Ventana Wilderness Alliance

Tom Hopkins, VWA President, is a third generation Santa Clara Valley native and was born and raised in San Jose, California.  Santa Cruz has been his home for the past 40 years, and the primary place of business for his firm, Tom Hopkins Construction, Inc., where Tom gained valuable experience through the completion of over 100 office, retail, industrial and multi-family residential building projects.  His extensive business and private sector expertise have aided in the completion of numerous VWA stewardship projects.  An avid outdoorsman, Tom has been hiking the Big Sur coast and Ventana backcountry since 1967; he is one of five founding members of the VWA Board of Directors.

Dennis Palm, Vice President, has been a VWA Director and Officer since 2004.  A native of New York, Dennis relocated to Paso Robles, California in 1975 and has remained there since.  Retired from a career in youth corrections, he is currently a San Luis Obispo County Juvenile Justice Commissioner and Drug and Alcohol Advisory Board Member.  Dennis has served on the SLO County Grand Jury and several county commissions, including the Oak Tree Preservation and Nacitone Watershed Committees.  Currently the Treasurer of the El Paso de Robles Area Historical Society and a court-appointed Special Advocate, Dennis volunteers as a docent for the Pecho Coast Trail and the Los Padres National Forest Partners in Preservation Site Steward Program, which monitors archaeological sites in the Ventana Wilderness.

David Jacobs, Treasurer, has served on the VWA Board of Directors since January of 2005.  David is a San Jose native, but has lived in Santa Cruz since 1985.  As a CPA with a BS in Accounting from the University of Southern California, he contributes valuable skills which greatly reduce the VWA’s reliance on outside financial professionals.  President of Chiorini, Hunt and Jacobs, an accounting firm in downtown Santa Cruz, David has served on the boards of various non-profit organizations, both as an officer and member-at-large.  He is an avid hiker, backpacker and mountain biker.

Betsy MacGowan, Director and Trail Crew Leader, who joined the VWA board in January 2009, has enjoyed hiking in Los Padres National Forest since 1981. Betsy co-edited the Ventana Chapter’s Trail Guide to Los Padres National Forest, led Outings for the Sierra Club’s Ventana Chapter from 1988-1998, and is a lifetime member of the Sierra Club. Betsy has participated in trail work projects for many years, with the Ventana Chapter and with informal volunteer groups. She has been a member of the VWA since 2000. Betsy is a Certified Industrial Hygienist and Certified Safety Professional, and works as a Safety Coordinator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA. Betsy has participated in VWA Trail Crew trips since 2003 and is a USFS certified Crosscut Sawyer.

Bob Dawson, Director and Outreach Coordinator, was elected to the VWA Board of Directors in January 2008 and was first impressed by the rugged beauty of the Ventana Wilderness from the air in 1970 while flying as a student at the Naval Postgraduate School. Returning to the area in 2001, he and his wife June found their retirement Shangri-La in Carmel Valley. Bob became active in the VWA during the effort to enact the Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002. Following the new designations, he rolled up his sleeves and helped VWA volunteers remove 10,000 pounds of trash during the Willow Creek Restoration Project. Bob supports several other environmental organizations and also serves on the board of the Carmel Valley Garden Association.

David Knapp, Director since 2008 and VWA Trail Crew Chief since 2006, is an Operating Systems Analyst at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, CA.  David has worked on various volunteer trail crews since 2003, including work trips with the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, Student Conservation Association, Pacific Crest Trail Crew, and High Sierra Volunteer Trail Crew.  He is a USFS Region 5 Crosscut Saw Instructor and in 2006, accepted a USFS Chief’s Award (reserved for organizations which have contributed more than 1,000 volunteer hours on National Forest lands) from Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth, on behalf of the VWA Trail Crew.

Mike Heard, VWA Trail Crew Leader and manager of the Cone Peak Loop / Kirk Creek Trail Restoration Project, has been a full-time volunteer since 2008 (except for a brief stint with the Monterey Ranger District seasonal trail crew.) He has worked on volunteer trail projects since 2001, primarily trips sponsored by the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, and in the Los Angeles area as a member of the San Gabriel Mountains Trail Builders. In his past life Mike has worked as an embedded software engineer, most recently  for Honeywell Aerospace; he hopes to return to the profession when his full-time trail building days are over.

Steve Benoit, VWA Trail Crew Leader and Coordinator of the USFS/VWA Wilderness Steward program, grew up in Pebble Beach and has lived with his wife Beth in Del Rey Oaks for the past 36 years. Steve retired from Cal Fire in 2003 as a Wildland Firefighter Captain. From there he became a seasonal Forest Service Wilderness Ranger. With that background he serves as a valuable agency liaison betwen VWA and the USFS. Steve's volunteerism could fill volumes- Monterey Bay Aquarium, Pacific Grove Ocean Rescue, Search and Rescue division of the Monterey County Sheriff's Department and USFS (for whom he has served as a volunteer Wilderness Steward for 25 years) are among his beneficiaries. Steve is passionate about trails and trail work- he is a certified crosscut sawyer, leads hikes for the Sierra Club and VWA, has hiked the John Muir Trail 3 times and has already completed 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Robert Parks, Lifelong wilderness lover, hiker and backpacker, has been backpacking since the tender age of 6 weeks old. Initially lured by the beauty of the Sierra Nevada, Robert found the Ventana during the wintertime off-season and has been enamored ever since. By a random chance, he joined a trailwork trip, and (in his own words) “I wouldn't quite say it was love at first sight, it was more like immediate addiction. Fast forward a few years and I picked up my crosscut saw certification, first as a sawyer, then as an instructor.” Robert focuses a large part of his time on the Cone Peak area, where he first fell for the Ventana, doing his part to bring the trails there to a standard where not only hardcore Ventana-philes can enjoy the rugged grandeur.

