STEVE HAZE

Steve was appointed by the Board of Directors to the position of Executive Director in March 2023.  He has assumed the position that Board Member Matt Hurley held when the district was re-activated through his leadership in 2019.  Steve's responsibilities is to carry on Matt's efforts to further establish Tranquillity RCD as a fully functional agency on a steady day- to-day operational footing.  

Steve has over 20 years in natural resources with program and executive management responsibilities directed towards agriculture, rangeland, forestland, and watersheds within the Sierra Nevada and San Joaquin Valley region. Collaboration and partnerships with local, state, federal agencies, NGOs, and research institutions including UC Merced’s Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) and Lawrence Livermore Labs primarily focused on forest health and water resource challenges.  He is a Charter member of the Southern Sierra Integrated Water Management Group under the California Department of Water Resources and a member of the California Association of Resource Conservation District’s multi-agency Joint Forestry Committee (https://carcd.org/our-work/committees/forestry-committee/).

He is a Certified in Integrated Resource Management (CIRM) Practitioner, who has a history of successful strategic leadership,  organizational leadership, program management,  workforce development and economic development.  Steve currently serves as the treasurer for the San Joaquin Valley Chapter of the California Special Districts Association (CSDA).

Tranquillity Resource Conservation District on the west side of Fresno County  covers over 180,000 acres of prime agricultural land, which is the economic engine within the heart of the San Joaquin Valley.  Under the Board's direction,  Steve's mandate includes the district partnering with the McMullin Area Groundwater Agency (MAGSA); other RCDs within the region focused on improving the conservation of the land, air, and water (LAW), and the farming communities and workforce essential for sustaining the ag economy of the future – today. The district strives towards improving the capacity, capabilities, effectiveness and efficiencies of all farmers and ranchers within the west side of Fresno County and the workforce essential to its continued success.

He is focused on forging stronger partnerships that includes the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Services) under the USDA, CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture), CCI (Carbon Cycle Institute), Farm of the Future (West Hills Community College, Coalinga) and Bar 20 Dairy's GHG (Greenhouse Gas) capture for energy production.

His goal is to to carryover the accomplishments and successes that were established over the last 15 years during his tenure with the Sierra Resource Conservation District from 2007 to 2023, which under his leadership, SRCD was the recipient of the District of the Year Award in 2017 from the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD).