WFLC/WGA Speakers

Carlene Anders is mayor of the City of Pateros. She led the recovery efforts for the largest wildfires in Washington State history, which burned over one million acres and destroyed 800+ structures. Carlene was a wild land firefighter for the Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Forest Service. She had the distinguished honor to be one of the first women to smokejump in the State of Washington and continues to be a volunteer with her local fire district. Carlene is chair of the North Central Washington Economic Development District and vice-chairs the Okanogan Council of Governments and the county Transportation District.

Jeff Sickles has over 20 years of experience in water resources engineering. He has served as a group manager, project director, project manager, project engineer and hydraulics task manager on numerous projects throughout Colorado and the Western United States and has worked with a variety of local, state and federal agencies. Jeff’s expertise includes a broad knowledge of hydraulic and hydrologic engineering from conceptual studies, CLOMR/LOMR approval, through preparation of final construction plan packages. Specific areas of expertise include floodplain management, floodplain hydraulic modeling, design of open channels, channel rehabilitation, drop structure design, design of stream stability and scour countermeasures, stream restoration, storm drains, and culverts. 

Bill Short is the manager of the Forest and Watershed Geology Program at the California Geological Survey (CGS).  Mr. Short also served as California’s Acting State Geologist from October 2018 to June 2020.    Along with his counterpart at CalFire, Mr. Short serves as Statewide lead for post-fire hazards assessment on California’s non-federal lands.  In this capacity he interacts with numerous federal agencies including USGS, NRCS, NWS, FEMA, and ACOE.  He holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Geology and is licensed in California as a Professional Geologist, a Certified Engineering Geologist, and a Certified Hydrogeologist.

Troy Timmons, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Western Governors’ Association – Troy manages a portfolio that includes forestry and wildfire, high-level nuclear waste and health issues.  The Colorado native joined WGA in 2015.  He has extensive experience in the political arena, working as a Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, a Professional Staff Member with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Legislative Director in the personal office of a House Member.  He has also spent time managing environmental remediation work at several Department of Energy sites, including the cleanup of the former Rocky Flats Plant, part of the Nation’s nuclear weapons production complex.  Troy is a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois.

Mike Zupko is Principal of Zup Co., Inc., a natural resource and sportsmen’s consulting firm.  Currently, he represents the Wildland Fire Leadership Council, an intergovernmental committee of federal, state, tribal and local officials convened by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Defense and Homeland Security dedicated to consistent implementation of wildland fire policies, goals and management activities.  He reports directly to the Undersecretary of Agriculture and the Assistant Secretary of Interior. Mike was responsible for the coordination of all aspects of the regional cohesive wildland fire management strategy organization including representation of the region nationally with key policymakers, facilitating strategic planning, developing issues and implementation/action from a multitude of partners.