Board

Donald Butz is currently the Fire Chief for the Lakeside Fire District since October 2016. Chief Butz is an active member in the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association currently serving as the President as well as serving on the boards of other civic and leadership organizations. Prior to joining Lakeside Fire District, Chief Butz served with several large regional fire protection agencies as well as served as the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians’ Fire Chief and Tribal Administrator. Chief Butz holds a Master’s in Leadership with an emphasis in Disaster Management, Bachelors of Art in Management as well as an Associates of Science in Fire Technology. As the President of the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County, which works in partnership with the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County (RCD), Chief Butz felt that he could further support the efforts of both organizations in helping to support forest health, watershed and habitat protection, fire prevention education, and community outreach by joining the Board of the RCD.  He currently is the Board President for the RCD and is the Vice President of the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts.

Colleen Hatfield is a professor in the Biology Department at Chico State, Director of the Chico State Herbarium and also the Rawlins Endowed Professor in Environmental Literacy. Colleen received her PhD in landscape ecology with a special emphasis on riparian systems and landscape change. She has been at Chico State for 14 years and has mentored a number of Masters Theses with topics ranging from land use change to conservation to endangered species. Personally, Colleen has a deep connection to the land. She was raised on a farm in Colorado that was homesteaded by her grandfather. The farm remains in the family and she is an active participant in farm management. She has a deep respect for farmers and resource managers and the challenges they face. She also has extensive experience working with agencies locally and nationally, a skill that she sees as a benefit for the CARCD. Colleen is committed to the mission of the RCDs and considers it a privilege to help at the regional and state level.

Rick Gomez has served on the Inland Empire RCD (IERCD) board since 2015. He was recently reappointed in 2018. He comes to the IERCD with an extensive background in real estate development as well as over 30 years of city planning and management. Most recently his work includes community development for the cities of Adelanto, Pomona, and the City of Rancho Cucamonga, with specific experience in governmental contracts, intergovernmental relations, urban development, and the federal/state legislative processes. He provides insight and perspective on IERCD outreach methods and land management/mitigation need through service on both the Mitigation and Lands Committee and the Public Education and Outreach Committee. In addition to his professional background, Rick is a docent at the Ontario Museum of History and Art as well as a member of the Rancho Cucamonga Rotary Club. Director Gomez has been appointed to the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD) Board of Directors, serving as the representative to the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD).  In this role, he will serve as the California representative in NACD and will work to increase connection between the two associations and the districts they serve.

Peter is a retired State Parks Administrator. He is the current president of the North Coast Resource Conservation and Development Council, a four county nonprofit that focuses on economic development and resource conservation. Peter also serves on the board of the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD) representing the North Coast Region. Peter holds a bachelor’s degree from Sonoma State University.

Rainer is a systems ecologist and has served on the Board of Directors of the Napa County Resource Conservation District since 2004. He has spent a good part of his career making science relevant to decision-makers at the federal, state, regional, and local levels. He received his B.S. in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Bonn, Germany, and his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California at Davis. His working career has included development and management of monitoring and assessment programs, applying science-based criteria in prioritizing statewide conservation investment decisions, and leading the San Francisco Estuary Institute as its Executive Director. Most recently, he served as the Deputy Executive Officer for Science at the Delta Stewardship Council, which oversees the development of the co-equal goals of Delta ecosystem protection and assuring a reliable water supply for California. His interests are focused on developing structured decision-making processes through effective partnerships and advising the development of appropriate organizational structures to improve governance to effectively respond to ever accelerating environmental changes.

Laurie Tippin is a director for the Honey Lake Valley RCD in Susanville, CA, the chair of the Modoc Plateau Region of RCDs, and the chair of the CARCD Forestry Committee. Having served 34 years with the USDA Forest Service as a forestry technician, forester, national-level program manager, line officer and regional program director, Laurie could not walk away from natural resource conservation work upon retirement from the Forest Service in 2013. She became interested in the activities of her local RCD in 2014 and was appointed to the Honey Lake Valley RCD board of directors in April 2015. Laurie has been instrumental in improving the organizational structure and operations of the CARCD Forestry Committee, including creating a new charter for the committee and facilitating the appointment of its members in 2018. “Being of service to my community and the conservation of our natural resources, especially forests, is a value I learned at an early age and one that tracked with me throughout my career and in post-retirement life”, she declared to the general audience of the 2016 CARCD annual conference. Laurie enjoys traveling, consulting with national and international organizations/governments, hiking and gardening.

Yvonne Franco started working at Coachella Valley Resource Conservation District (CVRCD) in 2014 and became District Manager in 2017. Before CVRCD, she worked for several years in land use planning for several agencies in the Coachella Valley and Inland Empire, an engineering & consulting firm, and law library, and served seven years as Planning Commissioner for the City of Coachella. Her interest in the natural environment led her to pursue a B.A. in Geography with an emphasis in Natural Resource and Environmental Geography. She serves on Steering Committee of the Inland Urban Forest Council and is Regional Chair of the SoCal Baja Region.