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Nonhighway
and Off-Road Vehicle Activities (NOVA) Program Advisory Committee
This page last updated October 16, 2009 |
Charter
Membership
Application
The Advisory Committee
is made up of 15 members that meets several times each year
to advise the Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) Director on Nonhighway and Off-Road Vehicle
Activities (NOVA) Program issues.
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Citizen
Members
Click on a committee member's name to see their profile. |
| Mike Blankenship |
Off-Road Vehicles ~ All-Terrain Vehicles Community |
Mr. Blankenship represents the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) recreation point of view on the NOVA Advisory Committee. He has lived in Ferry County for the past 28 years and is an advocate of outdoor recreation. Among his many affiliations, Mr. Blankenship is a member of the Tree Benders Snowmobile Club. As a county commissioner he has had the privilege of representing the Washington State Association of Counties on the Washington State Parks Winter Recreation Motorized and Non-Motorized Advisory Committees. Also on behalf of the association, Mr. Blankenship participated in the 2005 Legislative Off-Road Vehicle Noise Task Force.
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| Jeremy Blasdel |
Nonhighway Road Community |
Mr. Blasdel is a lifelong resident of Pasco, where he works for the Richland Public Works and Streets Department. He has spent most of his life on a small family farm raising cows and pigs for 4-H. Mr. Blasdel always has taken a strong interest in the outdoors and enjoys skiing, fishing, hunting, and camping. He currently is active in the Columbia Valley Grange, serves on the Camp Wooten State Park board of directors, and teaches local youth about proper hunting safety practices.
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| Arlene
Brooks |
Off-Road Vehicles ~ Four Wheel Drive Community |
Ms. Brooks is one
of three off-road vehicle representatives on the NOVA
Advisory Committee. She has been associated with the
Pacific Northwest Four Wheel Drive Association since
1968, holding various offices since 1980, including
those involving land use issues. In 1980, she participated
in the Governor's Conference on Recreation and the
Public Land Users Society, a group of organizations
favoring more recreational opportunities. That year
also marked the start of her participation in the
state NOVA program. Since then she has represented
the four-wheel drive community in various capacities.
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| Rick Burk |
Off-Road Vehicles ~ Motorcycles Community |
Mr. Burk is one of three, off-road vehicle representatives on the NOVA Advisory Committee and has been involved with motorized recreation land use issues in Washington since he left the U.S. Navy in 1979 and moved to Washington to take a position with Energy Northwest. Mr. Burk is a long-standing member of the Tri-Cities based Eastern Washington Dirt Riders Association, and served as president for more than ten years beginning in 1985. He helped found the Washington State Trails Coalition, and for a brief period, as its recorder. Mr. Burk is an avid hiker, and as time allows, fits in a little fishing. During his nearly 30-year career with Energy Northwest, Rick has qualified as a professional instrumentation and controls engineer and plant and projects manager. He has held increasing positions of responsibility within Energy Northwest in the areas of nuclear and renewable electrical energy production facilities. During the previous seven years, he was plant manager for the Klickitat County Public Utilities District Landfill Gas to Energy Facility in Roosevelt and recently was promoted to manager of fire protection services for Energy Northwest in Richland.Close
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| Louise Caywood |
Equestrian Community |
Ms. Caywood comes from a large, outdoor recreation family where a love of the outdoors and the ethics to preserve it were instilled from an early age. She has been a Pierce County resident for 42 years and has two children and five grandsons, all in Western Washington, to continue her family's outdoor legacy. Though you most frequently will see Ms. Caywood riding Washington's trails on horseback, she also uses an All-terrain vehicle quad when pursuing her passions of hunting, fishing, and camping. Ms. Caywood is a member of the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington and is a certified Leave No Trace educator. Close
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vacant |
Nonhighway Road Community |
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| Mike Harum |
Local Agencies |
Sheriff Harum represents local agencies on the NOVA advisory committee. He is a 34-year law enforcement veteran and the elected sheriff of Chelan County where he has served in the Corrections, Civil, Criminal, Off Road Patrol, and Patrol divisions. His law enforcement experience is entirely with Chelan County, but stretches beyond local boundaries to state and national levels. Sheriff Harum has served in top leadership positions in public administration and non-profit sectors. He is a trustee for the Washington State Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Association and has been involved in many of its programs. He is vice president of the Washington Association of County Officials and is chair of the Washington State Board of Law Enforcement Training, Standards and Education. Sheriff Harum also is involved in many advisory boards, including the Families and Friends of Violent Crime Victims and Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. At the local level he is on the boards of the Crisis Center and Boy Scouts and is a member of the Wenatchee Rotary Club.
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| Jeff
Lambert |
Hiking Community |
Mr. Lambert is one of four non-motorized members on the NOVA Advisory Committee, representing hikers. As the Conservation Chair of the Spokane Branch of The Mountaineers, he has often reported on NOVA issues to its 900 members and other user groups in Eastern Washington. In addition, he participates in the Wild Washington Coalition, Spokane Bike Club, Friends of Mt. Spokane, and the Washington Trails Association. Apart from hiking, Mr. Lambert regularly enjoys bicycling, canoeing, fishing, skiing, and photography.
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| Mark Levensky |
Hiking Community |
Mr. Levensky represents hikers and other pedestrians on the NOVA advisory committee. He was raised in Iowa and has lived and worked as a student or teacher in, among other places, Iowa City, Ann Arbor, Cambridge, New Hampshire, Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma, and South Carolina. In 2002, he retired from 30 years of teaching at The Evergreen State College. At Evergreen, he taught programs in environmental ethics, led field trips, and sponsored student internships with environmental organizations. Since coming to the Northwest, he has learned hiking, backpacking, snow-shoeing, long-distance biking, scrambling, easy climbing, kayaking, and running a skiff. Mr. Levensky is a member of organizations devoted to the conservation and stewardship of natural places in the Northwest. He writes and does volunteer work as a land steward, field trip leader, and writing tutor.
