CONSERVATIONIST EXTRAORDINAIRE

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNER, POET, COACH HELPS TO PROTECT SONOMA COUNTY’S NATURAL BEAUTY

There are four questions that have served as guiding principles for Richard Retecki (’64) in his five-decade career in long-range environmental planning and conservation.

What’s next? How are we going to accomplish it? Who’s going to do it? When do we start?

“If you’re going to be part of a group, especially one that deals with state and regional parks, nonprofits and the Coastal Conservancy, you need to leave your assumptions at the door and get things done,” said Retecki, 79, a resident of Sebastopol in Sonoma County, Calif.

These questions have guided Retecki and his partners to create a detailed official report on the natural resources of Sonoma County and an environmental database for the county’s planning and resource management.

Beyond this work, those questions have led him through a degree from Edinboro University in geography, a 13-month tour of Vietnam after he was drafted into the Army in 1968, a collection of published poetry chapbooks and a lifetime of volunteer service as a Little League baseball coach and youth mentor.

By Christopher LaFuria

“The first poem I ever wrote was at Edinboro when I was 19,” said Retecki, whose writing covers the gamut from nature to nostalgia. “But I seriously started writing while keeping a diary and writing poems in Vietnam. And it just became a regular habit.”

As a student at Edinboro, Retecki earned varsity letters as a football and basketball manager. He also performed with the trumpet trio The Three Jacks with classmates Harland Wiss and David Mason.

As a young soldier and deep-sea diver – his job in Vietnam was to organize troops coming and going from the states – and as a nationally recognized environmental planner, Retecki stayed focused not just on his own goals and missions, but also his method of collaborating and systematic resource management.

Following his service in Vietnam, Retecki and two Army buddies moved to the Bodega Bay region of Sonoma County in 1971 to operate a branch of Viking Marine Biological Supply. There, the group did construction work, including concrete finishing and basic carpentry.

Feeling the ennui from working labor jobs, Retecki nearly headed home to Vandergrift, Pa., when he learned that Sonoma County was recruiting folks with environmental backgrounds to help develop the Sonoma County General Plan – its first comprehensive land-use plan.

In March 1972, Retecki was hired to write climate and physiography reports as part of the natural resource inventory. The crew worked diligently to evaluate seven different county population levels during the next eight years to develop a general plan for the year 2000.

A 0.25% sales tax was passed to preserve agriculture and purchase future parkland and unique features. Yearly, $22 million to $25 million is collected for those purposes. Since 1990, protected lands in Sonoma County’s 1 million acres grew from 1.8% to nearly 20%. His work has protected nearly 30,000 acres in the county.

Fast-forward to 1990, when Retecki would work over the next five years as lead planner for the Russian River Public Access and Trespass Management Plan, which improved access to the estuary and river and added more than 600 acres of new river parks.

“The Access Plan was controversial and combative, but we did it, and the new parks are wonderful,” said Retecki, who continued to work with nearly 330,000 acres of public access land through his retirement in 2009. “We had a lot of money, and we knew we could get a lot of things done. And we did.”

In the early 2000s, Retecki then served as lead planner for the Bodega Bay Trails plan, working with public and nonprofit agencies to develop trails, increase safe public access and address public safety issues in and around the bay.

In 1995, while living in Oakland, Retecki was appointed by U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-13) to the inaugural Board of Directors for the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center in Oakland. The Center is dedicated to conflict resolution and educational programs for at-risk youths in the greater East Bay area. And in October 2021, Retecki received an Environmental Lifetime Achievement Award from the California State Senate.

“The accomplishments in Sonoma County have been very challenging but fulfilling work,” Retecki said. “I was surprised by the lifetime award, but I know I will keep my head down and keep doing this for years and years.”

Throughout his arduous work in environmental advocacy, Retecki has also published seven chapbooks of poetry. In 1985, he was invited to participate in the “Poetry Outside the Mainstream” symposium at the University of California, Berkeley for professional and critical exposure.

And he found time to marry his wife, Sally, in 1984 and raise their son, Ted, in Oakland. Without Retecki knowing, Sally was the one who submitted his manuscript of poetry to UC Berkeley that was accepted.

Since retiring as a long-range environmental planner, Retecki still keeps active doing what he loves – writing, coaching baseball and celebrating humanity.

From 2012-2021, he partnered with his friend, Michael Gillotti, to build the Sebastopol Living Peace Wall, which honors those who have worked nonviolently for peace and justice.

Since 2017, he has written for the Sonoma County Gazette on environmental issues in efforts to save the coastline and coastal trails.

If there’s anything outside of environmental work that has become top tier in Retecki’s legacy, it’s his nearly three decades of service as a Little League coach in Oakland and Sebastopol. It’s not uncommon for the Edinboro grad to walk around town and run into his former players, who stop and chat with their old coach.

“I love running into parents or kids that I coach and see how everyone has grown,” he said. “I enjoy being on the field and working with kids – it’s really a teaching experience that they appreciate.”

Coaching baseball, for Retecki, is more than just teaching how to hit, throw and catch. It’s also an opportunity to inspire the next generation of dedicated team players.

“By collectively evaluating the team and making improvements, we use baseball to help these kids to a better life,” he said. “And at the end of each season, they move on to the next level as players and human beings.”

