Committee Members

Laura Arnold has lived and worked as a professional land use planner on San Juan Island since 1979 and has extensive experience in local and state shoreline and marine policies and programs. She served as San Juan County Planning Director for 10 years and has been a member of the MRC since 1999. 

John Aschoff lives with his wife, Marcy, in Deer Harbor on Orcas Island.  He was employed by IBM for 35 years working in software development.  More recently, he has taken advantage of opportunities to learn and contribute to projects aimed at environmental education. He works on the Whale Museum’s Soundwatch boat helping boaters to be “whalewise”, helps the Seadoc Society in mapping projects, works on the board of the Salish Sea Association of Marine Naturalists, and has worked as a naturalist guide for the California Park system helping tourists navigate among the elephant seals. He mostly considers himself a “professional ecotourist.” John joined the MRC in January 2010.

Rene Belivieu …

Barbara Bentley …

Gregg Dietzman is an applied zoologist with special expertise in natural products drug discovery and research informatics.   In these areas he has served as principal investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, and as director on contracts from the federal government and pharmaceutical industry.  Gregg joined the MRC in 2010. 

Michael Durland, MRC member since 2005, has been the owner operator of Deer Harbor Boatworks for 21 years, and has had a raincatchment and water tank business since 1980. He is a 30-year resident of Orcas Island.  Michael is a diver, USCG licensed captain and has been a charter boat skipper in the Caribbean. Because of the changes he has seen first-hand over the years, he volunteers his time on the MRC to bring awareness of marine issues affecting all of us and to help protect the marine waters of the San Juan Islands for future generations. Michael also volunteers as a first responder with Islands Oil Spill Association (IOSA).

Johannes Krieger has been a member of the MRC since 2008 and has lived on San Juan Island since 1979.  He founded Crystal Seas Kayaking in 1993 while attending college at the University of Washington studying Biology, Oceanography and Economics.  He has been involved in the community through coaching for Friday Harbor High School, volunteering, mentoring and business consulting. 

David Loyd relies on local waters for his livelihood, both operating a freight service to Waldron Island and sustenance fishing for his family. He holds a 50-ton USCG captains license and spends every day on the water, working, fishing and observing. His M.A. degree is in education and he has taught at both the elementary and high school levels. David is a long-time volunteer member of the MRC and Island Oil Spill Association.

Barbara Marrett, serves as a Port of Friday Harbor Commissioner and has been an MRC member since 2006. She holds a 100-ton USCG captain’s license, is a Contributing Editor for Cruising World Magazine, an author, lecturer and sailing instructor. Barbara has lived on San Juan Island since 1978.  She is a graduate of Marymount College of Fordham University.

Kit Rawson, member of the MRC since 2001, is a fisheries biologist and is the Conservation Science Program Manager for the Tulalip Tribes. He is active in salmon recovery work as a member of the Puget Sound Recovery Implementation Technical Team. He is also part of the San Juan Local Integrating Organization Implementation Committee and the local salmon recovery technical advisory group. Kit’s connections to the Islands go back to the 70’s when he attended the Friday Harbor Labs and lived on a sailboat while completing his Master’s thesis. He and his wife were the first caretakers of Yellow Island for the Nature Conservancy and currently they split their time between the mainland and their cabin on San Juan Island.

Steve Revella, appointed to the MRC in 2009, also serves as a commissioner on the Northwest Straits Initiative.  Steve retired to San Juan Island after a 30-year career in international business consulting where he specialized in aligning global, multi-cultural teams to develop and execute strategic plans. He also designed and authored the social impact study for the State of California’s Environmental Impact report, reconciling environmental concerns with the community’s development expectations. Steve is a recreational fisherman and a member of the San Juan chapter of the Puget Sound Anglers.

Dr. Kenneth P. Sebens is currently Director of the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories (since 2005) and Dennis Willows Director’s Endowed Professor, Department of Biology and School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences in Seattle. Dr. Sebens received his BA from the University of Connecticut in 1972 and his PhD from the University of Washington in 1977. During 1977-1985, he was Assistant and Associate Professor at Harvard University, Associate Curator at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, then Professor at Northeastern University (1985-1991). He was Director of Northeastern’s Marine Science Center at Nahant, MA, and of the East-West (now Three Seas) Marine Biology Program. In 1991, he became Professor of Biology at the University of Maryland College Park, Professor in the UM Center for Environmental Science, and Director of the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Graduate Program for the UM System (to 1997). He also served as the first Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, during 2003-2005.

Dr. Sebens conducts research on marine subtidal benthic populations and communities in both temperate and tropical locations. One ongoing project is an investigation of community and population dynamics, and long-term change, in rocky subtidal habitats in Massachusetts (continuous, 1978 to 2010). Dr. Sebens has published over 80 papers and book chapters on a wide variety of topics. His paper on indeterminate growth and optimal size in marine invertebrates resulted in the Ecological Society of America’s 1983 Mercer Award for “outstanding ecological research published in the United States and Canada”. Funding for Dr. Sebens’ research (since 1978) comprises over 35 awards, including continuous funding from the National Science Foundation (1979-2010) and facilities support from NOAA and the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Sebens has mentored 32 graduate students at four universities since 1978, many of whom now have careers as university faculty and research scientists.

Jim Slocomb is a recreational boater and 30-year San Juan Island resident. He is an information system consultant specializing in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In his former life, before computers, he owned and operated a marine machine and repair shop in Friday Harbor. “Boating is my life. I have a very personal and vested interest in slowing the degradation of the marine waters of this boating paradise.” 

Tina Whitman has worked closely with the MRC since 2002, when she managed the forage fish spawning habitat assessment project. She has served on the MRC since 2005, representing the environment. Tina holds an interdisciplinary Master of Science from the University of Oregon (biology, geography and landscape architecture) where she focused on the application of biological information to land use planning. Tina has been a staff scientist for the Friends of the San Juans for over ten years. She lives on Orcas with her son Soren and husband Mike, who manages the Glenwood Springs salmon hatchery in East Sound. Tina is happiest on a beach, for work or play.

Jonathan White joined the MRC in 2005. He is a 19-year resident of the San Juan Islands who makes his living as a custom homebuilder and writer. He has served on the San Juan County Planning Commission, as a trustee of the San Juan Preservation Trust, a commissioner on the Northwest Straits Initiative (chair, 2009-2010), and was co-chair of the San Juan Initiative.  Jonathan holds 100-ton USCG captain’s license and was founder/director of Resource Institute, a non-profit organization that sponsored seminars from Seattle to Alaska aboard a 65' schooner.

Ex-officio Members:

Barbara Rosenkotter, Lead Entity Coordinator
Barbara has been the Lead Entity Coordinator for salmon recovery for San Juan County since 2005.  She has been actively involved in salmon recovery work at the regional and state level.  She represents San Juan County at the Puget Sound Partnership regional watershed meetings and has served as Vice-Chair and Chair on the statewide Lead Entity Advisory Group (LEAG).   She has also been instrumental in the start-up of the Puget Sound Partnership’s Local Integrating Organization which is responsible for implementing the local San Juan Action Agenda serving as Chair of the Implementation Committee.  Barbara is a member of the Science Subcommittee for the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee and has served on the Advisory Committee for the San Juan WSU Beach Watchers Program. Barbara graduated from the University of California, Davis with a Bachelor of Science degree.  She previously worked for The SeaDoc Society as their Education and Outreach Coordinator and also has over a decade of extensive project management experience in the private sector.

Staff:

Helen Venada, Administrative Assistant