Jason Rainey, Executive Director
Rainey is a 3rd generation Californian. Born in the SF Bay Area, his parents
moved to Nevada County in the early 1970’s, in time for him to form his earliest
memories on the S. Yuba River. He had a public education in the Nevada City schools,
as well as along the trails, mountains and rivers of the northern Sierra.
After graduating from Nevada Union H.S., he completed a B.A.,
in Government/History from Claremont McKenna College. After a stint teaching
outdoor education, Rainey was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Russian Far East from 1995-1997,
teaching English and environmental education at the School for Young Naturalists.
His graduate studies include a year at the School of Public & Environmental Affairs
at Indiana University (Bloomington) and an M.A. in Humanities & Leadership at
New College of California’s program in Culture, Ecology and Sustainable
Communities. He’s worked as a researcher, educator and legislative analyst
in the U.S., and has contributed to environmental and social justice projects
in Zimbabwe, Nicaragua and central Asia. Before joining SYRCL in March 2005,
Rainey spent the previous 5 ½ years as a Program Director for the Marin Conservation
Corps, where he led a staff of over 35 in habitat restoration, ecological monitoring,
recycling, volunteer coordination, environmental education, and zero-waste event planning.
If he’s not watching the river flow, he’s likely gardening, bird watching, or hiking in
the mountains with his wife Tania, his daughter Francesca, and his good pup Maya.
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Rosalie Adduci, Finance and Administration Director
Rosalie is a new transplant to Nevada County, after living many years in the Bay Area.
Rosalie, her husband Barry, and their Golden Retriever, Maggiemae, realized their long time
dream of living closer to nature in the California Foothills. Rosalie grew up in Connecticut
where she received her BA degree from Southern Connecticut University and after graduating from
college she went west to California. Rosalie worked as a Social Worker in Santa Clara County
before returning to School at San Jose State University to earn a MBA. She worked in Silicon
Valley in Public Accounting, High Technology Companies, and most recently as a Manager in the
Controller’s group at Stanford University. Rosalie, Barry and Maggiemae love hiking along the
Yuba River and the many other wonderful trails in Nevada County.
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Kathy Dotson, RiverPeople Director
Kathy grew up near the coast in Southern California, dreaming about one day
living in a small Northern California mountain town. After graduating in 1994
with a B.A. in Art Studio from UC Santa Barbara, her dream came true when she
got a job as the Assistant Director at a Nevada City summer camp, where she
eventually met her husband, Brett. In 2000 she took on what she calls "the
best job in Nevada City" as SYRCL's RiverPeople Director. With that job she
wears many hats including (but not limited to) director of the
Wild
& Scenic Environmental Film Festival, Editor-in-Chief of
the
Sierra
Citizen and in-house designer. When she isn't working, she
fills her time doing fine art, graphic design, and illustration for other area
companies and organizations. Kathy also loves to swim in the Yuba, drinking
fine wine, and adventuring in the Sierra and around the world with Brett and
her new baby girl, Roxy Blue.
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Derek Hitchcock, Yuba Strategy Project Manager
In January 2007 SYRCL hired Derek Hitchcock as the Project Manager of the Yuba
Strategy, which includes writing an integrated watershed assessment for the
Yuba River, with particular emphasis on upper watershed restoration priorities
and lower watershed planning and visioning activities. Derek grew up in Nevada
City, graduating from Nevada Union HS before going on to receive an
integrative biology degree from UC Berkeley, and conducting graduate work in
ecosystem ecology. His father Ralph has been the consulting engineer for SYRCL
for many years. Derek brings over a decade of experience conducting ecological
research and working with communities on environmental issues both in the
Sierra Nevada region and around the globe to his work in the Yuba watershed.
From gingerly stepping through land mine rich Angola, spending months trudging
through mangrove swamps of Panama, systematically documenting bird feces in
northern Thailand, to eating acorn and salmon with Mono Indian people in the
southern Sierra Nevada, Derek feels very fortunate to have the opportunity to
return to and work in the Yuba watershed, and foster his deep heart connection
and corresponding lifetime personal commitment to the Yuba River.
