Vicki Heater, Appointed Board Member
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 2007
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, Elected
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. Currently, he is also a Master Gardener for the WSU Extension.
Shannon Hoffman, Board Member, Elected 2008
Background
Shannon works as a stormwater technician for San Juan County Community Planning and Development. She lives on Lopez Island.
Thor Hanson, Board Member, Appointed Board Member 2008
Background - Natural Resources
Thor was born in Bellingham and grew up spending summers in the San Juans, where his family connections span five generations. He holds a Masters in botany and a PhD in Natural Resources and has studied everything from primates to pollination in ecosystems around the globe. Here at home he has worked as land steward for the San Juan County Land Bank and the San Juan Preservation Trust, and is currently an independent researcher, author, and biological consultant.
Staff
Eliza Buck, Agricultural Resources Committee Coordinator
Eliza assists the Agricultural Resources Committee of San Juan County, an advisory to the County Council. She lives on San Juan Island with her husband Dan where they care for bees and grow a variety of fruits and vegetables for market. From 1991 to 2003, Eliza worked throughout the West as a public folklorist documenting and presenting traditional arts and practices to the public. Eliza worked at The Whale Museum on San Juan Island from 2003 to 2006 in membership and development. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in cultural anthropology from UC Berkeley and a Master’s Degree in folklore and mythology from UCLA.
Tim Clark, Farmland Preservation Coordinator
Tim has lived on his Lopez Island farm for over twenty years, raising livestock, hay, and grain. He worked as a local field surveyor while building his green, off-grid house. He graduated from the University of Washington with a BS in soils relating to plant growth.
Bruce Gregory, Natural Resources Planner
Farm & Forest Resource Planning
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 the chair of the Agricultural Resources Committee of San Juan County, secretary for the San Juan County Noxious Weed Control Board, is the secretary for the San Juan County Economic Development Council and is the treasurer for 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.
Bill Hamilton, Financial Officer
Bill coordinates budget and finance for the Conservation District. He served as District Manager from April, 2001 until his retirement in May, 2006. He continues his record of service to the Conservation District in this new capacity. Bill’s background is in non-profit finance and management, having worked for nearly twenty years as Deputy Director of a large community services agency in Marin County, California. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Kentucky and Bachelor of Laws Degree from Yale University.
Dana N. Kinsey, Natural Resources Planner
Dana has a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American History and Regional Planning from the University of California, Davis.
Work experience includes a 10 year career with the National Park Service as a Park Ranger Naturalist for Grand Teton National Park and as a Resource Planner in the central office of Planning, Design and Construction. At Cornell she spent four years as a research assistant in American Indian Studies and Landscape Architecture. She grew up on Orcas Island where her family raises grass-fed beef and commercially fished the waters of Puget Sound and Alaska for salmon and dogfish.
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.
Associates
Bill Humes, Warm Valley Farm, Orcas Island