John grew up in the Southern San Joaquin Valley and spent his summers in the Sierra Nevada mountains in what is now the Giant Sequoia Monument. He has spent time hiking, birding, running, kayaking, and riding bikes throughout California, though has always considered the San Joaquin Valley his home camp.
Professionally, John has more than 30 years of experience as an Environmental Scientist for several state resources agencies, and an additional 5 years as the Executive Officer for the San Joaquin River Conservancy. As an environmental scientist, he has collaborated with recreation experts over the years on many planning and restoration projects that included recreational components, from new trail installations to boat launch and pickup facilities. Although most of this work for the various state agencies considered recreational facilities as a secondary focus, when John became the Executive Officer for the San Joaquin River Conservancy recreation and public access were brought to the forefront.
As part of his career, John has worked consistently to incorporate community needs into efforts to work towards restoring the ecosystem services of the San Joaquin Valley rivers and streams. Importantly, the San Joaquin Valley communities, including Tribal communities, have usually not fared well in access to natural places, especially those connected to water bodies.
In his current role, John is a senior policy advisor to the Friends of the River, with a mandate to connect the environmental organizations to the environmental justice, Tribal and recreational organizations to work together to support the common goal of creating a more sustainable social-ecological environment within the San Joaquin Valley.