Rich is the Associate Director for Science at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program Office located in Annapolis, Maryland.  In his 25 years with EPA and the Chesapeake Bay Program, he has led the integration of science into multi-partner decision-making.

Associate Director for Science, Analysis and Implementation

410 Severn Avenue
Suite 112
Annapolis, Maryland 21403

batiuk.richard@epa.gov
Phone: (410) 267-5731

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Water Quality Goal Implementation Team Staffer

410 Severn Ave
Suite 309
Annapolis, Maryland 21403

jhanson@chesapeakebay.net
Phone: (410) 267-5753

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I received a B.S. in Agronomy (1985) and M.S. in Soil Microbiology (1991) from Purdue University,and  a Ph.D. in Soil Microbiology from Kansas State University (1998).  After completing my PhD, I spent one year as a Congressional Science Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota and two years as a post-doctoral  Research Associate at Michigan State University.  Since 2001, I have been a Research Soil Scientist with the USDA-ARS at University Park, Pennsylvania. My research has focused on carbon and nitrogen cycling in agricultural soils and the impact of nutrient management on water and air quality.  I currently lead projects studying impacts of using various manure application equipment on ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions from soil; soil carbon sequestration and nitrous oxide emissions with switchgrass grown for biofuel feedstocks and in sustainable dairy forage rotations; and utilization of slow release and inhibitor- treated nitrogen fertilizers to reduce nitrogen gas emissions and enhance crop uptake. I am also part of a team researching impacts of various aspects of manure management on water quality.  Currently, I am on a special assignment as with USDA-NRCS as Science Advisory for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, where I am proving input on the new and modified agricultural conservation practices to help reduce nutrient inputs into the Bay.

Agricultural Research Service
Building 3702, Curtin Road
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802

curtis.dell@ars.usda.gov
Phone: (814) 863-0984

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Mike Gerel leads Sustainable Northwest’s work in the Klamath River Basin to help resolve years of high profile water disputes and bring environmental and economic health to a region uniquely rich in biodiversity, agricultural productivity, culture. He has 20 years’ experience directing complex water resource science and policy efforts with stops at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Sustainable Conservation, the Virginia Department of Conservation, and U.S. EPA contractors. Mike was integral to the creation of the landmark new plan that will guide restoration of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. He is a skilled communicator and strategic thinker with a special knack for finding science-based, collaborative solutions that balance the needs of natural resources and people. Mike has a Masters in Environmental Science & Policy from Johns Hopkins University, Bachelors in Biology from the University of Richmond, is a fellow with the Virginia Natural Resource Leadership Institute, and serves on an U.S. EPA Chesapeake Bay restoration practice verification expert panel. Mike is both an avid outdoorsman and indoorsman, enjoying hiking, biking, independent music, baseball on TV, and trying to keep up with his fiancée Jess and 3-year old lab Moka.

813 SW Alder Street, Suite 500
Portland, Oregon 97205

mgerel@sustainablenorthwest.org
Phone: (503) 221-6911

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Tim Gieseke is president of Ag Resource Strategies, LLC; a business addressing the challenge of integrating food production and natural resource management to reap the best of both worlds.   His current and past efforts include natural resource assessment projects with non-government organizations and local, state and federal agencies.  He has developed and implemented environmental quality assurance processes on several hundred farms with support from livestock groups including Minnesota Milk Producers Association, and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

He consults with organizations and project such as United Nations Foundation, 25x25, and US Water Alliance on ecosystem service market research and development.   For the CRP Readiness Initiative, an effort by NRCS and the University of Wisconsin to expand the conservation delivery system by training local government, NGO and private sector professionals, he develops curriculum and provides training in the Midwest.  In 2011, he published EcoCommerce 101: Adding an ecological dimension to the economy, a book describing a process for including agro-environmental externalities into the economy.

In the decades prior to beginning his business in 2007, his career included farming, local government conservation, farm bill policy analysis, and he received his master’s degree in environmental sciences. 

He, his wife and three boys reside on and manage their fourth-generation farm in southern Minnesota.

