Our Team

Stephen R. Wee

Principal / President

As a founding partner of JRP, Mr. Wee has been a key element in building the firm over a period of thirty years into one of the most successful historical consulting firms in the country. He has served as a consulting historian, principal investigator and project manager on hundreds of historical research investigations for federal, state and local agencies and private companies. As a consulting historian, Mr. Wee has special interest and expertise in the history of California and the American West and the history of environmental, natural resources and water issues in these regions.

Mr. Wee has testified as an expert historian in the Superior Courts of California for Sacramento and Kern counties and has testified and/or submitted written testimony as an expert witness before the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of California; in the Snake River Drainage Basin Adjudication, 5^th Judicial District of the State of Idaho; for various water rights hearings before the California State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights; in the San Pedro-Gila River Adjudication, Maricopa County Superior Court, Arizona; and before the Hearing Office Panel for the State of Oregon Water Resources Department in the Klamath River Adjudication. Read more »

Rand F. Herbert

Principal / Vice President

Mr. Herbert, a founding partner of JRP, has worked as a consulting historian on a wide variety of historical research, expert witness, and cultural resources management projects, as a researcher, writer, and project manager for more than thirty years.

In the realm of cultural resources Mr. Herbert has managed projects involving large numbers of resources, as well as analysis of single buildings. His experience includes the full panoply of cultural resources studies for history / architectural history, including research, context preparation, inventory and evaluation, assessment of effects, preparation of memoranda of agreement for mitigation of effects, and completion of mitigation measures under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and under CEQA within the State of California. Some of the resources he has studied include military structures at more than 40 Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force facilities around the western US; powerhouses, ditches, canals, dams, bridges and other large engineering works; and a wide range of commercial, industrial, and residential structures. Mr. Herbert has prepared, and managed teams preparing, required mitigation studies including HABS/HAER recordation for historic resources being adversely affected by proposed projects. He has also led JRP’s projects related to power source Applications for Certification submitted to the California Energy Commission. In these efforts JRP works as a member of an overall environmental team, contributing to historic resources studies. Read more »

Rebecca Meta Bunse

Partner

Ms. Bunse’s experience at JRP encompasses many elements of cultural resources management and general historical research areas including: land use, toxics, water resource issues, and cultural resource management, as well as litigation and expert witness testimony. As a Partner with JRP she has served as a consulting historian, primary investigator, and staff manager, as well as continuing work in general research. Her twenty-one years experience includes cultural resources management projects, extensive field recordation of historic properties throughout the state of California, as well as a substantial amount of research at many public and private repositories, including the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Ms. Bunse has authored and contributed to numerous technical reports and compliance documents such as historic survey reports for both Section 106 of NHPA and for CEQA, findings of effect, mitigation agreements, and HABS/HAER documentation. Based on her level of education and experience, Ms. Bunse qualifies as an historian/architectural historian under the United States Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards (as defined in 36 CFR Part 61).

Read more »

Christopher D. McMorris

Partner / Architectural Historian

Mr. McMorris specializes in conducting historic resource studies for compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and the California Environmental Quality Act as well as other historic preservation projects. He has served as a lead historian / architectural historian, principal investigator, and project manager on projects for federal, state, and local government as well as for engineering/environmental consulting firms. Many of these projects have involved inventory and evaluation of historic resources under the criteria for the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources, along with analysis of effects projects may have on historic properties and measures to mitigate those effects. Based on his level of education and experience, Mr. McMorris qualifies as a historian/architectural historian under the United States Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards (as defined in 36 CFR Part 61).

Read more »

Bryan T. Larson

Senior Historian / Architectural Historian

Mr. Larson’s experience at JRP encompasses many elements of cultural resources management and general historical research areas including architectural surveys, land use histories, and water resource issues. He has conducted historic resource evaluations, as well as preparing historic property management and planning documents, TEA Conventional Rural Highway Surveys, HASRs, HRERs, and other historic property evaluations for various Caltrans Districts and Prime Contractors. Mr. Larson’s abilities include research and writing and field recordation, as well as report production, document management, graphic illustration, and the design and maintenance of project-specific computer databases with the capacity to manage thousands of records. Since joining JRP in 1998 he has undertaken an enormous amount of field recordation on historic sites throughout the state of California, as well as a substantial amount of research at many public and private archival repositories, libraries, and government agencies in California. Mr. Larson has experience collecting GPS data using a Trimble Pathfinder and using the California Coordinate System (NAD83) and the State Post Mile System using the TEA data dictionary.

