STAFF
 Zack
Shelley, Monitoring & Assessment Program
Director
zshelley@btwatershed.org
As the Forum's
Monitoring Program Director, Zack coordinates the Forum’s water
quality monitoring and assessment programs, data analysis, and
reporting strategies. Before moving to Colorado in September 2006,
Zack worked for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)
in their Watershed Assessment Section. With FDEP, he developed
sampling and analysis plans and conducted intensive field surveys of
fresh and marine surface waterbodies and watersheds to determine
potential impairment and corrective solutions/practices. In this
capacity, he became familiar with water quality analyses, compliance
with federal and state water quality standards, and the development
of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) under the Clean Water Act and
Florida Watershed Restoration Act. Zack’s educational background
includes a M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns
Hopkins University and a M.S. in Health and Safety Management from
West Virginia University.
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
 Ed Young,
Chairman of the Board
Ed graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 1970
with a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry teaching. He has been in the
Water Treatment field since beginning as an Operator Trainee in Salt
Lake City in December 1972. After working in the Tri-Districts and
Loveland Water Plants, he presently holds the position of Plant
Superintendent of Greeley’s Boyd Lake Water Treatment Plant. In the
1980's, Ed served as an instructor and advisory board member of the
Larimer County Vo-Tech Water Operator's training course and was an
instructor in the Colorado Operator's Training Course held annually
in Boulder. For stress relief, Ed is involved in three local bands
as well as being active in his church. Ed lives in Loveland with his
very patient wife, Deb. His three grandchildren keep "Poppa" from getting too bored. Ed is a
founding Director of the Big Thompson Watershed Forum, and has
served on the Board since 1997.
 Dave Cole, Vice-Chairman of the Board
Dave retired from 30 years of employment with Hewlett-Packard.
Prior to joining HP in 1969, Dave spent four years with North
American Aviation in Santa Susana, CA testing the Apollo Mission
rocket engines, and the following four years with Eastman Kodak in
Rochester, NY in their special space programs area. During his time
with HP, Dave worked with HP's Loveland; Boeblingen, Germany, Ft.
Collins; Greeley; and Bristol, England operations. His efforts were
concentrated between marketing/sales and customer support. Dave's
career gave him and his wife, Lily, an opportunity to spend 10 years
living in Europe developing a keen appreciation for cultural
differences and people interaction. Dave's two children and four
grandchildren also live and work in the Loveland area. Dave has been
a member of the Forum’s Board for the past five years and is an
active member of the Small Lakes Focus Group. His hobbies are
history, art (he collects antiquarian maps), and travel.
 Greg Dewey,
Secretary to the Board
Greg is a Civil Engineer with the City of Loveland, Department
of Water and Power. Greg completed his B.S. Degree in Civil
Engineering in 1992 from Colorado School of Mines, and is a
registered Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado. He has
worked in both the public and private sectors. His variety of water
quality and water resources project experience includes the fields
of hydrology, water rights administration and engineering, water
quality permitting, water resources planning and management, water
and wastewater treatment, and endangered species issues. Greg is one
of the City’s liaisons to the ditch companies in the Big Thompson
watershed, primarily because of the City’s ownership interests in
many of these ditches. Greg was raised in rural Weld County, and
attended schools in Kersey, Colorado. His parents continue to farm
ground which has been in the family for over a hundred years. Greg
lives in Loveland with his wife, Jeri, and their two daughters,
Taylor and Constance.
John Bartholow
John recently
retired with over 30 years of service with the U.S. Geological
Survey's Biological Resource Division in Fort Collins. At the USGS,
John's responsibilities included designing, developing, testing, and
transferring methods to assess the impacts of water development
activities on aquatic ecosystems nationwide. Recent projects
included the development of a decision support system for the
Klamath River in Oregon and California, development of a salmon
population model for evaluating water management alternatives,
enhancement of stream temperature models, and providing expert
advice to field personnel. John has been involved in many peer
review activities including water temperature standards for the EPA
and TMDL margin of safety requirements. He has been a Faculty
Affiliate at Colorado State University and chair of the Larimer
County Environmental Advisory Board. John currently serves as an
advisor on the City of Fort Collins Water Board. He is married to
Janet Seeley MD, is an empty nester, and gets invigorated taking
landscape photos.