40322 541st Avenue
New Ulm, Minnesota 56073

tgieseke@agresourcestrategies.com
Phone: (507) 359-1889

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Rebecca W. Hanmer is a member of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Citizens Advisory Committee. She retired in 2007 after a four decade government career that included over 30 years in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At EPA, she held a number of senior positions, including Director of EPA’s Office of Federal Activities; Deputy Regional Administrator in Region I (Boston); Regional Administrator in Region IV (Atlanta); Director, HQ Office of Water Enforcement and Permits; Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water and Acting Assistant Administrator for Water; Acting Regional Administrator in Region VIII (Denver); Water Protection Division Director in Region III (Philadelphia) and Director, Chesapeake Bay Program Office (2002-2007). She has administered Clean Water Act programs at both policy and operational levels, including water quality standards and the NPDES permit program.

138 Caroline Street
Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401

rwhanmer@yahoo.com
Phone: (540) 371-8787

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Dianna Hogan is a Research Physical Scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey Eastern Geographic Science Center in Reston, Virginia, She has a BS in Biochemistry, a MS in Biology, and a PhD in Environmental Science and Public Policy. Her research focuses on ecosystem services and the environmental effects of land use on natural systems. Current and recent projects include an assessment of the ability of urban stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed to mitigate water quality, quantity, and flow; and the development of an ecological value model to support land use decision-making in south Florida. 

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, Virginia 20192

dhogan@usgs.gov
Phone: (703) 648-7240

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Richard Klein is the author of How To Win Land Development Issues and Everyone Wins: A Citizens Guide To Development, which was published by the American Planning Association. He has been working in the community and environmental advocacy field for 36 years.  From 1979 to 1987 he worked for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and spent ten of those years as director of the Maryland Save Our Streams program.

In 1987, the author founded Community & Environmental Defense Services (www.ceds.org), a company which assists people in resolving their concerns about activities posing a threat to a neighborhood or the environment.  Since 1987 he has evaluated hundreds of proposed development projects for impacts to neighborhoods, aquatic systems, and other environmental resources.  These projects range from a single acre to massive residential-commercial complexes and range from coast to coast.  In most cases these evaluations result in recommendations for minimizing impacts while allowing applicants to achieve most of their goals.  The author has testified before many administrative and judicial decision-makers both as a lay and expert witness.

Over his 36-year career the author has helped citizens with just about every form of growth and growth impact imaginable; not just those presented in How To Win Land Development Issues but many more.  This experience allows Mr. Klein to quickly identify the impacts likely to result from a proposed development project and to swiftly formulate winning solutions.  His background as both an agency insider and citizen advocate also allows the author to effectively negotiate with regulatory staff and other decision-makers.  This experience accounts for the unusually high success rate (75%) of CEDS in resolving citizen concerns.

811 Crystal Palace Court
Owings Mill, Maryland 21117

Rklein@ceds.org
Phone: (410) 654-3021

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In 2006, Andrew Sharpley joined the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.  He is Co-Chair of the Division of Agriculture’s Environmental Task Force and Discovery Farms Program.  He received degrees from the University of North Wales, United Kingdom in 1973 and Massey University, New Zealand in 1977, and spent 25 years with the USDA-ARS in Oklahoma and then Pennsylvania.  His research investigates the cycling of phosphorus in soil-plant-water systems in relation to soil productivity and water quality and includes the management of animal manures, fertilizers, and crop residues.  He also evaluates the role of stream and river sediments in modifying phosphorus transport and response of receiving lakes and reservoirs.  He developed decision making tools widely used by US EPA and NRCS for agricultural field staff, to identify sensitive areas of the landscape and to target management alternatives and remedial measures that have reduced the risk of nutrient loss from farms.  He is Editor-in-Chief of the Soil Science Society of America, in 2008 was inducted into the USDA-ARS Hall of Fame, and in 2012 received the Christopher Columbus Foundation Agriscience Award.  Dr. Sharpley serves on National Academy of Science Panels and EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board.

