California State AssemblyCandidate for District 1

For the nearly 20 years I have focused my professional career on ensuring healthy forests and watersheds. I have specialized experience in collaborative forest management, including innovative product development combined with bioenergy facilities, as well as in water resources planning and management, including water rights and supply management.

I have worked with state policy and how it affects our federal forest system, and the variety of approaches to ensuring that all beneficiaries (including urban communities!) are part of planning and funding our healthy forests and watersheds. I’ve done a significant portion of this work as an advocate to the California Legislature, building bridges with urban areas and other rural districts and advocating for investment in our rural landscapes.

I’ve served on the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District Board for five years, one as our Board’s Vice Chair. I have also served on Redding’s Community Development Advisory Committee, hearing from many of our important non-profit service providers in the region and providing recommendations to the City Council for how to spend federal grant funds to best serve our friends and neighbors. 

My husband and I have a small farm in Happy Valley and for eight years have provided food to dozens of families in the region, and annually mill the fruit of our heritage olive trees to make oil. We have experienced the challenges of any small business, including struggling with capital availability, skilled workers, and outlets for our produce. We have also struggled with the state’s regulations, which are structured largely for large conventional agriculture and don’t respect the important role that small farms play in our regional economy as well as the natural world.

I have dedicated my life to public service, and see serving as your next Assembly Woman a natural next step: I have implemented laws, advocated for laws, and now it's time for a true child of northern California to help in shaping those laws.

For nearly 20 years I've advocated for rural communities and rural issues, and understand both the way policy is made and how to develop policy that doesn't leave our communities out in the cold when it comes to implementation. Understanding the big picture and legislating from a holistic perspective is an important way to increase efficiency, efficacy, and on-the-ground innovation. I am interested in doing more of what works, and in unleashing the innovation present throughout our region to build our economy and create opportunities at all socioeconomic, academic, and professional levels. We have the solutions; we simply need the opportunity to express those!