Chair Emeritar
32+ years of experience
Florence LaRiviere
How did you get involved with CCCR?
By the mid 1960’s, tidal marshes of San Francisco Bay had been diminished by close to ninety per cent. I joined a group of citizens who were deeply alarmed at this loss. We asked our Representative Don Edwards for help, and with his great political skills, our National Wildlife Refuge, now named for him, was established.
That was 1972, now fast forward to 1985—that was the year my husband Philip and I began meeting with a small group to consider what to do about the loss of the beautiful cord grass marsh in nearby Charleston Slough.
During one of those meetings, Rick Epstein, a bright young attorney from Mountain View, came up with the show-stopping idea that we should found a new organization and acquire Bair Island, hundreds of acres kept from development in Redwood City by a public referendum, plus, he said, how about getting every other acre of restorable lands still left on the bay!
That was the birth of CCCR. I became the Chair.
Identify if you lead or participate in another local group that is part of CCCR. 
My husband, Philip, chaired the Friends of Charleston Slough until his death a few years ago. I continued to follow events in that amazing plot of land and water, but the guardianship has pretty much landed in the hands of the South Bay Pond Restoration Project.
What is your background and the skills you bring to CCCR? 
The only background I bring to my work for CCCR is a childhood-nurtured love of polliwogs and song birds. Well, maybe a tendency to never give up too.
How long have you been an active member of CCCR?
I have been a member of CCCR ever since it was an idea, that is I am a founding member.
How long have you held your current position on the board?
Two years ago The Committee was proud to name as co-chairs Carin High and Gail Raabe. I have the delightful and much appreciated title of Chair Emerita.
What is your favorite species at the Refuge?
It’s hard to choose a favorite among the wonderful inhabitants of the Refuge. I guess it would be the ones we fought hard for- mice, plovers and rails. I want to especially mention a most important species. That would be the human staff—with its devotion to the wildlife and the public’s enjoyment of the Refuge which is beyond measure.
What is the one project with CCCR that has been your greatest achievement?
This one is easy—my greatest achievement is the sit down every month for thirty years with the warmest, kindest, brightest group of volunteers who ever joined together.