Judy Billica
Judy is the Senior
Process Engineer/Watershed Manager at the City of Fort Collins Water
Treatment Facility. Judy has worked for the City of Fort Collins
since 1998. Prior to that, she worked for consulting firms in Fort
Collins and California, starting with her first consulting position
in 1980 with HDR in Santa Barbara. During Judy’s professional
career, she has worked on a wide range of water quality-related
projects, including managing, designing and conducting water quality
studies of watershed and ground water systems; designing water and
wastewater treatment processes; conducting drinking water treatment
process optimization studies; conducting pilot-scale studies for TOC
removal during water treatment; and developing numerical models,
conducting experiments, and performing tracer tests to better
understand the movement of water and contaminants through natural
and engineered systems. Judy received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
Civil Engineering from Colorado State University and her B.S. degree
from the University of California at Davis. She is a registered
Professional Engineer in Colorado.
 Tom
Blaue
Tom is the Water
Quality Manager for the Town of Estes Park. His job responsibilities
include overseeing water treatment operations and EPA compliance
requirements. Tom has worked for the Town since 1990. Prior to that he
was manager of the Allenspark Water and Sanitation District. During
that time Tom participated as a fact witness and prepared court
exhibits in the United States vs. Colorado in-stream flow application,
on behalf of the St.Vrain-Left Hand Water Conservancy District. He was
also a member of U.S. Congressman David Skaggs’ citizen committee on
Wild and Scenic Designation for the North St.Vrain River. Tom has
served as president of the Upper St. Vrain Water Users Association,
assisting residents and property owners with issues relating to water
rights and Colorado water law. Tom was
born and raised outside Golden, Colorado and attended the University
of Colorado in Boulder. After college Tom spent several years as a
free-lance artist working with such organizations as the National Park
Service, the Nature Conservancy and the National Wildlife Federation.
His special interests include making bamboo fly rods and field testing
his work on the waters of the Rocky Mountain West.
 John
Fraser
John retired in 1994
from the United States Air Force where he served for over 27 years
as a Civil Engineering Officer. His Air Force responsibilities
included facility maintenance, construction and all aspects of
physical plant management, including water, wastewater, electrical
power, and steam generation facilities. He is currently
employed part time by Weston Solutions, Inc. as the Quality and
Training Manager for their construction service line. John is
a fly fishing guide with Great Western Fly Fishing Company, North
Poudre Irrigation Company stockholder, and Board member for the
Rocky Mountain Flycasters Chapter of Trout Unlimited. He
believes available clean water in acceptable quantities is the most
significant consideration in development of the Front Range.
John works out of his home in Fort Collins.
 Gabri Vergara
Gabrielle (Gabri) graduated from the University of Northern Colorado
in 1994 with a Masters in Public Health.
She lives in Greeley with her husband and two children.
Gabri has been an employee with the Weld County Department of Public
Health and Environment for the last
11 years. As the Solid & Hazardous Waste Education Specialist
she works with the community in addressing the detrimental affects
of improper disposal of solid and hazardous waste to the environment
and humans. This includes the promotion and marketing of Weld
County’s two household hazardous waste facilities and providing
presentations to community groups to create a greater awareness of
this issue. Gabri has participated in the Big Thompson Watershed
Forum
since 2003 as a board alternate and, most
recently, as a regular board member, representing Weld County.
Gabri is also a board member of the Big Dry Creek Watershed
Association.
 Esther
Vincent
Esther is the Water
Quality Manager with the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy
District in Berthoud, Colorado. She completed her Masters degree in
Civil Engineering in 1999 from the National Superior School of
Hydraulics and Mechanics of Grenoble, France and is a registered
Professional Engineering in the State of Colorado. She has been with
Northern Water since 1999 where she started as an intern working on
water resources planning and forecasting. Her responsibilities then
expanded to the areas of water quality and water conservation. She
now manages the District water quality program and leads its water
conservation team. Esther is also on the board of the Grand County
Water Information Network and the Colorado Water Wise Council.
Esther was born and grew up in Paris, France and went to college in
the French Alps where she became an avid skier. She lives in Old
Town Fort Collins with her husband Tom and her son Liam.
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