Board of Directors

Will Roger
President
Will Roger is currently a member of the board of directors of Black Rock City LLC (Burning Man), Black Rock Arts Foundation amd serves on the Northern Nevada RAC. Will's background in science, fine art, education and management support his broad interests that range from environmental issues to interactive public art. He splits his time between his studio in Oakland, CA and his outpost in Gerlach, NV. Will's other interests include motorcycle riding, sailing, wind surfing, hiking, underwater photography, aerial photography, astronomy, green and alternative energy and preserving Nevada's wilderness. Will is also a member of the NRA, ACLU and SAC.

Margie Reynolds - Vice President
Over 20 years in design and marketing enables Margie to doubly handle Outreach for Friends. She's worked with Visitor Bureaus in the Tahoe / Carson area and is currently active with the Lake Tahoe Earth Day Foundation. Her clients include the Nevada Museum of Art, UC Davis, and the BLM.

Margie's fist visit to the Black Rock region was in '92. Armed with a USGS geothermal map, a few hot springs books and a Gazetteer, she set off in search of a good soak. An outdoor-lover from Tahoe City, she feels fortunate to be able to spend her time soaking at both ends of the ancient Lahontan watershed. Zella doesn't mind either.

James Kudrna
Secretary
James Kudrna is the manager of Kudrna Nevada LLC and owner of Soldier Meadows Ranch & Lodge. Jim retired in 2005 after over 30 years in the real estate industry as a broker, manager, marketer, CFO, dealer, portfolio acquisition specialist, and developer. Jim is experienced in the implementation of marketing, planning, organization financing and development of all types of communities and resources. He is an avid conservationist, friend of all wildlife, critic of waste, a minimalist, and now he is becoming a rancher at Soldier Meadows, a key destination along the Emigrant Trail. He loves to hunt chukkar (and doesn't much care if he gets any), fish, camp, explore, fix things, learn, teach, build consensus, travel, and make changes happen. Jim is married with two sons, and received his formal education in economic forecasting and business at Western Washington State University.

David Book
Self proclaimed Desert Rat David Book has been with Friends for nearly 10 years. Dave's been scouring the deserts of Arizona, California, and Nevada since the 1970's. He's an active member of Washoe Country Search & Rescue, Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Oregon California Trail Associatiion, Sierra Club member and trip leader, does amateur radio and has been a Burning Man attendee since 1993. Dave has also been a BLM volunteer since the mid 1990's. When he's not at meetings, he's out poking around in ghost towns, mining camps and deserted backroads. His favorite motto's: "I don't care where I go or what I do, Ijust want to go" and "When you're in the desert, you always have a view"

Garth T. Elliott
Garth started out life one month early and a little over 4 pounds. He's more than made up for that at 6'-5" and much more than 4 pounds. Born in San Jose, California, Garth came to Reno to help run a series of small convenience stores with his mother and stepfather. At 18, he headed back to Cal to learn tool and die trade with his dad, making parts for the Apollo 15 lunar lander.

Active in the community, Garth is a citizen's advisory board member, on the RTC update committee, trying to help contain the rampant growth of the Reno area. Garth serves as the Facilities director for the Nevada Museum of Art. His past contributions to Friends include past-president.

Norve Enns
Norve has been rockhounding in the Black Rock Desert region for over 40 years. An expert in minerology, he serves on the board of the Reno Gem and Mineral Society, where our meetings are held.

David Friedman
Treasurer
After earning a B.S. in geology at the University of Pennsylvania, David Friedman was involved with a number of complex environmental projects which included work at several eastern Superfund sites. Dave began working for the State of Nevada as an environmental regulator at the Nevada Test Site in 1998, then became the recycling coordinator at the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection in 2000. Dave was responsible for developing and managing program initiatives, providing information and technical assistance, performing an accurate count of the state recycling rate, and instituting contracts to promote recycling. Since September 2006, Friedman has been working as radiological control specialist for the Nevada State Health Division. A live-long outdoor and skiing enthusiast, Dave followed a childhood dream and relocated to the Lake Tahoe area in 1995. He also successfully completed a solo bicycle ride across the US and Canada covering nearly 5,000 miles.

James Linebaugh
James Linebaugh has extensive experience on the Nevada range. Currently he is busy with a multitude of projects: Certified Range Management Consultant, Executive Secretary for the NV State Grazing Boards Central Committee - Principal Founder, Charter Member and Past President of Trails West, Inc., and member of the Black Rock/High Rock BLM Advisory Subgroup. James was also Past Director for the Society for Range Management.

Dennis Porter
Dennis has been involved in activities in the Black Rock / High Rock region sinde the late 1970's. He's a past Chairman of the Shasta County CA Air Resource Appeals Board and has been an attorney since 1975. Currently, Dennis is semi-retired and limits his practice to recreational access and environmental law. Past president of the High Rock Trekkers, a 4WD group formed over 20 years ago to work in partnership with teh BLM to protect recreational access and the historical structures and pioneer trails in the region.

STAFF

Matthew "Metric" Ebert
Program Director
After his formative years near Washington, D.C., Matthew "Metric" Ebert headed west, a motorcycle beneath him and dreams in his head. After a year in the Trinity National Forest working a mineral rights claim, Metric moved to San Francisco to pursue higher education and other interests. There he developed a career in the arts, working with several bands and event production companies while pursuing a music business degree at San Francisco State. While this was often satisfying, it was rarely lucrative, and so Metric also worked for the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the UCSF School of Medicine as a research assistant. Ultimately, he decided to move to northern Nevada in 2000 and became the ranch manager for Burning Man, developing their rural property into a professional storage and production facility. Now Metric has settled in Gerlach, and serves the Gerlach Empire Citizen Advisory Board in addition to his work with the Friends of Black Rock.

To contact Metric, call 775-557-2900.