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Great Basin Water Network

Board & Staff [As of 07/2020]

Great Basin Water Network
P.O. Box 75
Baker, Nevada 89311
Where is Baker

Phone (775) 881-8304
Email info4gbwn@gmail.com

Staff

KYLE ROERINK
The Great Basin Water Network’s Board of Directors announced that it has hired Kyle Roerink as the organization’s first-ever executive director.

The decision comes as the Water Network continues to fight the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s 300-mile, $15 billion pipeline, which would remove 58 billion gallons of water annually from the heart of the Great Basin and lower parts of Eastern Nevada’s water table by up to 200 feet.

Roerink, who formerly worked for Rep. Dina Titus and the YES on Question 6 energy campaign, will lead the organization as it fights legal battles in state and federal courts, defends the integrity of Nevada water law, and grows the Network’s coalition. He will continue the organization’s advocacy for smart conservation practices in lieu of expensive and unreasonable pipelines that will destroy water-dependent businesses and communities, indigenous cultural resources, a National Park, National Forests, and National Wildlife Refuges.

GBWN's Board of Directors

STEVE ERICKSON
Steve has been a community organizer, nonprofit executive director, and an advocate for peace and social, economic and environmental justice for over thirty years in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has led successful campaigns and influenced policy on a wide variety of issues in Utah, from establishing the first transitional housing for homeless teens and for homeless veterans, to halting plans for the development of biological weapons labs, electronic warfare ranges and private prisons. He currently serves as policy advocate for the Utah Audubon Council, as an advocate for the anti-poverty nonprofit Crossroads Urban Center, and is the volunteer director of the watchdog group Citizens Education Project.

ABIGAIL JOHNSON
Abby is a consultant on rural community development and environmental issues, with specialties in nuclear waste and public involvement. She is former executive director of Citizen Alert which helped defeat the MX missile project; manager of Nevada's rural Community Development Block Grant program; and technical assistance provider for Rural Community Assistance Corp. She has been the nuclear waste advisor to Eureka County, Nevada since 1991; and is a freelance writer and editor based in Carson City, and Baker, Nevada.

SUSAN LYNN
Susan is the retired Executive Director of Public Resource Associates. She served as a member for seven years and Chairman of the Washoe County Regional Water Planning Commission and its Conservation Committee for 4 years. She formerly served as rural coordinator for Nevada's lone Congressman and was a founder of the Truckee River Yacht Club, Friends of Black Rock/High Rock, and a founding board member of Nevada Women's Fund and Great Basin Land and Water, Inc. Susan is the past coordinator of GBWN and serves as an advisor to the board.

ROB MROWKA
Rob lives in the hill country of western New York, after spending 12 years working in Nevada with the U.S. Forest Service, Clark County government and the Center for Biological Diversity. Rob has a B.S. degree in Natural Resources Management and a M.S. degree in forest ecology. Although now far from NV, Rob visits regularly and cares deeply for the state’s natural heritage and great people, and actively advocates for living within the ecological limits of your environment.

RICK SPILSBURY & DELAINE SPILSBURY [Photo is of Delaine]
Rick and Delaine are members of the Ely Shoshone Tribe. Rick is a videographer and blogger from McGill, Nevada while Delaine has worked extensively with the Nevada Commission on Tourism to promote eastern Nevada and is a businesswoman. She also serves on the board of the Great Basin Heritage Area Partnership

ROSE STRICKLAND
Rose is an over 30-year Sierra Club activist and leader on public lands and water issues offering analysis, testimony, public comment and coordination on local, state and federal projects. She is a liaison to many agencies on technical and policy issues. An avid birder and hiker, she lives in Reno, Nevada.

TOM BAKER
Tom lives in Baker, Nevada where, along with his father and brothers and their families, he operates Baker Ranches in Snake Valley. Tom is also President of the White Pine County Farm Bureau.

PATRICK DONNELLY
Patrick Donnelly is the Nevada State Director for the Center for Biological Diversity, a nationwide non-profit dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Based in Southern Nevada, Patrick has been involved in natural resource conservation and activism for 15 years. He enjoys hiking with his dog, photographing wildflowers, and playing music around a campfire.

ANN BRAUER
Ann is a retired teacher; member, and sometimes Chair, of the Indian Springs Town Advisory Board; board member of the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club. Ann resides in Indian Springs, in rural Clark County, Nevada.

Annette Garland
Annette lives in Callao, Utah, where she taught school for 39 years. She and her daughter's family own and operate the Rafter Lazy C Ranch. Along with her late husband, Cecil, she worked against the MX Missile system and the Air Force's plan for an electronic battlefield in Snake Valley.

Aaron Altshuler
Aaron is originally from upstate New York but has called the Western US home for the last 12 years. He is currently located in Nevada and is the Store Manager of the Patagonia Outlet in Reno. Aaron is passionate about public land protection as well as water issues. He worked on campaigns to remove the four obsolete dams on the Lower Snake River in Eastern Washington as well as opposing the creation of an oil terminal at the Port of Portland, OR. Aaron enjoys snowboarding, climbing and backpacking with his wife and daughter.

Chris Giunchigliani (Chris G)
For more than 28 years, Chris Giunchigliani served Nevadans in the Legislature and Clark County Commission, advocating for responsible growth, conservation, and social equality during a time of immense change in the state. As a former director on the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Board, Giunchigliani’s unparalleled opposition to the Las Vegas Pipeline is reflected in her voting record and public rhetoric against the $15.5 billion project that will siphon 58 billion gallons of water annually from the desert.

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