WSRCD  Board of Directors Staff Map

Our Mission:

“Collaborate with willing landowners, government agencies and other organizations to facilitate the conservation and restoration of Western Shasta County's natural resources.”

The Western Shasta Resource Conservation District (RCD) is a special district of the State of California and is funded entirely by grants and contracts.  The district encompasses approximately 1.7 million acres bounded on the east by the watershed divide between eastern and western Shasta County; the north by the Siskiyou County line; the west by the Trinity County line; and the south by the Tehama County line.
The Western Shasta RCD was formed in 1957. Over the past 52 years the WSRCD has grown from a small volunteer organization to a highly successful conservation district that is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of western Shasta County’s  natural resources.
Lack of precipitation and overuse of the land led to the 1930s dustbowl. While testifying on Capitol Hill on April 2, 1935, soil scientist Hugh Bennett threw back the room's curtains to reveal a sky blackened by dust. Congress declared soil and water conservation a national priority. Three-fourths of the land in the U.S. is privately owned, Congress realizing this knew that only active support from landowners would guarantee the success of conservation on private land. From this soil and water conservation districts were born.
Today there are nearly 3000 conservation districts, political subdivisions of state government, created by the legislature . Now expanded to serve all the conservation needs of our nation, districts educate and help local citizens conserve land, water, forests, wildlife and other natural resources.

Phil Schoefer, President, has been an RCD board member since 1986. With a B.S. in Agriculture, Phil has lived in Shasta County since 1943 and has hay and cattle ranches near Cottonwood. Trying to foster conservation wherever he goes, he served on the Shasta District Fair board for 24 years, and is pleased to use his conservation knowledge in his ranch work to conserve water. “It is important to me that the membership of the board reflect a broad knowledge about conservation, along with respect for production of agriculture, forestry, mining, and other resource production endeavors,” Phil says.  A busy family man, Phil is a husband, father and grandfather, and resides in Redding, commuting to the ranches.

Chuck Schultz, Vice President, has been a director since 2006.  Chuck is a retired Federal Land Manager with 30 years of experience with USDI-BLM.  He likes to stay involved in local resource management issues and to facilitate intergovernmental restoration action with private lands.  Of particular interest to him are fuel reduction, fire rehabilitation and stream restoration.

Tom Engstrom, has been an RCD board member since 1993. Tom has a Master of Forestry Degree and moved to this area in 1984. “My emphasis with the RCD has been on trees and forest habitat issues – such as improving forest health and reducing the chance of catastrophic wildfires. Forests are among society’s most valuable natural resources. The RCD is an excellent vehicle to help landowners make responsible political, economic and personal choices to conserve and sustain these natural resources,” says Tom. Tom also stays busy with other natural resource organizations, such as the California Native Plant Society and the Society of American Foresters. His other interests include gardening, running and playing percussion with the Shasta Symphony and the Community Band.

Bruce Wendt became an RCD board member in November 2000. As a retired Shasta College instructor and nursery owner, Bruce brings invaluable experience and knowledge in the areas of soil, water rights, and watershed management. It is Bruce’s hope that “…through education and understanding the complexities in our ecosystem that we, as a society, can become sustainable members for this wonderful planet.” In addition to owning his own nursery, Bruce is also a consultant and grower with the Whiskeytown National Recreation Park and CalTrans. He enjoys traveling and fishing.

Dave Drennan, became a director in 2003. Dave retired from the Los Angeles County Fire Department with 10 years service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection with 20 years service. He has a BS in Forest Management from Humboldt State and is a Registered Professional Forester. “My resource concerns are timber stand improvement, erosion control and stream restoration. My goal as a Director is to share my knowledge and experience to help the people of Shasta County improve their watershed conditions,” says Dave. Dave’s hobbies are hunting, fishing, gun collecting and helping his wife with gardening.

Bob Moller became a Director in 2005. Bob is a cattle rancher in Palo Cedro and a member of the Cattlemen’s Association.  He has been a General Engineering Contractor for 27 years. His interests are waterways and stream bank projects.  He feels the need to return some effort back to his community and and would like to be part of making property owners more aware of what the RCD does.

Virgil Weld became a Director in 2007. Virgil has been a Licensed Professional Civil Engineer since 1965 and was a partner in Weld Brower (now WBA Engineering Inc), a civil engineering and land development engineering business for 17 years. Previous to that for 12 1/5 years he served as the Director of Public Works for Shasta County. His interests are golf and collecting corkscrews.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS

Kathy Callan became an Associate Director in 2007.
Ed Stewart became an Associate Director in 2007.
We are always looking for new Associate Directors. If you would like to receive more information about the District or attend one of our meetings, call us at 530-365-7332 or contact us via email. We can send you an agenda and information packet. 

WSRCD Staff

Mary Mitchell is the District Manager for the RCD. Her twenty years of management experience in the wood-fired power and pulp and paper industry are a great asset to the RCD and its dramatic growth. Her more recent grant management experience while working in the City of Anderson’s Planning Department brings a very professional touch to the management of the RCD’s grant funding projects. Mary oversees all of the RCD’s grants, contracts, and administrative activities. She has a B. S. in Forest Industries Management from Ohio State University.

Gail Grifantini is a projects manager with the RCD and a State Registered Professional Forester with 8 years practical experience in both private industry , and U.S. Forest Service. Her experience lies in timber sale contract development and administration, timber inventory and silviculture, She has an additional 13 years of interdisciplinary, natural resource planning experience in both federal and free-lance applications. Her interdisciplinary team management and technical writing and editing skills have resulted in two National Forest Environmental Impact Statement/Management Plans, several Environmental Assessments, Watershed Analyses and Special Interest Area Action Plans and a Biological Assessment for review under the Federal Endangered Species Act. As a technical writer/editor, Ms. Grifantini has written a human resource management handbook for the Confederated Tribe’s “The Mill Casino” and re-written a set of engineering manuals for Sause Brothers Ocean Tug and Barge Company. Ms. Grifantini is also a state certified substitute teacher and has had the pleasure of teaching physical education to 4th and 5th graders, and GED classes in math, science, English, social studies and history. Her experiences and personal style have helped her developed skills in listening, public relations, and negotiation and conflict management.

Jack Bramhall is the Assistant Projects Manager for the RCD, managing erosion control and fuel reduction projects. Jack is a Registered Professional Forester, and a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control. He has a M.S. in Forest Management from S.U.N.Y. at Syracuse, and over 30 years experience working with RCD’s in forestry and forestry education. Jack serves as Vice President of the Tehama County RCD Board of Directors in addition to managing his family Christmas Tree Farm. Jack has been with the District since August 2000.

Rhonda Darling-Chief Financial Officer
Christy Marroquin – Accounting Assistant
Michelle Clark – Secretary
Lee Delaney – Fire Safe Project Manager
Priscilla Benson -Fire Safe Project Coordinator.
Leslie Bryan – Carbon Sequestration Coordinator.
Lorna McLeod-Project Coordinator
Maureen Teubert -Eastside Watershed Coordinator
TBA – Westside Watershed Coordinator
Gail Grifantini –Project Manager
Dave DeMar – Assistant Project Coordinator
Mike Grifantini – Mitigation Coordinator
Ryan Teubert- Project Manager
Gretchen Garwood – Project Coordinator
Steve Morefield – Field Supervisor
Joe Andrus – Lead Conservation Technician I
Jeremey Kelley- Lead Conservation Technician I
Jason Duncan- Conservation Technician II

The District currently assists landowners with technical assistance and also implements projects for:

Fuels Management
Watershed Restoration
Fisheries Restoration
Natural Resource Education

District Map