Bruce Abelli-Amen has lived in Petaluma for over 25 years, raising a family and working as a Professional Geologist and Certified Hydrogeologist for an environmental consulting firm. He has a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara and a master’s degree from Humboldt State University, both in Geological Sciences. His work has focused on CEQA review of proposed development projects, including aggregate mining, infrastructure, water supply tunnels, wastewater treatment plants, and levee projects. He has also managed numerous groundwater monitoring well networks and conducted water quality investigations.

John J. Nagle grew up in western Sonoma County, where he raised his family and has worked in the environmental field for 30 years; managing land use issues, farming and industrial environmental regulatory risks. He serves as 5th District representative on the advisory committee of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District and the Santa Rosa Plains Basin Advisory Panel.

Walter Ryan, Jr. grew up in Sonoma County in both the Bodega and Santa Rosa area and graduated from Santa Rosa High School. After earning a degree in Mechanical Agriculture from Cal Poly, Walter assisted his family part-time on the family ranch in Bodega while working as a supervisor in the field of public works. He was active for many years dedicating his time to agricultural youth education, serving on the Santa Rosa High School Foundation, was Chair of the Santa Rosa High School Ag Advisory and additionally served as Chair to the Ag Boosters. Walter formerly served on the Sonoma County Farm Bureau Board and sat on the Santa Rosa Basin Plan advisory representing the Farm Bureau and its constituency. He left the public sector in 2002 to manage full-time the ranch where his family has been raising livestock for over five generations.

Dennis Murphy , a former partner in Murphy-Goode Winery and a partner in Murphy Ranches, has been a grape grower in the Alexander Valley since 1967, moving to Sonoma County full-time in 1973. He is a resident of Healdsburg. Dennis formerly served on the Sonoma County Planning Commission and was President of the Russian River Property Owners Association.

Earle W. Cummings graduated from Sonoma State University in Biology and has an MS in Ecology from UC Davis. As a former employee of the State of California in a number of environmental agencies, in both a technical and administrative capacity, Earle has experience in Wildlife Biology, Water Rights, Water Quality, Environmental Regulation, Timber Harvest Plan review, Endangered Species Act compliance, and California Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Policy Act document preparation. Living near Lake Sonoma, Earle is from a fourth generation Sonoma County family.

Ron Rolleri, born in Berkeley, earned an AE in electronics engineering and worked at UC Berkeley for four years before moving to Sonoma County in 1971 working as an engineer. After studying agriculture and viticulture at SRJC Ron started his contracting business in 1980 specializing in irrigation and vineyard management, xeriscape, native plants, and planted Hidden Springs Vineyard and winery. Ron served on the Sonoma Co. Vineyard Technical Group board for 8 years and helped develop the first draft of the hillside erosion control guidelines. Ron has served the SRCD since 1998 and the California State Association of RCDs for over ten years.

Delmar Friedrichsen was born and raised in Petaluma. He took over his parents’ poultry (Friedrichsen Egg Ranch) and sheep ranch, producing eggs and lambs. Delmar’s family is involved in agriculture and assists him with the ranching. He also serves as a board director for Two Rock Fire Department.

Valerie has over twelve years’ experience in the field of natural resources and has developed a strong background in ecology, water quality, agricultural conservation, and public policy. Valerie began her service at the RCD in 2008. Over the years she played many different roles on the team, gaining experience in all program areas as well as operations, finance, and fundraising, and in 2017 she was selected to serve at the RCD’s Executive Director. In this role, Valerie oversees the RCD’s day-to-day functions while providing strategic direction for the future, building partnerships, and advocating for the RCD at the local, state, and federal levels. She serves at the direction of the RCD’s Board of Directors, and works in partnership with the entire RCD team. A life-long Sonoma County resident, Valerie holds a B.S. in Biology from Sonoma State University, and is very active in her community, including serving as Vice Chair of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Adrienne is a finance and operations professional with more than a decade of experience in the nonprofit, higher education, government, and private sectors. She has spent six years working with environmental conservation organizations in NY and CA and currently serves on the Regional Climate Protection Authority’s Climate Action Advisory Committee. As the Director of Finance at the RCD, Adrienne leads the agency’s financial, human resources, and risk management functions. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from Lehigh University and has expertise in nonprofit accounting, budgeting, and grants and contracts administration.

Christine has over seven years’ experience in the field of natural resource management, with an emphasis on youth and community education as well as communications and marketing design. As the manager of all LandSmart Education programs, she coordinates and executes three subprograms for the RCD: FARMS Leadership programming for high school youth, TEAM elementary youth field trips, and annual technical workshops designed for land owners and land managers in our region. Christine also plays a pivotal role in leading RCD community outreach efforts and the designing of program marketing materials. She graduated from Sonoma State University with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Planning, concentrating in conservation and restoration, with a minor in Geography.

