The Authority is managed by a four-person Board consisting of local citizens with a sound understanding of the resource heritage of the area, and a vision of long term needs and possibilities for both the community and the ecosystem.  Initial appointments include:

Jim Dodson. Retired financial manager from Edwards Air Force Base, with a long history of activism for public lands protection.  Current President of the AVRCD.

Milt Stark. Author and lifelong resident of the Antelope Valley with a well known and respected expertise on its cultural and natural history shown in his books and articles.  President of the local State Parks Interpretive Association.

Rick Gould. Director of Parks, Recreation, and Community Services for the City of Santa Clarita.

Dave Myerson. Resource consultant and principal with the Resource Opportunity Group, LLC.

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Jim Dodson
Jim is a native Californian, born in Coronado in 1943, but grew up on both coasts with a Navy pilot father.  He has a political science degree from Carleton College in Minnesota and served for two years in the late ‘60’s in the US Army, and received an MBA from California State University Northridge in 1988.  He has an extensive history of conservation volunteerism, working actively in creating Red Rock Canyon State Park in the 1970’s.  He then led the fifteen year campaign that culminated in the California Desert Protection Act of 1994, protecting over eight million acres of public land.  He has received several awards for this service, most notably the Sierra Club’s highest tribute, the John Muir Award, in 1998. 

Jim has lived in the Antelope Valley since 1970, spending a career in financial management for the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base.  He served as Center Budget Officer for over 20 years, and retired in 2003 as Deputy Comptroller.  In 2004, he was appointed as a Director of the Antelope Valley Resource Conservation District, and was elected its President.  His focus with the AVRCD has been to expand its range of programs to include more habitat protection and to revitalize its Conservation Nursery.

He sees the chance for leadership with the new Desert and Mountain Conservation Authority as the next step in his path of providing the values of open space and healthy habitat to the community.

Milt Stark
Milt came to the Antelope Valley in 1923 at the age of 2. He attended local schools through junior college, and received his BA from USC.  He served in the United States Air Corps during World War II before beginning a career with the Los Angeles County Probation Department.  Most of those years were as Administrative Head of several different Probation Camps.  Through this experience he found a lasting interest in education, and served on the Westside School Board for 12 years, five of them as President.  He has served in several leadership roles with regional and state-wide school trustee associations.

He has a long history of service to the local community’s cultural and natural history riches.  He was a co-founder of the Antelope Valley Heritage Foundation, an organization established in attempt to save important historical, archeological and biological sites in the Antelope Valley.  He has served on the executive board of the West Antelope Valley Historical Society since 1980 as president and other positions.  Milt is the author of two wildflower books, the last of which, A FLOWER-WATCHER'S GUIDE To Wildflowers of the Western Mojave Desert, was called "a superb guide" by the California Native Plant Society.

Milt was a member of the Wildflower Preservation Committee in the initial efforts to raise money for the establishment of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, and later was President of the Antelope Valley State Parks Advisory Committee. For the past seven years, he have been President of the Poppy Reserve/Mojave Desert Interpretive Association.

Milt says simply “I have had a long time interest in preserving significant ecological sites in the Antelope Valley.”

Rick Gould
Richard E. Gould has been the City of Santa Clarita’s Director of Parks, Recreation, and Community Services since March of 2001.  Rick is focusing on park development, facility construction, and open space issues, as well as strategic planning to manage the projected growth of the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department.  Cultural arts, special events, and community health have been a recent focus.  The Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department has over 110 full-time and 400 part-time employees, and an operating budget of approximately $20 million.

Rick has a B.A. degree in Political Science and History from the University of Redlands.  He earned a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

Rick has over 30 years of Parks and Recreation experience.  Prior to Santa Clarita, Rick was the Community Services Manager for the City of Pleasanton.  In Pleasanton, Rick was responsible for the management and administration of programs, facilities, and golf course development.  In his spare time, Rick was also a Parks and Community Services Commissioner for the City of San Ramon.

Prior to moving to the City of Pleasanton, Rick worked for the City of Santa Cruz where he was responsible for the Ocean Beaches and Aquatics programs.  Additionally, Rick developed the City’s Emergency Management Response Plan.

Rick is married to Margaret O’Callaghan, and they have a 12-year-old son named Conor.

Dave Myerson
Dave is an independent consultant and Principal of Resource Opportunity Group, LLC, whose efforts are focused primarily on facilitating acquisitions and restoration of parklands and public open space for recreation and wildlife habitat.  He has over 25 years experience negotiating real estate transactions in both the public and private sectors.  Prior to forming his own consultancy, David was Director of Urban Projects for Environment Now Foundation in Santa Monica, CA.  While at the foundation, the Urban Program worked on coordination of local land trusts acquisition and restoration projects, and assisted the County of Los Angeles and various agencies of the State of California in parkland acquisitions.  It also helped manage grant programs with Caltrans and the City of Los Angeles to develop an innovative way to assess infill development potential in the urban areas of Southern California,

Dave is a native Californian, born in West Los Angeles in 1952, and has lived in Santa Monica for nearly 50 years.  He attended both Santa Monica College and Cal State Northridge in the early 1970's and served in the U.S. Naval Reserve as well during the 70's.

Dave's favorite pastimes are spending weekends and holidays hiking and biking, and basically enjoying our amazing wildlands with his long-time girlfriend Jennifer.