115 Plant Science Building
University of Arkansas
Fayatteville, Arkansas 72701

sharpley@uark.edu
Phone: (479) 575-5721

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Tom Simpson was a Professor of Soil Science at VA Tech and University of Maryland prior to founding Water Stewardship, Inc. in 2008 where he is Senior Scientist and Executive Director for Water Stewardship Inc. He manages the organization and provides scientific leadership in developing new and innovative approaches and tools that support conservation assessment, verification and implementation primarily related to water quality. Dr. Simpson led WSI’s development of assessment and verification protocols for farm conservation and ecosystem service markets and developed the logic framework for the WSI Nutrient Load Estimator software. He helps lead efforts on systems approaches to BMP implementation, and BMP interactions and function at the landscape level in the U.S. and internationally.  He led the 2006-2009 project to revise definitions and efficiencies for Chesapeake Bay Program BMPs. Dr. Simpson has written numerous papers and book chapters on soil and water quality and BMP effectiveness and has served on numerous expert panels to inform policy decisions and continues to provide science support to both public and private decision makers.

222 Severn Ave
Suite 11, Bldg 7
Annapolis, Maryland 21403

toms@waterstewardshipinc.org
Phone: (301) 873-2268

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Since 1994, Gordon Smith, Ph.D., has worked on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions by changing land use. He has expertise in forest carbon sequestration, avoided forest emissions (REDD+), soil carbon, manure management, fertilizer nitrous oxide, and soil methane. Dr. Smith has worked world wide on the entire spectrum of mitigation, including modeling likely emission benefits of project and programmatic activities, policy analysis for governments, standard and methodology development for offset registries, project development, project and methodology validation and verification, and verifier accreditation. He is an expert in biomass carbon sampling efficiency and designing sampling systems to meet precision goals. He is on the editorial board of the journal Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management, is a member of the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute advisory committee, is a VCS expert in afforestation/deforestation, improved forest management, avoided deforestation (REDD), and agricultural land management, and is a member of the ACR AFOLU Technical Committee. He is currently Carbon Development Director for the REDD project developer Wildlife Works.

123 Main Street
Mill Valley, California 94941

gordon@wildlifeworks.com

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Rebecca Stack serves as the Low Impact Development (LID) Specialist for the District of Columbia Department of Environment. Her work focuses on removing barriers to wide spread implementation of LID in the District. She collaborates across the public and private sector and works with permit reviewers to incorporate LID into projects. Rebecca received her civil engineering degree from Northeastern University and has researched bioretention field performance at University Maryland College Park. Rebecca has several years teaching experience including stream restoration, water quality and wetland ecology courses. Rebecca is currently leading the effort to update the District of Columbia’s Stormwater Management Guidebook to include the latest suite of low impact development BMPs. Rebecca is a co-principal investigator on several District-wide research projects including a neighborhood scale investigation of the effects of low impact development retrofits on stormwater volumes.

51 N Street, NE
Washington, District of Columbia 20002

stack.rebecca@dc.gov
Phone: (202) 727-5160

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Robert Traver is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Villanova University, and Director of both Center for the Advancement of Sustainability in Engineering, and the Villanva Urban Stormwater Partnership. He has conducted research on topics that include modeling of stream hydraulics, urban hydrology, water quality, and sustainable stormwater management. He initiated the Stormwater Best Management Practice Demonstration and Research Park on the Villanova Campus. Dr Traver served on ASCE’s External Review Panel (ERP) of the Corps investigation of Hurricane Katrina, and was a member of the National Academies Committee entitled Reducing Stormwater Discharge Contributions to Water Pollution. Dr Traver received his BSCE degree from the Virginia Military Institute, his MCE from Villanova, and his Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer.