Erica is a licensed civil engineer whose experience includes the design and construction of water quality projects on dairies, livestock water developments, rainwater catchment systems, grading and drainage, retaining walls, and industrial, commercial and residential developments with an emphasis on using Low Impact Development (LID) design principals. As a Qualified Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) Developer (QSD), she has experience overseeing construction stormwater monitoring programs and making BMP recommendations to contractors and landowners. Her background also includes a variety of field work including environmental remediation projects, water quality sampling and hydropower dam inspections. As Partner Engineer, Erica is responsible for overseeing and performing a variety of complex professional field and office engineering work in connection with the mission of the Sonoma, Gold Ridge and Marin Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs). Erica is originally from the Bay Area and received a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. In her spare time Erica teaches an Introduction to Engineering class at the Santa Rosa Junior College.

Jessica has been working as a civil engineer for over ten years both in California and internationally. Her experience consists of site design, grading and drainage, roadway design, erosion and sediment control, rainwater catchment, flood studies, creek restoration, and stormwater mitigation across a wide variety of projects including residential and commercial development, wineries and vineyards, schools, and public parks. She has been managing, designing, and implementing projects in Sonoma County for the past six years.  At the RCD, Jessica manages and designs a multitude of projects requiring professional engineering design and expertise.  Jessica is originally from Ukiah, California and has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, with a focus in Water Resources and a Minor in Ethnic Studies.  She is a licensed Civil Engineer in the State of California.  Jessica is an active volunteer with Engineers Without Borders – Sonoma County Professional Chapter and is the Vice President of Local Projects.

Jason Wells is a California Registered Professional Forester (RPF), whose focus at the RCD is to provide technical and planning assistance to landowners, help build a forestry program capable of addressing vegetation and fuels management concerns throughout the county, as well as address post-fire recovery efforts. Jason’s work supports the missions of the Sonoma and Gold Ridge RCDs. Born and raised in Petaluma, he graduated from Humboldt State University with a B.S. in Forestry with an emphasis in Forest Conservation; He then worked for six years in private industry throughout Humboldt and Mendocino Counties. His experience includes writing CEQA equivalent Timber Harvest Plan documents, integrating knowledge of forest operations with environmental impact mitigations, silviculture (applied forest ecology), forest health and protection, economics of forest management, and road design and layout. Jason has also been certified by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFIRE) to conduct archaeological surveys for plans in which CALFIRE is lead agency.

As Program Assistant, Shannon provides support for all RCD LandSmart program areas, in pursuit of multiple resource goals such as water quality, drought and fire resilience, soil heath, and climate-beneficial farming. Shannon first discovered her passion for conservation in high school while volunteering at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She further explored biodiversity and ecology while studying science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and interning at Sonoma Ag + Open Space. Her research throughout college centered on optimizing cultivation of microalgae for biofuels and animal feed, and her senior project investigated the applications of algae and other microbes in the biological treatment of dairy wastewater. Shannon recently graduated from Cal Poly with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and a minor in Spanish. She was born and raised in Santa Rosa. 

Kari has over eleven years’ experience in the field of water quality that has included reviewing water quality certification applications for the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and investigating underground storage tank sites for an environmental consulting company. Kari has experience in stormwater permitting and compliance on construction and industrial facilities as well as conducting environmental assessments on ranchland and open space properties. Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Sonoma State University, Kari also earned a Master of Science in Environmental Management at the University of San Francisco. At the RCD, Kari’s work is focused on LandSmart™ Planning and  LandSmart™ On-the-Ground projects within the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed, with an emphasis on dairies, livestock and water quality offsets/trading.

As a forestry technician, Lewis helps Jason Wells, RPF gather inventory data and write plans for landowners.  He grew up in Berkeley, CA and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Environmental Sciences and Forestry.  He spent one summer working for CAL FIRE on Jackson Demonstration State Forest, and, after graduating, worked for two seasons as a forestry technician for a single tree selection, sustainable harvest timber company in Chester, CA.  Lewis’ goal for the future is to pursue a California Registered Professional Forester’s License in order to help small landowners manage their forests to reduce wildfire risk and adapt with climate change.  He will be working for the RCD this summer before moving to Oregon to start a Master’s of Forestry program at Oregon State University.

Anya has over ten years of experience in the fields of soil erosion control, water quality protection, and environmental site assessment from her work in the federal, state, and private sectors. As a Project Manager at the RCD, she coordinates projects under the LandSmart® Planning and On-the-Ground programs, which include conservation planning and implementation on vineyard and ranchland properties and preparation of watershed management plans to guide future conservation efforts. Anya received a B.S. in Environmental Science from Rutgers University as well as an M.S. in Ecology from Pennsylvania State University. The findings of her graduate research work, on reducing nitrogen losses through the use of cover crops, were accepted for publication in the Agronomy Journal in 2010.