Elections are CLOSED for the 2024 Board

Executive board positions are voted on every fall for the coming year.  Article V of the Chapter bylaws has five elected positions and several appointed committee chairs. Even in an uncontested election, a list of candidates for elected positions is submitted to voting chapter members (members who have paid dues) before the new Board takes office at the Western Section Annual Meeting. The ballot for elected board members will be available in December.

2024 Executive Board

	Past President: Bonnie Peterson Bonnie is a wildlife biologist with a strong interest in botany. She has worked as an environmental consultant in Central and Northern California for 17 years and splits her time between working as a real estate agent and as a senior biologist/regulatory specialist for Madrone Ecological Consulting. She appreciated the on-the ground opportunities for a wide variety of special status species surveys, wetland delineations, nesting bird surveys, rare plant surveys, and always changing challenges that consulting provides. In her spare time she loves to bike, hike, kayak, and hang out in hammocks with her dogs. Contact Bonnie at bonnie(dot)e(dot)peterson(at)gmail(dot)com
	President: Bennie Johnson, CWB® 2023-present M.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Biology, B.S. Wildlife Science, Virginia Tech Certified Wildlife Biologist® (CWB®) Certification Bethany (Bennie) Johnson is a Wildlife Biologist with Collins Pine Company, a small timber company in Northern California. For her M.S., Bennie studied amphibian communities in managed forests, and she continues that work in her current position. Bennie also studies special status species, both wildlife and plants. She works closely with state, federal, and non-profit groups, and seeks out opportunities for habitat restoration projects on the forest she works in and also with adjacent landowners. Bennie is active in her community where she provides environmental outreach to the local elementary school and also coaches youth soccer. In her spare time, Bennie enjoys snowboarding, paddle boarding, and hanging out with her dogBennie also previously served as the Chapter Vice President in 2019 and President in 2020.
	Vice President
	TWS Western Section Representative: Erica Rhyne-Christensen 2023-present Erica has worked for the Department of Water Resources since 2011 starting out as a scientific aid. She has been working as a wildlife biologist for the past 7 years conducting protocol level surveys for listed species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley. She recently was permitted for fairy shrimp surveys. In her free time she enjoys educating the public about conserving natural resources, and helping low income children have fun in nature.
	Treasurer: Hanika Cook 2023-present Hanika (she/her) is a data support specialist based in the Sacramento area working with wildlife survey data and protocols in California, Nevada, and Oregon. She is a UC Davis alum with a B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, and she spent several years as a field biologist conducting surveys and monitoring birds, bats, and other mammals in Davis, Winters, and nearby areas. She’s also worked with endangered birds in Florida. In her spare time, she enjoys birding, sewing, crocheting, and video games. In addition to English, she speaks Spanish and German.
	Secretary: Robyn Smith 2023-present Robyn Smith is a Project Biologist with Janelle Nolan & Associates Environmental Consulting, a small woman-owned consulting firm. Robyn mainly works on implementing wildlife and botanical studies for hydroelectric relicensing projects and conducting biological analysis in support of NEPA/CEQA processes. Robyn routinely conducts protocol-level surveys for California spotted owl, northern goshawks, great gray owl, willow flycatcher, yellow-legged frogs, and Yosemite toad. Robyn is a certified wetland delineator and is recently investigating the intimidating but exciting world of botany. Robyn is generally interested in avian population ecology, amphibian conservation, and Sierra Nevada natural history. She also has a special fondness for the Hawaiian islands – for her masters degree, she studied the impacts of a non-native frog species on Hawaiian bird communities. In her spare time, Robyn enjoys birding, backpacking, kayaking, and hiking with her dog.

Contact Us

Mailing Address: 1017 L Street PMB 245 Sacramento, CA 95814

Email: sac.shasta@gmail.com