Board of Directors

Bill Sedivy, President, Board of Directors
Idaho Rivers United's Executive Director

Bill Sedivy has worked with Idaho Rivers United since May 1999 and has served on the Save Our Wild Salmon Board of Directors since 1999. Bill has been canoeing and rafting rivers throughout North America since 1978. A river activist since the early 90s, Bill first got involved with Idaho Rivers United when he lived in Logan, Utah, by working as a volunteer on the Bear River relicensing. He also has worked as a volunteer Regional Coordinator for American Whitewater, and, currently serves on American Whitewater's volunteer board of directors. Formerly a journalist, Bill worked as the top editor at award-winning newspapers in Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia, and taught journalism for two years at Utah State University. In 1995 he published a book on river-running called "River's End: A collection of bedtime stories for paddlers." Bill and his wife, Maryl, who live in Boise, enjoy bird watching, camping and skiing when they're not paddling Idaho's fabulous rivers.  

Sara Patton, Board of Directors Secretary
NW Energy Coalition's Executive Director

Sara Patton has worked on energy efficiency for over twenty-five years and has led the NW Energy Coalition as its executive director since November 1993. The 100+ member Coalition is an influential regional alliance of conservation, low-income, and consumer advocate organizations, utilities, businesses, and citizen activists. The Coalition works for a clean and affordable energy future through energy efficiency, consumer protection, clean renewable energy resources and restoration of fish and wildlife. Sara earned her law degree from Antioch School of Law and has been on the Save Our Wild Salmon Board since 1994.   

Steve Mashuda, Board of Directors Treasurer
Earthjustice's Save Our Wild Salmon Project Attorney

Steve Mashuda joined the Board of Save Our Wild Salmon in 2002 and has been helping with litigation for the campaign as Earthjustice's Save Our Wild Salmon Project Attorney since 2000. Steve graduated from Vermont Law School where he also earned a Master of Studies in Environmental Law in 1997. Prior to joining the Northwest Office of Earthjustice, Steve spent two years as an associate attorney in Earthjustice's Northern Rockies Office in Bozeman, Montana. In his spare time, Steve (mostly unsuccessfully) chases after salmon and steelhead with his fly rod and (more successfully) photographs his friends with their catches. He looks forward to a day when wild salmon and steelhead are recovered and a bundant in the Columbia River basin so his kids won't have to travel to Alaska to have a shot at catching their first wild steelhead.   

Jeff Curtis, Board of Directors
Trout Unlimited's Western Conservation Director

Jeff leads Trout Unlimited's Pacific salmon recovery efforts and direct conservation programs for bull trout, coastal cutthroat trout, and other native salmonid species in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, and California. Trout Unlimited's works to conserve, protect and restore North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds by employing professionals who testify before Congress, publishing a quarterly magazine, intervene in federal legal proceedings, and work with the organization's 125,000 volunteers in 500 chapters nationwide to keep them active and involved in conservation issues. Mr. Curtis has worked with water allocation issues as the executive director of WaterWatch of Oregon, the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jeff graduated from Spring Hill College in Mobile, and received his J.D. from Louisiana State Law School. From 1967 to 1970, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Iran.  

Michael Garrity, Board of Directors
American Rivers' Associate Director of Columbia Basin Programs

In 2000 Michael began working for American Rivers' national office in Washington, DC on its Snake River campaign. Now based out of American Rivers' Northwest Regional Office in Seattle, Michael continues to work to recover wild Snake River salmon and other salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin, and serves on Save Our Wild Salmon's Board of Directors and Steering Committee. Founded in 1973, American Rivers is dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy natural rivers and the variety of life they sustain for the benefit of people, fish and wildlife. After graduating cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Washington, Michael earned his J.D. at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). When he's not saving salmon, Michael likes to hike, paddle, ski, and write songs on his guitar.  

Bob Johnson, Board of Directors
Washington Wildlife Federation

Bob was born in Minnesota. He has a BS in electrical engineering and MS in systems management. He was employed 23 years at The Boeing Company where he managed computing support. He has served on the boards of the Washington Environmental Council, Earth Share of WA, the national Board of Trustees of Trout Unlimited and currently serve on the boards of the Washington Wildlife Federation and Mid-Puget Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, and on the Cedar River Council. He's an active fish conservation volunteer and has held leadership positions for over twenty years. Bob served in Viet Nam in 1969. He enjoys salmon, steelhead and halibut fishing in the State of Washington. He has twin 5-year-old grandchildren that he spends a lot of time with, he enjoys gardening, woodworking and genealogy in his free time.  

Joel Kawahara, Board of Directors
Washington Trollers Association

Joel Kawahara is a commercial fisherman in Washington and Alaska. He is an active member of the Washington Trollers Association and has sat on the board of Save Our Wild Salmon for many years.  

Bobby McEnaney, Board of Directors
Public Lands Advocate
National Resources Defense Council
Bobby McEnaney is a public lands advocate concentrating on issues of livestock grazing in the western United States. He is primarily focused on promoting sustainable approaches to the grazing of federal and other publicly owned rangelands. Before joining NRDC, Bobby worked extensively on initiatives to protect ecologically important lands within the Rocky Mountain region. He is a graduate of the College of Idaho.

Norm Ritchie, Board of Directors
Association of NW Steelheaders' Co-President

Norm has been fishing ever since he moved to Oregon in the early 1950s. Since then he has increased his involvement to include volunteering for stream surveys, serving on the boards of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders (ANWS) chapters and holding president and co-president titles in the association. ANWS is a memb er based organization of sports anglers dedicated to restoring and enhancing salmon, trout and steelhead populations and their habitats for present and future generations. Norm has written many "how to" articles and was appointed by the governor to the Salmon Trout Advisory Committee late last year. Norm is the newest member of the board, appointed in 2004.  

Dan Ritzman, Board of Directors
The Sierra Club
Regional Director
As the Northwest and Alaska Regional Director for the Sierra Club, Dan works to ensure that the Club’s national conservation staff and the local volunteer leaders have the resources and guidance they need to accomplish the Sierra Clubs conservation goals. Before joining the Sierra Club in 2007, Dan served as Executive Director of the Alaska Coalition, and was also affiliated with Greenpeace. He holds a BS, Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning, from UC Davis, and an MS from the School of Forestry at the University of Idaho.

James Schroeder, Board of Directors
National Wildlife Federation
Senior Environmental Policy Specialist
James Schroeder moved from Boston to Seattle on a quest to catch the girl and recover endangered salmon – definitely an odd combination. He works as a senior environmental policy specialist for the National Wildlife Federation where he develops and manages salmon conservation programs in Washington and Oregon. He is also the author of “Here’s the Thing...,” an environmental blog hosted by the Seattle PI newspaper. James currently resides in Ravenna with his wife, Sue, two daughters, and a german shepherd mutt named Zeke.

Glen Spain, Board of Directors
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations' Northwest Regional Director

Since 1992, Glen Spain has served as the Northwest Regional Director and Salmon Protection Program Director for Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA), the west coast's largest trade association for commercial fishing families, and is the founder and Program Director for the Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR), which directs PCFFA's Salmon Protection Program. For nearly 30 years he has been a vocal advocate for salmon watershed restoration on both private and public lands, has served on numerous advisory committees and Boards in both California and Oregon, and currently serves on several advisory committees dealing with water pollution and salmon protection standards. Glen received his law degree from New College School of Law in San Francisco, CA and practiced law for 18 years prior to joining PCFFA as full-time staff.