The lower stretch of the Tuolumne River.

BOARD

Robert Canning
Robert Canning has been a river enthusiast and rafter for over twenty-five years. His involvement with the Tuolumne goes back to 1982 when, with Trust support, he worked for Congressman Phil Burton during the original Wild & Scenic Campaign. He then worked as a Trust staffer for two years in San Francisco. He joined the Board of the Trust in 1997 and served as Chair from 1999 through 2001. He is a clinical psychologist and works for the State of California.

Ross A. Carkeet, Jr.
Ross Carkeet joined the Tuolumne River Trust Board in 2003 due to his professional interest and commitment to the applied science of watershed management. In particular, his desire to assist the Trust in supporting the Clavey River and South Fork of the Tuolumne River under Wild and Scenic status. Carkeet's lengthy tenure as an Instructor of Forestry and Natural Resources at Columbia College, and as a Registered Professional Forester, has provided him with a challenging opportunity to promote the goals and objectives of the Tuolumne River Trust.

Bob Hackamack, P.E.
Bob Hackamack has served on the Trust’s Board since its inception in 1981. He is a retired Chemical Engineer and Control Systems Engineer. Hackamack is also involved with the following organizations: Friends of the Tuolumne, Sierra Club, Restore Hetch Hetchy, Past Chair of the Sierra Club Tuolumne River Conference Task Force 1969-1995, and Hetch Hetchy Restoration Task Force 1987 to present.

Eric Heitz, Chair
Eric Heitz fell in love with rivers, and met his wife Brenda, while training as a river guide with Echo Rafting. He currently works in the environmental field as the President of the Energy Foundation, which advances clean energy technologies in the U.S. and China. He has two daughters, who are almost ready to float the Tuolumne. He has served on the Board since 1996.

Bill Maher
Bill Maher is an active environmentalist and rafter. He was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for 12 years and chaired Public Works which dealt with traffic and the environment for 8 of those years. Bill authored the Toxins Bill, the Sunlight in the Park bill, the demolition of the Embarcadero and Central freeways among others and authored or co-authored virtually every San Francisco piece of water and energy conservation legislation from 1982 until 1995. He is a past president of the SF Board of Education and served as the Executive Director of the SF Department of Parking and Traffic. Bill has been an advisor to the Trust since 2004.

Marty McDonnell
Marty, owner of Sierra Mac River Trips in Sonora has spent many years navigating the Tuolumne rapids and guiding people down challenging whitewater courses. He is involved with the Clavey River Preservation Coalition and is a founding member of the Tuolumne River Trust. He has served on the board since 1981.

Jerry Meral
Jerry Meral has served on the Tuolumne River Trust Board since its inception in 1981. He made the first kayak run on Cherry Creek, and the second from Lumsden Campground. He is a zoologist, with long experience in California water issues.

John Nimmons
John is an attorney and consultant specializing in energy law, policy, planning, and development strategies for sustainable energy resources, focusing on renewable resources, combined heat and power, district energy, fuel cells, and other emerging technologies, and on energy options available to public entities. He has been a Trust advisor since 2004. John is a former Director of the Earl Warren Legal Institute Energy Studies Group (U.C. Berkeley) and San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association Energy Task Force and a former Board member of the Pacific Energy and Resources Center.

Edward Randolph
Edward is a Senior Consultant for the California State Assembly. He is involved with the Friends of the River and the American Whitewater Association. Edward has served on the board since 2002.

Susan Stern, Secretary
Susan came to know and love the Tuolumne on its Middle
Fork at Camp Tawonga. After her children spent many
summers at Camp, Susan served on the Tawonga Board
which worked closely with the Tuolumne River Trust on
issues of mutual concern - especially the Wild and
Scenic campaign of the early 1980's. She joined the
Trust Board in the mid-1990's. Now Susan and her
family enjoy hiking in Tuolumne Meadows and near the
headwaters on Mt. Dana as well as canoeing the lower
river during salmon spawning season in the Fall.

Dan Sullivan
As a resident of San Francisco, Dan is aware of the special connection between San Francisco, the Tuolumne River and its water. Through his Sierra Club involvement, he was active in the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic Campaign twenty years ago. Dan is currently involved in participating at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission meetings related to the CIP (working alongside the Trust and others). Dan has a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Therese Tuttle, Vice Chair
Therese is a farmer advocate and attorney for Tuttle and Van Konynenburg, LLP in Modesto. She is a founding member and leader of the Great Valley Slow Food Convivium. Therese is also involved with the Modesto Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture Advisory Board of the Great Valley Center, American Agricultural Law Association, California Bar Association, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, American Farmland Trust, California Native Plant Society, and the Sierra Club. She has served on the board since 2001.

Holly Welles, Ph.D.
Dr. Holly Welles joined the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) in January 2001. She is currently Supervisor of Environmental Policy in the Department of Environmental Affairs and manages the Company’s Environmental Justice Program. She earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley, a Master of Forest Science from Yale University (School of Forestry and Environmental Studies), and a bachelor of geology and a bachelor of biology from the University of Colorado. She was a Switzer Environmental Fellow, a Morris K Udall Dissertation Fellow, and serves on Bayview Hunters Point Multipurpose Senior Services Advisory Committee, and the San Jose State University Urban and Regional Planning Department Advisory Committee. She has served on the Tuolumne Trust board since 2002.

John Woolard, Treasurer
John Woolard is the Vice President of Strategy and Business Development and an Executive Officer at Itron, Inc. John co-founded Silicon Energy and was President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board since December 1997. John is the co-author of a US Patent for web-based Energy Management Systems, and has been a leader in energy technology for many years, meeting several times with President Bush in executive sessions on National Energy Policy. John has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley, a Masters in Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia. Along with the Trust, John also serves on the Board of the California Clean Energy Fund, the Strategic Advisory Board for Xcel Energy, and is a Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He is also a frequent guest lecturer at the Haas School of Business, as well as many national energy and technology conferences. John has served on the Trust Board since 2002.