Governance

Our Board of Directors and President's Council are comprised of environmental leaders from throughout the United States. The directors make policy and investment decisions concerning Foundation assets and programs.

Board of Directors

Board members are selected from throughout the nation for their knowledge of and active involvement in watershed conservation, preservation, and restoration. The directors make grant decisions and supervise investment of the Foundation's assets. They serve three-year terms for a maximum of three terms.

Jacqui Reisner Bostrom

Jacqui is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin where she majored in political science and history, and she has an MA in International Relations - Latin America from the University of the Americas aka Mexico City College. She is the mother of five adult children and has been a volunteer for many causes for the last three decades including Planned Parenthood, a nature center in Wisconsin, The League of Women Voters, The Association of Retarded Citizens, the Educational Service District of Clackamas County where she has been a Board Member since 1982, and on the Citizens Advisory Committee for Special Education for the Lake Oswego Schools. She also served as chair of the Tryon Creek Board and leads hikes for the Friends of Tryon Creek all over the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood. Jacqui is an avid sea kayaker and river rafter whose interest in the Rivers Foundation was sparked by her motivation to "carry on in some small way" the work and ideals of her deceased brother, Marc Reisner, the author of Cadillac Desert and other books.

Dennis Burkhart

Dennis lives in Oregon, and has produced and shot over 40 films. In addition to developing DVD content he works with his commercial and educational clients. As a Producer, Director and Director of Photography, Dennis travels the world - Nepal, Australia, Alaska, Cook Islands, Easter Island, France, England, Kenya, India, Egypt, and China - documenting culture, people, wildlife and landscape. The resulting collection of entertaining programs explore many fascinating places on earth. Recent projects as Director of Photography include four High Definition Programs for the Travel Channel in 2003 "Secrets of Glacier" and "Secrets of Hawaii Volcanoes ", "Secrets of Denali" and "Best of the National Parks" that used state of the art Sony camera and lens. His dramatization of "Sacagawea" (Lewis and Clark) is a 2004 educational release for New Dimensions Media. As Director of Photography for "Yoga Vacations and Retreats" he filmed in Hawaii, Costa Rica, Mexico and many domestic locations. Dennis is currently a Field Producer for the Martha Stewart Living television program, creating show segments on a wide variety of topics and activities. One of his areas of expertise is documenting National Parks of the United States. He filmed two PBS Pledge Special programs about the National Parks that were co-produced with Oregon Public Broadcasting. "Our National Parks - Sunrise to Sunset" and "The Four Seasons" were completed and released to PBS Stations in 2000. Piloting his plane to assignments brings a unique aerial viewpoint. "The Story of Yosemite" and "Hidden Treasures of America's National Parks" air on Public Television stations. "The Story of America's Canyon Country", "The Story of America's Great Northwest", "The Story of America's Great Volcanoes", and "The Story of America's Last Frontier - Alaska" were shown on the Discovery Channel. Other productions include "Hawaii -The Pacific Paradise", a two hour special on Hawaiian history, also being shown by Discovery Channel, and "Symphony to America the Beautiful", a musical exploration of America through the seasons. A 1995 release is "America's National Parks - The Story of all 53 National Parks." This three hour video is the culmination of a decade old dream to document the National Parks of America in one program. The Learning Channel bought the rights for a four hour broadcast version called "America's Natural Heritage." In 1996 and 1997, Dennis filmed Paris for NBC. He also produced and directed a commercial program on sternwheelers. In 1997 he produced and directed "Great Parks of Alaska." as well as producing "Great Parks of Hawaii" for Questar. In addition he filmed a one hour special on China and Hong Kong sponsored by the China National Tourism Authority. In 1998 he produced and directed "San Francisco - City by the Bay".

Matthew C. Donahue, Esq.

