Governor's appointments would fill water board

The Times-Standard

Three Humboldt County locals were appointed to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, filling the influential board.

Among them are a rangeland professor, the chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe and a dairyman. They will have to wrestle with ongoing conflicts over logging and with issues related to water quality in the Klamath,
Trinity and Eel Rivers, among others.

The board has not been filled in years, and at times has struggled to maintain a quorum.

Heidi Harris, 34, of Salyer, is a lecturer in range development and improvements at Humboldt State University, and a range consultant for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation
Service. A Republican, she holds a bachelors in rangeland resource science from HSU.

Dennis Leonardi, 49, of Ferndale, owns and manages Leonardi Dairy and has been a member of the Humboldt Creamery Association since 1977. A Republican, he holds a bachelors in dairy science and husbandry from
California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.

Clifford Lyle Marshall, 48, of Orleans, is tribal chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. Previously, he was a lecturer of law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He holds a bachelors in social science from
California State University, Humboldt and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Washington. Marshall is registered as "decline to state."

The other Northern California appointee is Sari Sommarstrom, 55, of Etna, principal of Sari Sommarstrom and Associates, a natural resource consulting company, and is a co-owner of GrowPro Inc. She is a member of
the Watershed Management Council and the American Water Resources Association. She holds a bachelors in zoology from the University of California, Davis, and a doctorate in resource planning and conservation
of natural resources from the University of Michigan. Sommarstrom is a Democrat.

The positions require Senate confirmation. The compensation is $100 per diem.

Board Assistant Executive Officer Luis Rivera welcomed the chance to work with a full board.

"We feel that it is a good thing in terms of having the appropriate diversity for these decisions," Rivera said. "We're looking forward to working with the board as it's newly constituted."