Bill Neill:
CLASS OF 1966
Corona High SchoolClass of 1966
Corona, CA
Bill's Story
Life
My primary career was in the oil industry, first as a geologist with Texaco in Los Angeles (1975-81), then as a petroleum engineer at Unocal's Research Center in Brea in northern Orange County (1981-95), where I mostly conducted computer simulation studies to model production of oil and gas reservoirs in California and Alaska.
In 1995 my job was transferred to Unocal's office outside Houston, where I worked on international projects and took several business trips to Venezuela, Azerbaijan and Indonesia. This lasted until late 1998 when oil prices collapsed to $10/barrel and Unocal downsized staff significantly, and I returned to California.
Meanwhile, in the late 1970's I became concerned about environmental problems of invasive species in the California desert, specifically feral donkeys -- aka wild burros -- and a non-native tree called tamarisk or saltcedar from Eurasia. In 1983 I obtained a herbicide applicators license, bought a chainsaw and started organizing volunteer work parties to remove tamarisk from desert springs and canyons, which resulted in my photo appearing in Sunset Magazine in September 1996.
Upon departing from the oil industry with a year of severence pay, during 1999 I co...Expand for more
mmercialized my hobby of wildland weed control by starting a part-time partnership business named "Riparian Repairs". Funded by habitat restoration grants and mitigation contracts, I now control invasive non-native weeds mostly in natural areas within the large flood control basins of Los Angeles County -- Whittier Narrows and Santa Fe Dam basin in San Gabriel Valley, Sepulveda basin and Hansen Dam Recreation Area in San Fernando Valley -- plus at several Orange County parks and at Prado Basin and Santa Ana River Regional Park in western Riverside County.
On a volunteer basis, I'm an active member with several weed management areas, watershed councils, and chapters of the CA Native Plant Society. Also I'm active with the Desert Explorers, a 4WD touring group <desertexplorers.org>, affiliated with the Mojave River Valley Museum in Barstow.
I was married from 1983 to 2001, and have an adult step-daughter with two children who live in Anaheim. Since 2001 I've rented an apartment in Montebello, just off the Pomona Freeway near Whittier Narrows, centrally located between my many work locations throughout southern California, my ladyfriend's house in North Hollywood, and my step-daughter's house in Anaheim.
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