Matthew presently practices law in Lowell, Massachusetts at Eno, Boulay, Martin and Donahue P.C. where he focuses on environmental, municipal law and business litigation. Matthew is a former assistant district attorney in Middlesex County and former Lowell City Councilor. He is the founder of the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust and formerly served on the board of the Merrimack River Watershed Council. Matt teaches regional and local environmental law and policy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. In 1998, he founded UMass Lowell Environmental Management Systems Service Program. He is a graduate of Colby College, B.A., Suffolk University, J.D. and Vermont Law School where he received a Masters degree in Environmental Law cum laude.

Mark Dubois

Mark is the co-founder and board member emeritus of Friends of the River, California's statewide organization working for the protection of rivers, their flora and fauna and for sustainable water development. Mark also co-founded International Rivers Network. He organized the first international dam-fighters conference - a five-day conference and tour with 70 NGO leaders from 25 countries. Mark served as International Coordinator for Earth Day 1990 and Earth Day 2000; Mark coordinated global outreach and developed the seven-person international staff plus the International Council and International Strategic Partners. Mark also is the founder and director of WorldWise. Before his career as an environmental organizer and activist, Mark co-founded and operated "etc", the Environmental Traveling Companions where he organized and guided inner-city youth and disabled, down whitewater rivers.

Tom B. K. Goldtooth

Tom (Dine' and Mdewakanton Dakota) is the national director of the Indigenous Environmental Network at Bemidji, Minnesota. He has been a leader in Native social, economic, and environmental justice issues for over 30 years. You can reach the Indigenous Environmental Network at PO Box 485, Bemidji, MN 56619. 218-751-4967

Charles Hudson

Charles is a 1983 graduate of Washington State University. He has spent several years working in media and Native American Education in the Pacific Northwest. He is currently the Public Affairs Manager for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, the policy and technical coordinating agency for the Columbia River Treaty Tribes (Umatilla, Warm Springs, Yakama and Nez Perce) in Portland, Oregon. He also serves on the board of the Oregon Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and is a member of the Hidatsa Tribe from Fort Berthold, North Dakota. His passion for river protection and restoration work comes in part from his experience of being flooded off his family's tribal homelands by the rising waters of the Fort Berthold reservoir when he was four years of age.

Pamela Hyde

Chair

Pamela has been involved with rivers in the Southwest for fourteen years and is one of the region's top experts on the Colorado River watershed. In the early 1990's, as the Arizona Streams and Wetlands Coordinator at Arizona State Parks, she conducted a statewide rivers assessment for the state of Arizona. She worked on river protection issues in the Southwest for over four years at the Southwest Regional Office of American Rivers, serving two and a half years as Southwest Regional Director. In 1999 she joined the Glen Canyon Institute, where she served as that organization's first Executive Director for over a year before leaving to form Southwest Rivers. Pam serves on the advisory board for the Water Education Foundation's Colorado River Project, and speaks throughout the West on Colorado River conservation and legal issues. She is also an avid whitewater boater, and enjoys rafting the rivers of the Colorado River watershed. Pam received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Amherst College in 1985. She received her J.D. from Duke University School of Law and her M.A. in Natural Resource Economics and Policy from Duke University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, both in 1989. She is a member of the State Bar of Arizona.