Read more »

Toni Webb

Historian / Architectural Historian III

Ms. Webb’s experience at JRP encompasses many elements of cultural resources management and general historical research areas including historic architectural surveys, land use, and historic resource compliance documents. She serves as a principal investigator, researcher and writer. Since joining JRP she has completed extensive field recordation on historic sites in the state of California, and a substantial amount of research at many public and private repositories. In addition to research and writing, Ms. Webb’s skills include HABS/HAER documentation, National Register of Historic Places nomination forms, and the design and maintenance of project–specific computer databases with the capacity to manage thousands of records. Based on her level of education and experience, Ms. Webb qualifies as a historian/architectural historian under the United States Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards (as defined in 36 CFR Part 61).

Read more »

Polly Allen

Historian / Architectural Historian II

Mrs. Allen engages in a wide range of historical research, architectural survey, and report development work at JRP. Since joining the firm in 2008, Mrs. Allen has conducted extensive primary and secondary research at public and private repositories in California as well as intensive architectural surveys across the state. She has contributed to an array of cultural resource management projects, evaluating resources ranging from Cold War military installations to nineteenth century irrigation canals. Mrs. Allen qualifies as an architectural historian under the United States Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards.

Read more »

Cheryl Brookshear

Historian / Architectural Historian II

Ms. Brookshear has experience in many elements of general historical research areas and cultural resources management. Since joining JRP in 2006, she has conducted primary and secondary research at several public and private repositories in California. Ms. Brookshear has contributed to cultural resources management projects in many roles from field recordation of historic to site-specific research, to writing of historical context material for Section 106 and CEQA compliance documents. Her work at JRP has included preparation of agricultural, industrial, and residential histories for a variety of property types for projects that have also included engineering features such as power generation facilities and water control structures. In her previous experience, Ms. Brookshear conducted research in various government records as part of a documentation project for the Hearthstone Historic House Museum, Appleton, Wisconsin, as well as completing site surveys and research for National Register of Historic Places nominations as part of her graduate work in Pennsylvania. Ms. Brookshear qualifies as an architectural historian under the United States Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards (as defined in 36 CFR Part 61).

Read more »

Scott Miltenberger

Historian II

Mr. Miltenberger’s experience at JRP encompasses many elements of general historical research and cultural resources management. Since joining JRP in 2006, he has conducted primary and secondary research at a number of public and private repositories in California. Most recently, he has contributed to the Caltrans Historical Archeology Research Design thematic study. Mr. Miltenberger qualifies as a historian under the United States Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards. Read more »

Joseph Freeman

Historian I

Since joining JRP Historical Consulting Services, LLC, in 2007 Joseph Freeman’s contributions have encompassed various elements of general historical research and cultural resources management. These include inventory and evaluation and Finding of Effects reports, a Memorandum of Agreement, and HABS/HAER reports. Mr. Freeman has performed field survey at locations throughout California and conducted research on primary and secondary source material at public and private repositories at the national, state and local levels. Mr. Freeman’s contributions include report production, document management, and graphic illustration. Additionally, Mr. Freeman has extensive experience collecting GPS data for Caltrans state highway inventories. Mr. Freeman qualifies as a historian under the United States Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards. Read more »

Steven "Mel" Melvin

Historian I

Mr. Melvin’s experience at JRP encompasses many elements of general historical research and cultural resource management. He has contributed to technical reports and architectural survey and evaluation projects. He has conducted research in primary and secondary source material at public and private repositories in California, and has conducted field recordation of historic resources. Mr. Melvin’s abilities also include report production, document management, and graphic illustration.

Read more »

Heather Norby

Historian I

Ms. Norby’s experience at JRP encompasses many elements of general historical research and cultural resource management. She has contributed to technical reports and architectural survey and evaluation projects. She has conducted research in primary and secondary source material at public and private repositories in California, and has conducted field recordation of historic resources. Ms. Norby’s abilities also include report production, document management, and graphic illustration.

Read more »