Summer 2019 ForestLife

Meet Pacific Forest Trust’s valuable volunteers

It’s been said that Pacific Forest Trust “punches above our weight class”—our impact belies our size. One reason for that is the pro bono help we are fortunate to receive from legal, regulatory, and scientific experts. In this issue, we profile two of the many people who help boost PFT’s strength.

FRANCES SPIVY-WEBER

PFT is privileged to have the advice and expertise of Frances Spivy-Weber, who was Vice Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board for most of the ten years she served. Before joining the Board as its public member, Fran led the National Audubon Society’s International Program and served as Executive Director of the Mono Lake Committee.

Fran shares her expertise in navigating the state’s complex water regulatory environment with PFT in our work to advance landscape-level restoration of the state’s natural water infrastructure, our Healthy Watersheds California (HWC) project (learn more at pacificforest.org/hwc).

“The watershed-based approach for ensuring the state’s water security is going to become the dominant model, because it pays off so much more than other approaches,” Fran predicts.

“Getting an agreement and funding is the first step, but it’s not the last step,” she adds. “There’s a need to reach a lot of different types of people – not simply across party lines, but people local to each region of the state with various interests. That’s why this is the perfect work for PFT.”

“PFT is very lucky to have a visionary like Laurie Wayburn, and if the state is smart, it will tap into her vision for its own future,” Fran notes. “Forests and water will benefit, as will the people of California.”

BILL CURTISS

In his 37 years at Earthjustice, Bill Curtiss litigated a variety of environmental cases and held a number of positions before retiring as General Counsel in 2016. At that time, he was looking for a way to return to the substantive conservation work he most enjoyed, but in a more flexible setting without management responsibilities.

Enter Pacific Forest Trust. Bill has generously donated his legal expertise to find ways to use existing law, and to shape proposed laws, to accomplish PFT’s mission. Among his pursuits is helping PFT and our legislative partners craft and refine proposals for funding watershed restoration work, specifically PFT’s HWC project.

“Having typically worked at the federal level, I didn’t know much about California’s existing water law. One of the things I’ve always liked about being a lawyer is the opportunity to learn about a lot of new things,” notes Bill. “I also like to be close to the action and make a difference, which is one reason collaborating with PFT has been so rewarding.”

PFT’s position in the “radical middle” is a powerful antidote to the adversarial model we see more and more today. “The great thing about PFT is that we don’t depend on a world divided,” Bill says. “Our work doesn’t happen except by agreement.”

“In the federal system,” says Bill, “it’s triage at best, if not an ongoing catastrophe. In California, though, you can come to work with optimism.”

“We need to use and change federal and state law to do the right thing for watersheds,” he adds. “It won’t get finished in my lifetime, but it’s critical for the future of this state.”