WCC Board

WCC Board of Directors	Gretchen Nicholoff [President] and her husband Robin have been active in public lands issues in WCC and WSERC forever, it seems. Gretchen worked at High Country News in Paonia and is active in the Democratic Party in Delta County.	[Vice President]
	Randy Parker [Treasurer] and his wife lived in New York's Adirondack Mountains for 30 years, where he operated a private law practice and served as Vice President of a non-profit which served special needs clients. Since retiring to Ridgway, he has been involved with Ridgway-Ouray Community Council's land use campaigns.	Noalani Terry [Secretary] is a freelance indexer and holistic health practioner. Prior to moving to western Colorado in 1997, she spent 9 years as Library Manager for World Resources Institute in Washington, DC. She has also served on the boards of the Whole Life Network, UVA and the Environment & Resource Management Division of the Special Libraries Association.
	Steve Aigner (Community Alliance of the Yampa Valley) retired as a sociology professor specializing in community development and practice in Iowa to live in Steamboat Springs where his 3 adult children and grandchild also live. Steve continues his community practice in Steamboat by working with the Community Alliance to empower citizens on land use and natural resource issues and with volunteers to prevent suicide.	Paul Light (Grand Valley Citizens Alliance) is a retired Director of Research and Development for National Ministries with the American Baptist Church. He and his wife live in Garfield County where they are outspoken advocates for responsible gas development.
	Rein Van West has been guilty of cultural and scholarly neglect in favor of more time outdoors. However, he did manage to find great rewards in 25 years as an educator and spent time as an administrator with the Colorado Outdoor Education Center, finding that connecting children with nature might be one of the more important nurturing and long-term benefits for our planet.	Marv Ballantyne is recently retired from his career as owner of Black Canyon Appraisal in Montrose, and now can be found playing banjo with any number of bands in the area. Marv served as WCC President from 1986 to 1988 and was a spokesperson for WCC's Toxics Committee in the 1990s when it fought against a proposed low-level radioactive waste dump in the West End of Montrose County.
	Claudette Konola (WCC of Mesa County)	Monica Wiitanen (At-large) is a member of the North Fork Coal Working Group, Delta County's Upper North Fork Area Planning Committee, the Valley Organic Growers' Association, and is a vendor at the North Fork Farmers' Market. Monica also enjoys the fiber arts--spinning, weaving, knitting, tatting and sewing.
		Peggy Rawlins (At-large) moved to Battlement Mesa in Garfield County in 1996 and almost immediately became a spokesperson on issues surrounding gas drilling. The issues of gas drilling seem to have followed Peggy when she moved to Grand Junction, where she helped pass a watershed protection ordinance in 2006.

Western Colorado Congress is an alliance for community action empowering people

to protect and enhance their quality of life in western Colorado.

PO Box 1931, Grand Junction, CO 81502; phone (970) 256-7650; fax (970) 245-0686