EDINBORO ROTC CADET BECOMES THE FIRST FEMALE ARMY RANGER TO JOIN ENGINEER BATTALION

By Christopher LaFuria

In the throes of athletic competition or rappelling from a C-130 Hercules military aircraft, Army 2nd Lt. Halle Lienhart (’20) keeps the same mantra in focus.

“Exceed the standard,” she said. “If there are female and male standards, you always obviously want to exceed the female standard. But what I’ve always done is exceed the male standard – and the highest standard possible.”

Lienhart, who commissioned as an active-duty engineer officer with Edinboro University’s ROTC program, became the 91st woman in U.S. history to graduate from Army Ranger training. Additionally, she is the first female Ranger to graduate from the 37th Engineer Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division.

Despite taking a male-dominated career path – according to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Army is composed of 15% women – Lienhart never lost sight of her goals, despite oftentimes being the only woman in her military operations.

“People are starting to realize that if someone wants to work harder – no matter male or female –they’re going to do what they need to do to succeed,” said Lienhart, who graduated from Edinboro in 2020 with a degree in health and physical education with a teacher certification.

Following her graduation and commissioning, Lienhart shipped directly to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri to complete engineer officer training for five months. Immediately after completing her training in January 2021, she headed to Fort Benning in Georgia for Army Airborne training until March 2021.

A few months later, Lienhart joined the 82nd Airborne for Small Unit Ranger Tactics (SURT) training, which is a precursor to the rigorous Ranger training. There she was certified for Ranger School, where the journey intensified.

In just the first week of Ranger training – called Ranger Assessment Phase (RAP) – officers like Lienhart encountered physical fitness and endurance tests, basic field skills assessments, land navigation and a 12mile ruck march where officers carry in excess of 50 pounds of backpacks, gear and water on their journey.

“That was a very long week,” Lienhart said. “I was beat but also relieved, because you need to be physically fit to advance to everything else.”

The next three phases of Ranger School, which Lienhart passed on the first try among the 80th percentile, include Darby, Mountain and Swamp phases. In the first phase, Ranger students learn ambush and recon missions and advance to platoon operations. Mountain phase involves building on platoon-level techniques and learning rappelling and rock-climbing skills on Mount Yonah in Georgia. Swamp phase finalizes Ranger training to ensure all students are proficient in skills and platoon operations.

“I had a very dedicated squad,” Lienhart said. “We were all very close. I was surrounded by some pretty motivated individuals.”

Following Ranger School graduation, Lienhart found her current position as a sapper platoon leader, who is trained in defensive and offensive infantry tasks, often supporting frontline combat infantry. She oversees a platoon of nearly 30 paratroopers in three different companies.

“Our role as combat engineers is to bridge any obstacle for the most part or clear any minefields or just giving the infantry the ability to walk freely, maneuver freely without any obstacles,” Lienhart explained.

Lienhart said that she developed her leadership skills during her two years of ROTC training at Edinboro, under the direction of battalion commander Lt. Col. Benjamin Kavanagh, who served in the post from July 2017 through July 2021. Lienhart was a member of the Ranger Challenge team – a competition of cadet physical and mental toughness – that competed at the national level at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point.

Kavanagh said that Lienhart was a cadet who never shied away from conflict and was always a voice for the voiceless cadets.

“She was a highly motivated cadet and didn’t let adversity get in the way,” Kavanagh said. “She was a natural leader, and she motivated all the cadets in the battalion to strive to be the best version of themselves.”

Since ROTC was conceived at

Edinboro in 1973, the program has commissioned more than 50 female Army officers, with 70% commissioning in the past 15 years.

Lt. Col. Colby Krug said that the Army has worked diligently to open more opportunities for women to serve in combat arms branches as well as leadership development opportunities.

“Given these opportunities, female officers coming out of Edinboro ROTC continue to push the envelope, and Halle Lienhart is the perfect example of that,” said Krug, who became Fighting Scots Battalion commander in June 2021. “This year, Edinboro ROTC is postured to commission more females than males for the first time in its history, and two of those females will serve in a Combat Arms branch as Field Artillery Officers.”

In addition to her service in ROTC, Lienhart competed in the heptathlon for Edinboro’s track and field team. The Randolph, N.Y., native advanced to the 2018 PSAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, where she finished 12th while competing in the 800-meter run, javelin toss, long jump and shot put.

“I’ve always been super competitive, no matter what,” Lienhart said. “And I think it’s just how I grew up. I see it as a way to improve, if you’re competitive with yourself and your goals.”

Lienhart also found competition at home, often sharing the stage with four siblings – Kasey Duffy and Hope, Cameron and Hunter Lienhart.

“We were all pretty competitive in sports,” said Lienhart, who also credits the support from her parents, Michael and Kim Lienhart. “I think my competitive spirit started with them.”

Now as a platoon leader, Lienhart focuses on branching out into the community and being a more vocal leader for her paratroopers. She also hopes to develop communication skills to continue to advocate for women leaders.

“From what you see in a lot of leadership positions, females tend to get walked over a little bit more than a male in that same position,” she said. “I’m really trying to focus and grow in the way I communicate. Being strong in a leadership position helps people know that you know what you’re talking about.”