Peter Lavigne, Founder

Pete was the founding director of River Network's River Leadership Program in 1992, where he spent four years traveling 2-3 weeks each month throughout North America recruiting leaders and funding them with small grants to create a powerful watershed protection movement. Peter has served as executive director of the Westport River Watershed Alliance and the Merrimack River Watershed Council, as Deputy Director of For the Sake of the Salmon, and as a lobbyist for the Vermont Natural Resources Council. In addition to co-founding the Coalition for Buzzards Bay and the New England Coastal Campaign, he coordinated issues in Quebec, New England and New York for American Rivers and has worked internationally in Canada, Turkey and Bolivia. Two outstanding projects were initiation, design and implementation of the National Leadership Development Program with the support of the George Gund Foundation and the National Watershed Innovators Project developed with Ted Smith at the Henry P. Kendall Foundation. Peter received a master's degree cum laude in Environmental Law and Policy, and a Juris Doctor degree at Vermont Law School and a B.A. in government and geology from Oberlin College. He is the founding director of the Watershed Management Professional Program and current Senior Fellow of the Executive Leadership Institute at Portland State University. He is co-author of a book on land use policy, Vermont Townscape, and chapters have appeared in the books Voices For the Watershed: Environmental Issues in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Basin and Forest Communities, Community Forests. His articles have appeared in publications as diverse as the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, River Voices and The New York Times. In 2006, Peter accepted a full-time faculty postion at Western State College of Colorado where he teaches environmental studies and serves as Director of the Colorado Water Workshop.

David Leiter

David Leiter, Vice President of Government Relations for ML Strategies, LLC, has more than twenty years' experience as a senior manager, political strategist and policy advisor. He was a senior political appointee in the Clinton-Gore Administration and a senior advisor to two United States senators and a lieutenant governor. In addition, he has consulted on all aspects of campaign strategy, including tactics, media, fund-raising, and polling, and was the principal architect in raising over $18 million for three political campaigns. David was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for the Department of Energy where he oversaw a staff of over 600 and a budget of $1.2 billion. David also served as the Eastern Regional Director for Foresight Energy Company. David served as Chief of Staff to United States Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, directing all operations in the Washington and state offices. This included overseeing a professional staff of 50 and annual budgets of nearly $2 million. David received a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Providence College and Masters in Public Administration from American University.

Hal Thomas Nelson Ph.D.

Hal completed his Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy, with an emphasis on Climate Policy at the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University in 2006. In March 2001, he co-authored Extended Producer Responsibility and Product Take-Back: A Program and Policy Assessment for the PSU Center for Watershed and Community Health. He received his degree in Finance from the University of Idaho in 1989 and moved to Chicago to become a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange where he was an institutional futures and options broker and analyst. He received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1998. A water enthusiast, Hal was the Idaho state champion in the breaststroke as a youth and is now an avid river rafter on the Middle Fork of the Salmon and other rivers in Idaho.

Dr. Peter Paquet

Peter is the director of the Watershed Management Professional Program in the Executive Leadership Institute at Portland State University. He retired in early 2003 as the Fish and Wildlife Division Manager of the Northwest Power Planning Council, a regional agency overseeing the Columbia River watershed hydroelectric system. Peter has been on the Council staff since 1983. Initially he was responsible for the water budget and Council dealings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He was lead staffer in the development of protected areas and is currently taking the lead in wildlife mitigation planning. He came to the Council from the Oregon Department of Energy where he served as an environmental specialist. Before that, Peter worked for NASA and taught biology at Santa Clara University in California. Peter has undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology and a Ph.D. in environmental science and natural resources from Portland State University. He is the author or co-author of numerous articles including "Adaptive Strategies for the Management of Ecosystems: The Columbia River Experience" published by the American Fisheries Society. In January 2000, Dr. Paquet represented PSU and the Watershed Management Professional Program as an advisor to the G.A.P. Project on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Turkey. In addition to his role as the WMPP Director, Dr. Paquet teaches the WMPP Columbia Watershed Salmon and the Endangered Species Act course.

President’s Council

Steve Blackmer

President, Northern Forest Center. Former Director of Policy for the Appalachian Mountain Club; former VP Policy of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire's Forests; former Concord City Councilor.

David Bolling

Writer, Producer, Editor, Former Publisher, Whole Earth magazine. Film Producer, Living and Dying on Everest, 2001. Author, How to Save A River, Island Press 1994. Former newspaper editor and publisher.

