Sacramento — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced his remaining three appointments to the Sierra Nevada Conservancy Board of Directors on the eve of the historic Inaugural meeting.
“Governor Schwarzenegger's appointments to the Sierra Conservancy are truly impressive,” said Shawn Garvey of The Sierra Fund, the Nevada City-based Community Foundation that sponsored the legislation creating the Conservancy in 2004.
“The Governor's ongoing commitment to investing resources — human, technical and financial — in the Sierra Nevada Conservancy effort have helped create a spirit of bipartisanship on many Sierran issues,” said Garvey. He noted that the Schwarzenegger delivered on his promise to create a Sierra Conservancy that he made while running for office in 2003.
Already representing the Governor by statute are Resources Secretary Michael Chrisman and Finance Director Tom Campbell. The remaining three appointees are:
Bob Kirkwood, 65, of Palo Alto, is the former director of government and education affairs for Hewlett Packard Company. Kirkwood serves on the boards of the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, the Peninsula Open Space Trust and the California Advisory Board of the Trust for Public Land. He is a former member and chairman of the California Coastal Conservancy and a former member of the board of the Planning and Conservation League Foundation.
B.J. Kirwan, 58, of Pasadena, is a partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins and has practiced environmental law for over 30 years. Kirwin is a member of the California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, a former member of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Environmental Law and is past chair of the ABA's Environmental Quality Committee of the Natural Resources section.
Carol Whiteside, 62, of Modesto, is founder and president of the Great Valley Center, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the Central Valley. Whiteside previously served as director of intergovernmental affairs in the Office of Governor Pete Wilson and as assistant secretary of intergovernmental relations at the Resources Agency. She is also the former mayor and a city council member of the City of Modesto. Whiteside is a member of the board of directors of the Public Policy Institute of California, the Sierra Health Foundation and the California Center for Civic Renewal.
Other appointees include:
Former Senator Byron Sher was appointed by the State Senate;
Six County Supervisors have been chosen to sit on the Conservancy by their constituents;
Still remaining is a single appointment by the Assembly.
Also announced are non-voting members to the Conservancy:
Dean Swickard, representing the Bureau of Land Management, and Bernie Weingandt representing the US Forest Service.
“A Conservancy Board of this depth creates a tremendous opportunity to direct new financial resources to the Sierra for environmental restoration and rural economic sustainability,” said Garvey.
For more information, contact The Sierra Fund at 530.265.8454 extension 10.