800 E. Lancaster Avenue
Villanova, Pennsylvania 19085

robert.traver@villanova.edu

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Dana York retired from the Natural Resource Conservation Service in January 2011 after a 34- year career with the Agency. She has formed a consulting group, Green Earth Connection to bring her expertise to the agricultural and environmental communities. Her training and organization leadership experience is also used to help organizations become more effective and efficient within current, expanding or decreasing resources. Her expertise includes: training and implementing BMP Identification projects, nutrient management, nutrient trading, the EPA Chesapeake Bay model and partnership building. She specializes in the development of dynamic business plans and project implementation with implementable and measurable goals and actions.

Prior to her retirement she was the Director of the Watershed and Landscape Programs Division, NRCS, in January 2010, where she directed the NRCS Watershed, Conservation Technical Assistance and Conservation Initiatives Programs. These programs assist communities with planning and implementing natural resource conservation on private lands from individual farms to large-scale watershed projects. She also coordinated the Agency’s targeted efforts in large watersheds such as the Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi River Basin. Prior to returning to Washington, she was the Senior Advisor to the Chesapeake Bay Program in Annapolis, MD. As the Senior Advisor, she was the Agency’s representative at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Bay Program office and worked to implement the 2009 Chesapeake Bay Presidential Executive Order. From 2004 to 2009 she served at the Associate Chief for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. As the Associate Chief she managed the agency’s overall programs and operations, including a $3.2 billion annual budget.

She joined the NRCS National Headquarters staff in 1999 as a special assistant to the Chief and then as the Acting Director of Budget Planning Analysis Division, which is responsible for all Agency budget formulation. In 2001, she became the director of the NRCS Operations

Management and Oversight Division with responsibility for the agency’s operations management, including monitoring operations, business planning and accountability, and development and monitoring of accountability information systems. She also led the agency’s efforts on quality assurance, oversight and evaluation.

York began her 34-year career with the former Soil Conservation Service (SCS) as a student trainee while attending Tennessee Technological University. She has held various positions with the agency in Tennessee, Georgia and Ohio, including Soil Conservationist, District Conservationist, State Resource Conservationist, Partnership Liaison and Deputy State Conservationist.

York is a native of Tennessee. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Science from Tennessee Technological University and a Master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University with an emphasis in organizational design and measurement, business planning and leading organizations and employees through change.

In September of 2007 Dana was awarded the President’s Distinguished Rank Award, which is the highest award a career employee can receive for their career as a Senior Executive. In 2008 she received 2008 Agricultural Alumnus of the year from Tennessee Technological University.

108 South Liberty Street
Centreville, Maryland 21617

dyork818@yahoo.com
Phone: (410) 708-6794

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As manager of Warwick Township since 1994, Dan Zimmerman oversees the day to day operations of the Administration, Public Works, and Police Departments. He also serves as the Administrator for the Warwick Township Municipal Authority. During his tenure, he has implemented a successful Transfer of Development Rights program. He continues to work with the Lancaster County Agricultural Preserve Board, Farmland Trust, and property owners to facilitate the Township’s agricultural preservation program. He also works cooperatively with multiple agencies, land owners and developers to improve traffic movement through Warwick Township, including extensive improvements along the SR 501 corridor. Mr. Zimmerman has also fostered an innovative Lititz Run watershed management plan and a township-wide trails program.  He serves as Secretary to the Lititz Run Watershed Alliance, and continues to facilitate stream improvement projects in Warwick Township. 

Before joining Warwick Township, Dan was Manager of Mount Joy Borough, Lancaster County, for seven years, and was with Hanover Borough, Lancaster County, also for seven years. He served as the Region Four Representative for the Lancaster County Planning Commission from 1992 to 2004, including serving as Chairman in 2001 and 2002. Dan has served on the Lancaster County Metropolitan Planning Organization since 1992, and is also Vice-Chairman of the Lancaster County Transportation Authority, which he has served on since 2000. Dan has also been a member of the Lancaster County Agricultural Preserve Board since 2005. He serves as Secretary to the Lititz Run Watershed Alliance, and is a member of the Pennsylvania Planning Association. He holds both a Masters and Bachelors degree from Shippensburg University.

315 Clay Road
Lititz, Pennsylvania 17543

dzimmerman@warwicktownship.org

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