Robert Dawson

Photographer and director of the Water in the West Project. Author Robert Dawson's Photographs; Co-author of the large format books Farewell Promised Land: Waking From the American Dream and The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland. Portfolios of his work have appeared in (among others) Between Home and Heaven: Contemporary American Landscape Photography, (Smithsonian Institution 1992); A River Too Far: The Past and Future of the Arid West; and Arid Waters: Photographs from the Water In the West Project. Dawson's photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

John Echeverria, J.D.

Director of the Environmental Policy Project of the Georgetown University School of Law. Former General Counsel, National Audubon Society. Former Vice President Conservation of American Rivers. National expert on land use and 'takings' law.

John Gardiner, Ph.D., P.E., MBE

Director of WaterCycle LLC: Watershed Management for Ecosystem Integrity. Former Professor of Environmental Management in London and former Principal of the Pacific Northwest Branch of Philip Williams and Associates, San Francisco. Twenty-eight years experience in land and river management with the UK's National Rivers Authority and overseas. Author and editor of many publications, e.g., River Projects and Conservation: a Manual for Holistic Appraisal (1991). John has lectured widely in Europe, the USA, Argentina, Australia, China and Japan. In 1994, Queen Elizabeth II honored John for his contributions to the environment with an M.B.E. designation.

Peter Kirsch, J.D.

Partner, Kaplan, Kirsch and Rockwell, LLP, Denver, Colorado. Author of numerous articles in law reviews and other publications including High Country News. Pro bono lead counsel for the Kennebec Coalition and American Rivers regarding the Edwards Dam relicensing and removal case and pro bono counsel and argued in the U.S. Supreme Court the successful effort to stop the Two Forks Dam on the South Platte River. Former Board chair, River Network and General Counsel for Friends of the Earth, Washington D.C.

Edward C. Mattes, Jr.

Edward joined the Ogdon Partnership, an executive search firm, as a Partner in 1997. Ed's practice is focused on media, communications, entertainment and the Internet. Before joining Ogdon, he founded and headed UNISTAR, the private sector consulting arm of the United Nations. There his operation spanned more than seventy countries, advising private, state-owned and privatized companies in general management, marketing, strategic planning and product development since 1986.

Ed is Co-Chairman of the New York State Bar Association Committee of the United Nations, co-owner of the Ogden Raptors minor league baseball club, a Trustee of Vermont Law School and the Tuxedo Park School, and is a member of the Explorers Club. Ed served as EMT and member of the 1998 NASA/Yale/MIT Mt. Everest Extreme Expedition. Ed holds a J.D. from Vermont Law School, a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and participated in advanced studies at Cambridge University.

David W. Orr, Ph.D.

Professor and Director of Environmental Studies, Oberlin College. Education Editor for Conservation Biology Journal. Author of numerous articles and books including Ecological Literacy, Earth in Mind, and Design with Nature. Former Director and co-founder of the Meadowcreek Project in Arkansas.

Nancy Gaile Parent, NCTM

Vocal Coach, Piano Professor, Musician, Composer and Educator. Former performer of comic opera and cabaret songs in Portland, and Boston and other Eastern venues. Former faculty member of Portland State University and Cascade College. Owner, Parent Music Studio and co-owner Music Together of Lake Oswego and Tualatin.

Christine Perala, Ph.D.

Biogeomorphologist, Facilitator and President of WaterCycle LLC. Specialist in watershed assessment, soil bioengineering research, habitat integration and contemporary river engineering. Adjunct Professor of Watershed Management Professional Program, Executive Leadership Institute, Portland State University.

Brian Posewitz, J.D.

Attorney in private practice in Portland, Oregon. Brian includes pro bono conservation work in his practice. In a water rights case for WaterWatch, Brian successfully prevented the issuance of water use permits on three upper tributaries to the Middle Fork of the Malheur River in Eastern Oregon. Brian currently serves on the Board of WaterWatch of Oregon and on the ACLU of Oregon Lawyer's Committee. He has worked as a reporter for community newspapers in Clackamas County, Oregon, and as a correspondent for The Oregonian. He is a graduate of Willamette University and the University of Oregon Law School. A Montana native, Brian enjoys fishing, hunting and exploring Oregon's rivers by raft.