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| John
Spring |
Nonhighway Road Community |
Mr. Spring is one of three non-highway road representatives on the NOVA Advisory Committee. He was awarded a degree in outdoor recreation from the University of Washington where he heavily emphasized promoting opportunity for ALL people. He manages a machinery company by day and promotes volunteerism the rest of the time. He is a successful moderator with training from the prestigious instructors with the Young President's Organization.
Through the years, Mr. Spring has made presentations covering his 50 years of involvement in trails and the legacy of his father, the late Ira Spring, which endures today through the Spring Family Trust for Trails. A partial list of organizations in which Mr. Spring is active includes: International Mountain Biking Association, The Mountaineers, Student Conservation Association, Volunteer Trails Association, Washington State Trails Association, Washington Trails Association, Boy Scouts of America, Volunteers for Outdoor Washington, Sierra Club and National Audubon Society. On the personal side, John is an Eagle Scout and regularly gets out to hike, climb mountains, walk for health, mountain bike, kayak and canoe, sail, ski (both water and snow), snow shoe, volunteer on trail maintenance crews, car camp, participate in photography, and watch wildlife.
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Art
Tuftee |
Mountain Bicycling Community |
Mr. Tuftee is one of four non-motorized members of the NOVA Advisory Committee, representing mountain bicyclists. He has been a trail advocate since 1992 when he became alarmed at the rapid decrease of riding opportunities available to mountain bikes. Since then he has worked to ensure that bicyclists remain responsible members of the trails community and stay active in trail maintenance, education, and advocacy. Mr. Tuftee has served on a number of trail related committees and task forces including the Nonhighway and Off-Road Vehicle Activities (NOVA) Program, the NOVA Fuel Use Study, VTC, Moran Trails Advisory group, and State Parks Statewide Trails Policy committee. He is the western Washington representative of the International Mountain Bicycling Association , a past president and current board member of the Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club, and a member of the Professional Trail Builders Association.
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| State and
Federal Agency Members |
| Paul
Dahmer |
Department of
Fish and Wildlife |
As the Wildlife Area section manager for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mr. Dahmer is one of three state agency representatives on the NOVA Advisory Committee. Scattered across the state, Washington's Wildlife Areas comprise about 800,000 acres managed to protect, restore, and enhance fish and wildlife and their habitats while providing sustainable fish- and wildlife-related recreation. During his 16-year career with the department, Mr. Dahmer has been a mapped agency lands, developed land management plans, and addressed land policy and budget issues that impact agency Wildlife Areas. Paul is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources. His bachelor's and master's degrees are in wildlife biology and management. Paul enjoys kayaking, hiking backcountry skiing and other outdoor activities.
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| James
Horan |
Washington State
Parks and Recreation Commission |
Mr. Horan is one of three state agency representatives on the NOVA Advisory Committee. He is also an administrator with Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, overseeing several statewide recreation programs including boating safety, boat sewage disposal facilities, non-motorized winter recreation facilities, snowmobile facilities, and trails. He is also the agency's American's with Disabilities Act coordinator. Mr. Horan is the boating law administrator for Washington, president of the Western States Boating Administrators Association, and executive board member of the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators.
At the request of Washington State Office of Financial Management he also helped manage the Natural Resources Agencies ADA Task Force for several years. This culminated in the distribution of several million dollars to the state departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife and to State Parks for accessibility improvements for their facilities.
At a large resort in New York, Mr. Horan has given nature and historical talks to the public and school children; taught cross-country skiing; and supervised trail, road, tennis court, and putting green facilities. He developed and implemented the boating and snowmobile safety education programs for youths in Iowa while working for the Iowa Conservation Commission.
He is an active recreationist and especially enjoys fishing, hunting, downhill and cross-country skiing, hiking, backpacking, ATV riding, inline skating, and snowmobiling. This winter, he plans to try snowboarding for the first time. In 1971, he received a bachelor's degree in outdoor recreation from Utah State University.
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| Mark Mauren |
Department of
Natural Resources |
Mr. Mauren has been with the Department of Natural Resources since 1982, managing a number of state forests, south Puget Sound aquatic lands, and numerous porgrams, such as landscape planning, aquatics, port and planning, Washington Conservation Corps, and recreation, in his career with the department. He currently is the assistant manager of the Asset Management and Recreation Division, which is responsible for managing the department's recreation, public access and Washington Conservation Corps programs. Mr. Mauren lives in Gig Harbor and likes to stay active in the community. He has been served on a number of Pierce County boards and was elected in 2004 to the Peninsula Metropolitan Park District. He served as president of district' parks board until his term expired in 2008 and successfully led the board from a start up to full fledged park district.
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| Amy Tinderholt
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Okanogan and
Wenatchee national forests |
Ms. Tinderholt is the federal agency representative on the NOVA Advisory Committee. For the past six years she has served as an outdoor recreation planner on the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests. She also serves on the Region 6 recreation fee board of directors. Prior to her Forest Service career, she enjoyed working as a recreation research assistant for the University of Arizona and as an interpreter and naturalist for Idaho State Parks. She enjoys a wide variety of outdoor activities, from backpacking and mountain biking to trying to keep up with her nephews on an ATV.
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| Committee
Staff |
| Greg
Lovelady |
Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) |
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