Gary Bobker is the Program Director at Friends of the River, where he oversees FOR’s technical and policy experts and consultants and works to implement a strategic, comprehensive approach to restoring California’s rivers and other aquatic ecosystems, promoting sustainable water management and land use, and opposing environmentally harmful and economically inefficient water projects.
From 1992 to May 2024 he was the Program Director at the Bay Institute, where he played a leadership role in negotiating the historic agreement to restore flows and fisheries to the dewatered San Joaquin River; securing new, stronger endangered species regulations and water quality standards for native fish and wildlife and their habitats in the San Francisco Estuary and its watershed; and pursuing initiatives to successfully reduce and eliminate contaminated runoff from irrigated agriculture in the Central Valley.
His previous work experience includes positions at Citizen Action, the National Toxics Campaign, and the California Natural Resources Federation, and he is a former board member of the San Francisco Estuary Institute. He has also spent considerable time hiking, kayaking, sailing, and exploring remote regions in Africa, South America, the Pacific and Antarctica.