Board Members
The RPA Board of Directors consists of nine members in accordance with RPA by-laws. The Board of Directors are elected by RPA members at an annual meeting by the majority of the members present.
The Board of Directors is a continuing body. Each Director serves three years and until a successor is elected. Board officers are chosen by Directors from its own members.
AMELIA WILSON has been serving on the RPA board since 1993. The importance of preserving natural resources has been a focus for Amelia for many years, not only locally but also in the desert canyon lands of Utah, where she belongs to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Together with other residents of Orinda, Amelia and husband Pete’s distress over the proposed development in Orinda’s Gateway Valley caused them to form Save Open Space (SOS) – Gateway Valley in 1989. Eventually housing numbers were halved and golf course eliminated; nearly 1400 acres of the valley have been preserved and belong to EBRPD and EBMUD. As a member of Preserve Lamorinda Open Space, she continues to work locally to increase open space particularly in Lamorinda and the East Bay.
JOE MCBRIDE is Professor Emeritus from the University of California, Berkeley where he taught Forest Ecology, Ecological Analysis, and Urban Ecology. His research was focused on plant succession, characteristics of urban forests, and the historical development of urban forests. In both teaching and research he utilized various parks in the EBRPD. As a consultant he developed vegetation management plans for portions of Tilden and Anthony Chabot regional parks. Since retirement he has developed a research program to determine the effects of climate change on California’s urban forests, worked as a volunteer with the Boy Scouts and Earthteam, and illustrated three books with his watercolor sketches and pencil drawing. Joe joined the board in 2017.
Before retiring, MARTHA J. “MARTY” MARTIN had a career in education teaching young people how to appreciate and make music. Marty has had a parallel life-long passion for the great outdoors. Spending many summer days hiking and camping in the mountains of California since her childhood as a Girl Scout, she knows that you must protect what you love both through education and advocacy. Her affiliation with RPA began with her concern for the grazing practices in the Regional Parks. She has hiked all the trails throughout Mt. Diablo and is very familiar with the Regional Park trail system.
PROFESSOR REGINALD “REG” BARRETT was born in San Francisco and raised in Berkeley and Orinda. He attended Humboldt State University, the University of Michigan and UC Berkeley. After jobs in Alaska and Australia he took a position as professor of wildlife management in the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley in 1975. He has taught all the wildlife courses offered there at one time or another over his 40 years tenure. Professor Barrett’s research interests include ecology and management of introduced species, response of the wildlife community to forest practices, and the ecology and management of a variety of economically and politically important vertebrates. He has guided over 40 graduate students and published over 180 scientific papers. He retired from Berkeley in 2014 to travel and volunteer on a number of boards for wildlife conservation organizations, including Wagner Ranch Nature Area in Orinda. He joined RPA in 2003.
After holding several leadership roles in the Sierra Club, including one term on the national Board of Directors, HELEN BURKE was the first woman and conservationist to be elected to the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) Board of Directors in 1974. She held that seat for 16 years. In 1986 Helen started working for EPA, where she served as a Community Relations Coordinator for Superfund sites, and Lead enforcement officer for a federal lead disclosure rule for lead-based paint After retiring from EPA in 2003, she was appointed to the Berkeley Planning Commission, She was also appointed to be Chair of the Creeks Task Force to review the status of Berkeley’s creeks. She worked on the new EBMUD Master Plan update and formed STEP to achieve protection for EBMUD trails on watershed lands. She is a member of El Cerrito Art Association’s En Plein Air section, and also studies Asian brush painting, using sumi ink and watercolor paint. A long-time RPA member, Helen joined the Board in 2018.
JERRY KENT was hired as a Park Workman at Redwood Regional Park in 1972, and served in several field and administrative positions before he retired as the Assistant General Manager of Operations. Jerry had a “front-row-seat” during the expansion of the Park District from six parks that totaled 6,000 acres in 1962 to 65 parks and 98,000 acres in 2003. He has been involved in all aspects of District management and policy formulation, and works every Wednesday at the Archives with staff and volunteers to organize and preserve Park District historic records. Jerry is a strong supporter of agency staff, the Board of Directors, and the current Park District Master Plan. He is currently a member of the Sierra Club Public Lands Committee, Claremont Canyon Conservancy Board, San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Advisory Board, Lafayette Open Space Group, Bay Nature Roundtable, EBRPD Retirees Association, and a member of several environmental groups that advocate for park expansion, and for more natural and safe parklands. Jerry became an RPA board member in 2010.
Naturalist GLEN SCHNEIDER, an East Bay native, grew up in a local nursery family and has been a native plant garden landscape designer/builder for over 40 years. In March 2018, Glen received the Jefferson Award, given for community service, for his work on Skyline Garden’s Project, 250 acres near Tilden Park. In co-operation with East Bay MUD and the East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, Glen and his army of volunteers, have restored the land to the most diverse habitat in East Bay, with meticulous documentation of over 270 species. He also fiercely advocates for protection of natives from invasive species and mountain bikes. Glen joined the RPA Board in 2018.