California Forest Products Commission

Lisa joined the Commission as the Education Director in January of 2003. She is responsible for overseeing the Commission's outreach programs to educators, which involves designing and marketing K-12 resources and curriculum. Lisa also coordinates and develops training programs to help teachers more effectively educate their students on forestry and natural resource issues. Lisa brings nearly 20 years of management experience to the position. She is a credentialed teacher, with a Single Subject credential in Social Science and supplementary authorization in English. Prior to teaching, Lisa held management positions in the banking industry. She also served as a manager at a Sacramento-area printing company, where she oversaw sales, customer service, training, human resources and quality control. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Social Science from Sacramento State University, where she earned the Outstanding Senior award for the college of Social Science and Interdisciplinary Studies. Lisa is a tennis fanatic and enjoys hiking, reading and travel. She lives in Grass Valley with her dog Guapo.

Bob Mion joined the Commission with nearly 20 years of marketing and communications experience, having served most recently as product marketing manager for a Bay Area software development firm. Mion's writing honors include Awards of Merit and an Award of Excellence from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). His corporate marketing communications experience includes positions with Prentice-Hall, Dun & Bradstreet, and management responsibilities at USCS International. Mion is a graduate of Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut.

Elke Truscott joined the Commission in November 2005 as Office Manager and Special Events Planner. She brings with her 12 years of experience in the area of desktop publishing and computer graphics. Elke's passion is trail running and she has coached local middle and high school cross country teams in the Placer County area. She also enjoys Nordic skiing, bicycling, hiking and cooking. She lives in Auburn.

John Muir called the giant sequoia "the noblest of a noble race." These massive trees, the largest in the world, only grow in the Sierra Nevada. Huge sugar pine and other large trees surround them. "They are giants among giants," wrote Berkeley Professor Joseph Le Conte when he saw the giant sequoia forest for the first time in 1870.

Pam Sawyer joined the Commission as Administrative Assistant in July 2003. She brings 16 years of experience supervising production for Grass Valley silk-screen printing business Igraphics Precision Printing. Her other responsibilities at Precision included quality control management, improvement processes, scheduling and data analysis. Pam spends her free time gardening, reading and with her family. She lives in Nevada City with her husband, son and step children.

Most recently, Dr. Bonnicksen created the Forest Carbon and Emissions Model (FCEM), which is a Rapid Assessment Model (REM) that quickly estimates forest carbon and emissions using a minimum of input data for wildfires, insect infestations, and inventories of existing and sequestered carbon on forestlands and brushlands. FCEM is especially important for dealing with issues associated with global climate change. Governor Reagan appointed Dr. Bonnicksen to serve four years as a member of the California State Park and Recreation Commission. While serving on the commission, he wrote the legislation for State Senator Anthony C. Beilenson (SB 271 & 272) that guides the classification and management of California's state park system. Most recently, he developed the concept and drafted legislation to create a system of national historic forests. Congressman Mike Simpson (2nd District of Idaho) introduced the Act (H.R. 2119) and held Congressional hearings in June 2001. Dr. Bonnicksen testified before U. S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate committees 13 times, as well as seven Congressional and Secretarial briefings. He also served on several Congressional fact-finding missions, including the Yellowstone fires of 1988 and the Southern California wildfires of 2003. In addition, he served on many Congressional and state advisory committees, most recently as a member of the U.S. Senate's California Forest EIS Review Committee and the U. S. House of Representatives' Forest Health Science Panel. Dr. Bonnicksen published over 120 scientific and technical papers, articles, book chapters, and other publications, 8 computer programs, and 4 multimedia CDs. He also published a book with John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Copyright 2000, 594 pages), titled America's Ancient Forests: from the Ice Age to the Age of Discovery. The book documents the 18,000-year history of North America's native forests. It includes the role of Native Americans in the development of these forests and descriptions by explorers who saw them first. Dr. Bonnicksen delivered over 100 presentations and keynote addresses worldwide, including the Cosmos Club in Washington DC, the Commonwealth Club and the Bohemian Club in California, the Western Governors Conference, the National Arbor Day Foundation, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Board, and others. He also helped produce and appeared in a one-hour PBS television special titled Forest Wars as well as educational videos.