Robert Barringer, a resident of the Monterey Peninsula since 2002, became instantly enamored with the Ventana Wilderness after his first hike in the area several years ago. During an outing  with the Monterey Bay Area Hiking Group (of which he is co-founder), Robert met a VWA Trail Crew Leader who invited him to join a work trip in the Cone Peak area. Before long, he participated in a crosscut saw training and became a Trail Crew leader himself. In 2011, he adopted the Puerto Suello Trail, a vital linkage between the Carmel River and the spectacular Ventana ridge. Robert also participates in VWA's Volunteer Steward program. Trail work and wilderness stewardship are all labors of love; when he is not busy with his day job or raising his 12-year old son, you'll find him doing what he loves the most, spending time in the beautiful Ventana Wilderness.

Todd Brockman, Carmel Valley native, has been hiking, backpacking & horseback riding in the Ventana Wilderness all of his life. After becoming a Hike Leader for the Monterey Bay Area Hiking Group, he went on a VWA Trail Crew trip where he ran into old friends from his CalFire days. He quickly became a Trail Crew leader and has adopted restoration of the Lost Valley Trail. Todd recently joined the VWA-sponsored Volunteer Steward program with the Monterey Ranger District of Los Padres National Forest and enjoys patrolling the Big Sur River corridor and other areas of the Ventana Wilderness. He enjoys his day job as a Senior Software Engineer for Dell Inc., but given the chance, would much rather be in the backcountry. Todd spends most weekends out on a Volunteer Steward patrol or a Trail Crew outing somewhere in the Wilderness.

Mike Splain, Executive Director, began volunteering with the Ventana Wilderness Alliance in May of 2003; he was recruited as a staff member in July, 2008. Mike arrived in California in 1991, then set to exploring the Ventana Wilderness while pursuing wild lands conservation as a supporter, volunteer and staffer for  advocacy organizations like Forests Forever, Sierra Club, and the California Native Plant Society.  He currently serves as Wilderness Chair of the Sierra Club, Ventana Chapter and studies Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCSC. Mike lives with his wife Gabrielle and dog Pepper amid the conifers of Bonny Doon, California.

Richard Popchak,  Membership & Development Director, served on the VWA Board of Directors from January of 2005 until October 2011. A native Pennsylvanian, Richard earned a BA in History at Indiana University of Pennsylvania before moving to Santa Cruz, California in 1985. A long tenure as Business Manager with hard drive manufacturer Seagate Technology imparted Richard with the business and computer savvy necessary to accomplish technically demanding tasks essential to our organization. He is an active member of the VWA Trail Crew and the editor of the VWA newsletter, Ventana Wilderness Watch.

Greg Meyer, Youth in Wilderness Program Director, earned his MA in Environmental Studies at Arizona’s Prescott College. A professional Naturalist with 25 years of experience leading outdoor adventures on 5 continents, he has introduced young people to the natural world through a vast array of summer camp, state park and college recreation programs and has hiked in the Ventana since high school. Greg is currently a lecturer in the Outdoor Education and Recreation department at California State University, Monterey Bay. Inspired by his example, several of Greg’s students have volunteered to assist with Youth in Wilderness and VWA stewardship projects in the Cone Peak and Chews Ridge areas of the Ventana Wilderness.

Kimmy Gal, Youth in Wilderness Program Coordinator, first enjoyed the Silver Peak Wilderness while growing up San Luis Obispo, when Salmon Creek was a favorite destination for her family and friends.  Since then, her passion for the wilderness has continued to grow. After earning her BA in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz, she engaged students in environmental education as a Naturalist for Sierra Outdoor School. She went on to work closely with at-risk youth at the YES School in Santa Cruz. Recently, she implemented the Green Academy program at Hayward High School, where she introduced students to careers in green energy through service projects and educational field trips. Wilderness experience has played a pivotal role in her life, and she is inspired to develop quality wilderness programs that will have a lasting impact on youth participants.

Paul McFarland, Director Emeritus, first fell in love with wild places as a kid wandering the cactus-covered hills of Southern California's Conejo Valley, chasing California thrashers and marvelling at lemonade berry blooms. The eventual loss of the many wonders living in the Valley's once wild chaparral canyons and open grasslands to development instilled in Paul a deep appreciation of the importance of public lands. Recgnizing that public lands only work when the public does, Paul has spent the last decade working to ensure that people get out and give back to our shared heritage. Paul lives with his wife Yvette and two sons Solomon and Henry in the pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Eastern Sierra Nevada.