SFBJV People
We say it in our mission statement and on our homepage: "the SFBJV is a partnership working to protect, restore and enhance wetlands in the Bay Area for the benefit of birds, wildlife and people.”
But who are these partners?
Here we feature some of the people who make up our partnership and are doing the work to restore our wetlands so that all of us in the Bay Area - whether we live and work here or are just visiting - can take advantage of the many services they provide. Some are out in the field, some behind a desk; and some have a hard hat on while others work with a pen in hand or by a creek with a group of kids planting trees.
Meet the Joint Venture. Americans at work, making a difference for the common good.
Caroline Haviland Warner
Communications and Outreach Coordinator - SFBJV (2002-2022)
Caroline Warner had a magical inception with the SFBJV partnership thanks to serendipity and a story worth telling. More »
Julian Wood
Point Blue Conservation Science - San Francisco Bay Program Leader
Julian has been intimately involved with the SFBJV since 2006 when he started on the Bay Program. He serves as an alternate on our management board and has been part of our Implementation Planning Team during the 5 year revision process. He is also a respected expert on the endemic Ridgway’s Rail that lives in the tidal salt marshes of SF Bay. More »
Julie Beagle
Environmental Planning Team Lead, US Army Corps San Francisco District
Julie joined the SF District of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as an Environmental Planning Team Lead in the beginning of 2021. She also leads the District’s effort to incorporate Engineering with Nature principles into all USACE efforts and will step into the role of Environmental Planning Section Chief later this summer. More »
Tami Church
Water Resources Planner, Zone 7 Water Agency
Tami Church works for the Zone 7 Water Agency which covers water supply, flood control, and groundwater management for eastern Alameda County. She has been working in her role as a Water Resources Planner in the Integrated Planning section since 2012. More »
Marilyn Latta
Project Manager, State Coastal Conservancy (SCC)
Marilyn Latta has been working with the State Coastal Conservancy since 2008 in their San Francisco Bay Program. A fifth generation Bay Area native, Marilyn has always felt a special affinity for the Bay. More »
Dave Halsing
Executive Project Manager, South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project
Dave Halsing has been the Executive Project Manager of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project (SBSP) since early 2019. More »
Donna Ball
Lead Scientist, South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project
Donna Ball joined the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project in February 2020 as their Lead Scientist. More »
Barbara Salzman
President, Marin Audubon Society
Barbara Salzman is a legend. She has been working in the field of conservation and advocating on behalf of wetlands and habitats threatened by development and other stressors since the late 1970’s. More »
Jeff McCreary
Director of Conservation Programs, Ducks Unlimited, Inc. and San Francisco Bay Joint Venture (SFBJV) Management Board Chair, 2018-2020
Jeff McCreary currently serves as Director of Conservation Programs for Ducks Unlimited’s (DU) Western Region, and as the Chair of the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture Management Board. More »
Sam Veloz
Climate Adaptation Group Director, Point Blue Conservation Science
Sam Veloz has been working at Point Blue for the past 9 years. He was first hired as a Spatial Ecologist in 2010 before being promoted to Director of Point Blue’s Adaptation Group in 2015. More »
Cheryl Strong
Wildlife Biologist, US Fish and Wildlife Service
Cheryl has been a wildlife biologist at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge for about 12 years. More »
Beth Huning
SFBJV Coordinator 2001-2018
Beth Huning served as the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture Coordinator from 2001-2018, and was a driving force behind its establishment. More »
Ariana Rickard
Chapter Network Associate Director, Audubon California
For Ariana, her role is the perfect mix of communications, advocacy, science, and working with the public. More »
Matt Gerhart
Program Manager, San Francisco Bay Area with the State Coastal Conservancy
Matt has been working for the Coastal Conservancy since 2007 when he moved back to the Bay Area after three years working for the Mendocino Land Trust on the North Coast. More »
John Bourgeois
Executive Project Manager, South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project
John Bourgeois became Executive Project Manager of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project in 2009. More »
Renee Spenst
Regional Biologist with Ducks Unlimited
Renee has been working for DU as Regional Biologist since 2008, and previously as an adjunct professor for UC Davis and Folsom Lake College. She also worked for the US Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District. More »