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Miriam Limov, RiverPeople Coordinator
Miriam Limov is a Chicagoan but while working in Yosemite National Park, she
discovered her passion for the wilderness. She graduated with a degree in
water quality engineering from Humboldt State University and has for the past
10 years been teaching fitness, Nordic skiing and backpacking courses for
Sierra College. After 17 years of volunteering for SYRCL, she is now enjoying
the opportunity to put all of her energy into SYRCL’s efforts. As the
RiverPeople Coordinator, she is busy organizing SYRCL’s events, coordinating
the marvelous volunteers that SYRCL is lucky to have, and managing the
membership program. Miriam’s favorite place to be is outdoors with her
husband, Joe, and daughters Hannah and Abby, dog (Tucker), and friends either
hiking, backpacking, or skiing! You will likely find her in the office
listening to music with a plate of pumpkin chocolate chip, butterscotch chip
cookies for you to enjoy!
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Lyndly Martin, RiverTeachers Assembly Scheduler
While growing up in Ohio, Lyndly Martin always knew she wanted to move to a
mountain town where she didn’t have to shovel snow. In 1994, she relocated to
Nevada County with her husband Scott. Lyndly has enjoyed various jobs,
eventually settling in as a pharmacy technician for 10 years. In 2004, she
gave birth to her son, Luke, and began a new path of discovery. Having worked
as a SYRCL volunteer in the past, Lyndly jumped at the chance to be the
assembly scheduler for the RiverTeachers program. Although she has been a
staff member since the fall of 2005, her position has expanded. The number of
RiverTeachers assemblies has doubled this school year, and her services are
required to balance the needs of the schools, actors, and funders in a program
that reaches thousands of students every month. Lyndly also assists in SYRCL’s
membership program and as the film festival ticket manager. When Lyndly is not
slaving away at her multiple jobs, she escapes into her hot tub. In her spare
time, Lyndly enjoys spending time with her family, hiking the hills in her
neighborhood & around the Yuba, gardening, and napping with her son &
cats.
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Jeff Martinez, RiverTeachers Director
Jeff grew up in Nevada County graduating from Nevada Union High School in
1983. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the
University of California Santa Barbara in 1988. Upon returning to Nevada City
in 1989 he married his middle school sweet heart, Shannon Kelley. Together
they have pursued their love of travel and culture living in Europe and
Southeast Asia while teaching in international schools. They adopted Kiran and
Kavi, who have brought a poetic ray of light into their lives, while living in
Malaysia. They felt the urge to return to Nevada City once again to insure
that their sons reap the benefits of growing up within the sphere of influence
of the Yuba River and the natural beauty of the Sierra Foothills. Jeff feels
fortunate to have the opportunity to combine his commitment to education while
helping to provide the catalyst to conserve and restore our natural
environment through his work at SYRCL. He hopes that one day he will be lucky
enough to swim with his two sons amongst a river full of wild Chinook salmon
in the Yuba River.
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Gary Reedy, RiverScience Director
Gary was raised in the Bay Area with a
creek in the backyard. He’s always been inspired by the Sierra Nevada and
considers that he may have “peaked” at 22 while guiding in Desolation
Wilderness. After graduating from UC Davis in Dec. 1989, the young biologist
sought knowledge in Alaska (after a celebrated full-winter at Squaw Valley).
As a field ecologist, he cut his teeth while working for the University of
Alaska investigating impacts of the Exxon Valdez on intertidal communities.
He began to turn “fishy” while studying stream ecology at Oregon State. With a
salmon icon on the shingle (and paddle), his interest focused. Gary lived on
the Smith River for five years, conducting a variety of research to understand
California’s healthiest salmon and steelhead populations, and obtaining an MS
in Fisheries from Humboldt State. Gary has always enjoyed a mix of scientific
study and citizen involvement. Before coming to SYRCL, he consulted for a
variety of watershed groups and developed an information system for publically
sharing watershed and fisheries data. He’s taught at College of the Redwoods
and founded an ongoing volunteer-based fish survey program on the Smith River.
Gary met his wife, Katrina, while kayaking. He also loves to swim, ski, climb
and play with his kids. Give a wave if you see him biking around Nevada
City.
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Katrina Schneider, Senior River Scientist, Switzer Fellow
Although Katrina only recently moved with her family to Nevada City in 2006,
her Yuba River days trace back to the 1980s when her dearest relatives
purchased land near Rock Creek. Katrina was born and attended college and
graduate school in Berkeley. She has enjoyed numerous travel adventures
including a semester at a Guatemalan orphanage, Mexican volcanic field
surveys, equatorial African travel, and Andean river trips and backpacking.
