San Juan Islands Conservation District Board Members
Vicki Heater, Appointed Board Member 2009
Background - Water Quality
Vicki has been associated with the San Juan County Conservation District since 1994. She is an environmental health specialist with the SJC health department and is lead staff for the county's drinking water program. She is also watershed lead for WRIA 2 and developed the San Juan County Watershed Action Plan under the Non-Point Rule (400-12 WAC) and is currently working on water resource planning under RCW 90.82. She has been actively involved with the San Juan County Pony Club since 1986 and teaches riding and horse management. She and her husband live on 24 acres, which includes a small farm and 20 acres of forestland.
Henning Sehmsdorf, Elected 2010
Background - Sustainable Farming
Henning and his wife, Elizabeth have owned and operated S&S Homestead, a sustainable, organic meat and produce farm on Lopez Island for over thirty years. Their mission is to develop and maintain an environmentally and economically sustainable farm that will: 1) grow organic soils and pastures; 2) produce high quality organic foods for both family and the community and improve local food security and control; 3) recycle farm wastes to produce farm fertility inputs; 4) train apprentices and interns in sustainable and organic farm practices; and 5) promote the growth of small-scale, community-based farming in San Juan County and beyond.
Henning is currently engaged in a project supported by a SARE grant to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of growing organic grain on small acreages using appropriately scaled (experimental) harvesting equipment. Henning says that: "Sustainability means not only using land for your own benefit, but preserving it for use by your children and grandchildren. It goes beyond organic farming to include a balance of landscape, plants, and animals. It means your practices are environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially acceptable."
Pete Walmsley, Chair, Elected 2009
Background - Budget/Finance
Peter is a third generation Western Washington native, and he grew up in Seattle. Peter's grandparents were small farmers on Suice Creek north of Lake Meridian, and his wife Dixie's grandparents were small farmers near Mt. Vernon. Pete has a BS from California State, and an MBA from the University of Washington. Peter was formerly Chief Finance and Administration Officer for a large health insurance company, and President of a subsidiary HMO. He has been active in various volunteer organizations on Orcas Island for many years and served two terms as a Commissioner for the Port of Orcas. He is also an active Master Gardener for San Juan County WSU Extension.
Shannon Hoffman, Board Member, Elected 2008
Background - Stormwater
Shannon is dedicated to natural resource conservation. She has worked as a stormwater technician for San Juan County Public Works as well as Community Planning and Development. She now runs her own business as a stormwater consultant. She lives on Lopez Island.
John Ryan, Board Member, Appointed 2010
Background - Agricultural Engineering and Restoration
John is an agricultural engineer with 30 years of experience in the environmental field completing a broad range of cleanup, restoration and sustainable development projects across the US and internationally. He has a Bachelors and Masters degree from Cornell University. His family has lived on Lopez since 2001. John is currently a Vice President with AECOM, an engineering firm with over 40,000 employees leading its global initiative to integrate sustainable development practices into environmental cleanup and restoration projects. He is the project leader for a Feasibility Study for the cleanup and restoration of a 5 mile stretch of the Lower Duwamish River.
Associate Board Members
Bill Humes, Warm Valley Farm, Orcas Island
Jerry Rasmussen, Civil Engineer, San Juan Island
Staff
Josie Byington, Office Manager
Elections, Financial and Public Records Officer
j {dot} byington {at} sanjuanislandscd {dot} org
Josie moved to San Juan Island in 2008 from Vancouver Island where she worked on humpback and gray whale research projects and ran a web design business.Her previous experience included 5 years as administrator of the Clayoquot Biosphere Project in Tofino, B.C., a not-for-profit organization facilitating research and providing education about the temperate old growth rainforest ecosystem. Moving to Nanaimo, B.C., she then worked as a research assistant for 6 years on fisheries and climate change issues with the Northwest Ecosystem Institute and the Fisheries Sector of the Canadian Climate Impact and Adaptation Research Network.
Growing up in Calgary, Alberta, Josie’s family had a small farm where they grew vegetables and raised a few pigs, sheep and prize-winning turkeys. Josie enjoys the friendliness of the San Juan Islanders she meets out-and-about with her husband Ian and the natural beauty of this area. Involvement with the SJI Conservation District aligns with her interests in conservation and information sharing.
Bruce Gregory, Natural Resources Planner
Farm and Forest Resource Planning
NRCS Hoophouse Coordinator
b {dot} gregory {at} sanjuanislandscd {dot} org
Bruce Gregory has been a resident of San Juan Island for over twenty years, and he and his wife, Colleen Howe, have owned and operated Mitchell Bay Farm & Nursery for eighteen years.
Bruce is a member of the Agricultural Resources Committee of San Juan County, the San Juan County Noxious Weed Control Board, is the secretary for the San Juan County Economic Development Council and is a member of the Island Grown Farmer’s Cooperative (a local non-profit livestock cooperative that helped create and build the first USDA inspected Mobile Slaughter Unit in the United States). He also serves as a board member of the Northwest Agricultural Business Center in Mt. Vernon, WA.
For the last several years, Bruce has participated in the VOCA/Winrock International Farmer-to-Farmer Program that provides agricultural advice to fruit growers in Kyrgyzstan. He has a bachelor’s degree from Idaho State University and is a USDA Certified farm plannner with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Dana Nicole Kinsey, Natural Resources Planner
Low Impact Development and Green Infrastructure Planning
d {dot} kinsey {at} sanjuanislandscd {dot} org
Dana is an island local who grew up in the San Juan Islands on a cattle ranch, was a lifelong 4-H'er and commercially fished for salmon in Puget Sound and Cook Inlet, Alaska.
Dana completed the masters degree program in Landscape Architecture at Cornell University and has her undergraduate degree in American History and Geography from the University of California, Davis. In 2009 she trained and was certified in Low Impact Development technologies from WSU and the Puget Sound Partnership. Her career includes working as a Resource Planner for the National Park Service, a Park Ranger Naturalist for Grand Teton National Park and teaching undergraduate courses in Landscape Architecture and American Indian Studies at Cornell University. She is also a member of the Agricultural Resources Committee of San Juan County.
Tom Slocum, District Engineer
Tom is the Washington conservation districts’ Northwest Region engineer, providing licensed professional engineering services to San Juan Conservation District and its counterpart districts in Skagit, Whatcom, and Island counties. Tom’s background includes over twenty years of experience in the environmental field working with public agencies and consulting firms at the local, national, and international level. Tom is particularly interested in natural habitat restoration projects and has assisted individual landowners, non-profit organizations and public agencies in obtaining funding for, permitting, designing and managing construction of scores of such projects. He has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree in civil engineering from Northeastern University, and a law degree from Seattle University.