Mark Ritchie

Elected Minnesota's Secretary of State in November 2006, Mark Ritchie is the former president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. IATP promotes resilient family farms, rural communities, and ecosystems throughout the world through research, education, science, advocacy, and technology. IATP has programs in Agriculture and Environment, Fish and Marine Conservation, Food and Agriculture, Food and Health, Forestry, Global Governance, and Trade and Agriculture. Mark has served as Executive Director of the Center For Rural Studies, and policy analyst at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. He is the author of numerous books, articles, and studies on a wide range of agriculture, food, environment, forestry, human rights and trade issues. During the past several years he has served as Vice President of the Organic Buyers and Growers Association, on the board of the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, on the US Trade Representative Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee and as chair of the Board of Directors of Sustainable America. He is the chair of the International Forum on Food and Agriculture, an initiative of the International Forum on Globalization. A graduate of Iowa State University, Mark holds a master's degree in International Public Law from the University of Amsterdam.

Barbara Roberts

Governor of Oregon 1991-1995. Associate Director of Leadership Development, Executive Leadership Institute, Portland State University and Director of the Legacy Program for State and Local Public Service Leaders. Senior Fellow to the Women and Public Policy Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Past Director of the Harvard Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. Oregon Secretary of State 1985-1991. (In Oregon, the Secretary of State also serves function of Lt. Governor and State Auditor). Oregon House of Representatives, 1981-1985. Majority Leader 1983-1984. Past service as a county commissioner, elected school board member and elected community college board member.

One of the most environmentally conscious Governors in the nation, Governor Roberts led funding efforts for expansion of the light rail line linking Multnomah County to Washington County in the Portland Metropolitan area. As a Multnomah County Commissioner in 1978, she helped start the first light rail in the Portland metro area. Her belief that environmental responsibility and economic health can exist side-by-side was strengthened during her four-year tenure as state CEO. When Roberts finished her term, Oregon had the lowest unemployment in 25 years and the highest investment in the state's history while preserving Oregon's comprehensive land use system, stopping construction of two unneeded dams and supporting the Endangered Species Act and the NW Forest Plan.

Paul Winter

Paul Winter's musical realm Living Music Records has long embraced the traditions of the world's cultures, as well as the extraordinary voices of what he refers to as "the greater symphony of the Earth." His concert tours and recording expeditions have taken him to thirty-seven countries and to wilderness areas on six continents, into which he has traveled on rafts, mules, dog sleds, horses, kayaks, sailboats, steamers, tug-boats and Land Rovers.

Winner of four Grammy Awards and six Grammy nominations, the timeless music of Living Music Records is usually recorded in Winter's barn-studio surrounded by protected woodland, sometimes in natural acoustic spaces such as the Grand Canyon, and frequently beneath the vaults of the Cathedral of St John the Divine, the world's largest Gothic cathedral where the Consort are artists-in-residence. It is here under the vast spans of the Cathedral that the Consort perform their major annual celebrations. "People get a sense of community - a sense of the whole wide community of life, which is one of the best things we could do with our music", says Winter, whose Winter and Summer Solstice Celebrations, and Earth Mass performed each Feast of St Francis, are among the most popular seasonal events in New York City. In recognition of his musical contributions to the environment, Winter has received a Global 500 Award from the United Nations, the Award of Excellence from the United Nations Environment Program, the Joseph Wood Krutch Medal for service to animals from the United States Humane Society, and the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award, among others. Recently his work as musician and as musical ambassador for the natural world has been honored with the Connecticut Music Educators' Association Music Advocate of the Year Award, an Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University, the National Arbor Day's Promise to the Earth Award, an honorary doctorate from Juniata College, Pennsylvania, and the Spirit of the City Award presented at New York's Cathedral of St John the Divine.