She spent many days at the Yuba and adjacent watersheds as a river guide,
kayaker, and river lover. After three years in the Santa Cruz mountains
teaching environmental education, Katrina shifted to work as a water resource
analyst at Environmental Defense where, after the devastating 1997 floods, she
first learned about SYRCL. Inspired by river science issues, Katrina returned
to graduate school at UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group to study
hydrology and fluvial geomorphology. As a
Switzer
Foundation Leadership Grantee, Katrina works primarily on
FERC relicensing, flood management, and climate change issues. When not at
work, Katrina can be found with her kids (Aidan Kai and Kiana), off cycling,
river snorkeling, hiking, kayaking, or at a Diamond Heart retreat. Every July,
Katrina joins her husband Gary for the annual Smith River volunteer fish
survey. She dreams of leading similar anadromous fish surveys on the South
Yuba in the near future!
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Susie Sutphin, Festival Tour Manager
Susie joined the staff in January 2007. This is a new position at SYRCL and
is in answer to the growing demand from environmental groups across the
country requesting to host the festival. Susie's work closely with Kathy
Dotson, festival director. She is responsible for coordinating all tour
venues and implementing a comprehensive marketing strategy to secure
national recognition for the tour through partnerships and media promotions.
Susie comes to us from the clothing company, Patagonia where she was the
Athletes & Events manager for three years in Ventura, CA. In her position
at Patagonia, she was instrumental in bringing Patagonia on as the festival's
presenting sponsor which has allowed the festival to grow and become the
largest environmental film festival in the nation. Realizing the festival's
potential to travel the country and inspire activism, Susie was keen to help
SYRCL achieve this goal. Susie is an avid mountain biker and freeheel,
backcountry skier as well as a lover of big breakfasts and freshwater lakes.
Native of Ohio, Susie migrated west after college in 1992 laying over in
Summit County, Colorado
for seven years before moving to Truckee to run the sales and marketing for
Couloir, a backcountry ski magazine. She lives and works out of her
home office in Truckee, CA with her dog, Zoie. Contact Susie at 530-582-5334.
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Wendy Thompson, RiverMonitor Director
Wendy first heard the call of the Yuba in 1988, moving to Nevada City
after earning teaching credentials from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in special
education from San Francisco State University. She taught learning disabled
children for Pleasant Valley School District, integrating as much
environmental education into her lessons as possible. But the lure of
distant cultures enticed Wendy to travel to Africa and Asia, and later, to
Central America. Upon returning from a year in a Guatemalan Mayan community,
she entered Monterey Peninsula College, earning a degree in Marine Science
and Technology, followed soon by a job in tropical Belize leading coral reef
monitoring research groups for the Oceanic Society. The call of the Yuba
never diminished; however, and in 2002 Wendy found her way back to Nevada
City, becoming a SYRCL river monitor, in between teaching ecology and
science classes for local schools. Wendy's highest wish is being fulfilled
working as RiverMonitor Director. If you see a "masked swimmer" in the Yuba, it will
probably be Wendy, snorkeling underwater with the fish and bugs whenever she
can.
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Jen Hemmert, AmeriCorps Member
Jen graduated from the Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology and
a concentration in Freshwater Ecology. She has worked in a number of different areas in the
science field from chemistry research, freshwater science research, medical research, science
education, special education, and animal training including dolphin and seal lions. All of
these professions are just a few before joining AmeriCorps, and there hasn’t been one that has
seemed to stick, even while living in beautiful Hawaii.
She is an avid traveler who loves new places and to visit old friends. Her travels include
Germany, Mexico, and Honduras. Jen has fallen in love with the West Coast thanks to her great
friends out in CO and in CA. Her hobbies include scuba diving, sun tanning, hiking, skiing,
kayaking, water skiing, river rafting, surfing, and running. During her AmeriCorps service at
SYRCL, Jen holds the title of Watershed Monitoring Specialist. Her goal is to continue to educate
and challenge herself in freshwater science research through further academia and getting dirty
in the river.
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Dan Murnane, AmeriCorps Member
Dan works in the capacity of Watershed Education Specialist. He grew up in Newton, MA and
graduated from Williams College in 2004 majoring in English. Going to college in the
Berkshire Mountains of Western Mass gave Dan a small nibble of what it’s like to live and
work in the surroundings of nature’s beauty. Since college he has worked in schools around
Boston as a tutor and teacher's aide. He taught students of all ages and travelled to Spain,
Costa Rica, Peru and New Orleans to gain a better knowledge of himself and the world around him.
Experience in the classroom and hands-on environmental training propelled him toward the Sierra Nevada
and into his current position with SYRCL. As the Watershed Education Specialist for SYRCL,
Dan works within the RiverPeople and RiverTeachers programs. He assists in volunteer outreach
and educational outreach to schools and to the community.
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