Marc Holmes
Director, Bay Restoration program, The Bay Institute (TBI)
Marc Holmes began his career when he walked in to volunteer at the local chapter of the Sierra Club and met Chicken Nesmith. Chicken took him under his wing, and was truly inspirational. Marc attributes it to “luck’ that they crossed paths when they did. More »
John Krause
Environmental Scientist, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
John Krause is a Wildlife Biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) for Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties. His career began in the late 1990’s and his work with CDFW in 2001. When asked what drew him to the field of wetland restoration, John said it was the outcome of “his exposure to SF Bay, and spending much of his youth in the American River and the foothills and Sierra Nevada mountains.” He is proud to be a part of the “renaissance” of San Francisco Bay wetlands. More »
Caitlin Sweeney
Director, San Francisco Estuary Partnership
Caitlin Sweeney started with the San Francisco Estuary Partnership in 2011 as a Senior Planner and became Director in 2015. Prior to SFEP, she worked for 12 years at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), as a planner and ultimately as Chief Deputy Director. As SFEP’s Director, Caitlin’s typical day is spent running from meeting to meeting, putting out fires and engaging in a variety of tasks, both small and large, all to keep SFEP running. “And” she says, “she loves it all!” More »
Leslie Koenig
Biologist, Alameda County Resource Conservation District
Leslie has been working in her current role as a Biologist with the Alameda County Resource Conservation District since 2007. Her professional career began in 2004 after graduating from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO with a BS in Biology and minor in Chemistry. Thanks to landing her great job at the Alameda County Resource Conservation District, her interest in helping restore/create wetlands took off. More »
Arthur Feinstein
Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge
Arthur Feinstein has been a devoted conservationist for over 30 years, working to protect our treasured wetland habitats and wildlife in a variety of roles. Through his tireless commitment and in this variety of roles, Arthur has helped save and restore thousands of acres of San Francisco Bay wetlands, both tidal and seasonal, including such landmark sites as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline Wetland at Arrowhead Marsh, and Bair Island in Redwood City. More »
Cristina Grosso
Environmental Informatics Program Manager, San Francisco Estuary Institute
Cristina Grosso has been working with SFEI for 16 years and became the Environmental Informatics Program Manager in 2014. After majoring in Mathematics as an undergraduate, Cristina went on to get her graduate degree in Geography. Geography brought together Cristina’s love of learning about new places and the natural environment with a greater understanding of how human activities modify landscapes. More »
Brenda Goeden
Sediment Program Manager, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
Brenda has been working with BCDC for 15 years and became Sediment Program Manager in 2008. Her focus at work, as described in her title, is all things sediment, particularly the beneficial reuse of dredged sediment in an effort to manage a healthy sediment system. More »
Anne Morkill
SFBJV Management Board Chair, Refuge Complex Manager, San Francisco Bay NWR Complex
Anne has had a devoted career in wildlife management, starting in 1986 when she worked on black-footed ferrets and white-tailed prairie dogs with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department After several temporary seasonal appointments, Anne joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a permanent employee in 1990, working as a Wildlife Biologist for the Alamosa-Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuges in south-central Colorado, primarily on migratory birds. More »
Amy Hutzel
Deputy Executive Officer, California State Coastal Conservancy
Amy Hutzel has been devoted to Bay Area wetlands and wetland restoration for most of her professional life. She is currently a Deputy Executive Officer at the State Coastal Conservancy after having worked in their San Francisco Bay Area Program for 15 years where she was dedicated to increasing access to natural areas for urban populations, protecting open space, and restoring wetland and riparian habitats. More »
Steve Carroll
Engineer, Ducks Unlimited (DU)
Steve is the supervising engineer at DU for projects in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has over 20 years of engineering and restoration experience within the environmental field and has been directly responsible for the engineering design and construction of over 40,000 acres of seasonal and tidal wetland restoration and enhancement projects totaling $60 million in project funding agreements. More »
