive Director, the founder of Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Institute. He won the 1998 Blue Planet Prize and was nominated 3 times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Bob Brower (1946-2004), of Berkeley, California, was the webmaster of The Wildness Within Us website, a tribute to the life and ongoing legacy of his father, David Brower. In his website, Bob's aptitude for technology came together with his eye for natural beauty to express the exuberant love of the Earth that marked him as a Brower. Bob, who had stepped in to fill the RHH board seat of his father, died suddenly in October, 2004 from complications related to previously undiagnosed liver cancer. During the 1960s, Robert starred as the "every-child" in his father's nature advocacy films for the Sierra Club, assisted with the precision mechanicals on the Sierra Club exhibit format books, and explored the magical passages of Glen Canyon before it was flooded to create "Lake" Powell. Robert returned to work closely with his father in David's final years as his caretaker and guardian. Bob had become very active in recent years in the Berkeley environmental and social justice community alongside his wife Shirley Richardson-Brower, and lobbied for the David Brower Center to be sited downtown.

Norman ("Ike") Livermore (1911-2006) became a hero to conservationists as Resources Secretary to California Governor Ronald Reagan from 1966 to 1974. During his state Cabinet service, Ike stopped an ecosystem-busting dam on the Eel River, blocked a long-planed highway across the middle of the Sierra Nevada wilderness, mid-wifed the creation of Redwood National Park, and supported conservation efforts in countless quiet ways. Ike gets credit for suggesting the idea of Hetch Hetchy Valley restoration to Interior Secretary Donald Hodel in 1987. He served as a member of the Restore Hetch Hetchy Advisory Committee until his death in 2006.

Galen Rowell (1940-2002) was one of the world's most celebrated outdoor photographers. Galen served on the Advisory Committee of Restore Hetch Hetchy from the beginning, and helped launch the organization in the Bay Area with a fundraiser held at his photography studio in Oakland, California. We mourn his death August 11, 2002 in a plane crash. More Info His son Tony Rowell is now a member of our Advisory Committee.

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To get involved in the effort to restore Hetch Hetchy, contact Restore Hetch Hetchy at: info@hetchhetchy.org, 6114 La Salle Ave. #457, Oakland, CA 94611. Telephone: (510) 655-1876.

For inquiries about this website, contact the webmaster, at: webmaster@hetchhetchy.org