Board | Staff | Contractors 
Board Members
Fran Cole
President
Fran is a semi-retired business and corporate lawyer, formerly Chief Counsel of Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. and Sr. Vice President of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. She received her law degree form the University of Virginia School of Law and practiced in major law firms and corporations for over 20 years. She volunteers with several animal welfare organizations.
Joe Byrne
Vice President, Lands Committee Chair
Joe Byrne has been a commercial real estate developer for over 25 years. He presently owns and manages properties in Utah, Arizona and throughout California. He has also served as the Chairman of the California Business Properties Association (the legislative advocate of the commercial real estate industry), a Board Member of the National Institute of Community Empowerment (formerly, the Real Estate Initiative of the Martin Luther King Center) in Atlanta, Georgia and as a regional director of the International Council of Shopping Centers. He is also a member of the California State Bar and has a California Real Estate Broker License. He is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and events, including Continuing Education classes for both lawyers and real estate licensees. He formerly served as a Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 219 in Lafayette, CA, board member of the Martinez, CA-based Muir Heritage Land Trust and as a volunteer naturalist for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation leading hikes in the San Gabriel Mountains. He is an avid fly fisherman, backpacker and outdoorsman.
Jason Muir
Secretary
Jason holds a BA in environmental science and MS in engineering, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a registered professional engineer and a managing principal of a local engineering firm. Jason works closely with local and state regulators on a variety of environmental cleanup projects, addressing local issues such as abandoned mines and agricultural pesticides.
Jim Bair
Board Member
Jim Bair has distinguished himself in the field of software research and development as an industry manager and advisor. For over 30 years he has held ongoing advisory positions, ranging from consultant to several board roles with Stanford University, Bell Labs and Hewlett Packard including senior management employment, election and appointment to international positions in industry organizations, and volunteer positions. In addition to his work with the Land Trust, Jim is currently active on numerous local nonprofit boards including Banner Mountain Homeowners Association.
Rebecca Coffman
Board Member
Rebecca holds a BA in Architecture and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. After living and working in small towns in the mountains of the southwest, she returned to the Bay Area and served as Vice President of the Ecological Design Institute, a non-profit green architecture firm located in Sausalito, before starting her own office in 1998. Rebecca's practice has included working with large tracts of land in both the development and restoration capacity. Her emphasis is on the integration of structure and landscape with respect for the historical and cultural context of the site. Rebecca’s office donates design expertise to local non-profits as a way of supporting community and advancing ecological planning techniques. She moved to Nevada County in 2003 with her husband after their three children were all in college and joined the Board of Directors in 2010.
Brent Fraser
Board Member, Investment Committee Chair
Brent holds a BS in Economics from Santa Clara University with one year at Hong Kong University. Brent spent 10 years based in San Francisco doing business strategy consulting work for Andersen Consulting. Upon the birth of his first child, he moved to Nevada City where he now resides. Brent co-owns Caseywood Corporation, a retail building materials supplier. Brent is an avid mountain biker and trail advocate. He helped establish the trails organization with Bear Yuba Land Trust. Brent joined the Board of Directors in January 2010.
Susan Hoek
Board Member
Susan was born and raised in Nevada County and carries on the ranching tradition that her family started in Penn Valley in 1878. She has a true passion for the land that she lives on and has a desire to see it stay in agriculture for future generations. One of the highlights in her life is working on the ranch with her father, children and now her granddaughters. Susan is the chairman on the Nevada County Agricultural Advisory Commission and is involved in Nevada County Farm Bureau. Susan believes that we all have to do our part to protect, conserve and sustain agriculture in Nevada County.
Dave Palley
Board Member
Dave Palley is a founder (1990) and past president (1993-94) of Nevada County Land Trust (now Bear Yuba land Trust); he returned to the board in 2008 after a number of years off. He is a California attorney; a graduate of Harvard and UC Berkeley Law; a litigator in the early stages of his law career; a business and real estate attorney in Nevada City; a real estate investor; he serves currently as General Counsel of AJA Video Systems, Inc. of Grass Valley. He has taught and volunteered in elementary schools. He and his wife, Linda, love horses and have relocated from Nevada City to a ranch in Penn Valley. He is a member of the 49er Breakfast Rotary Club and supports numerous community activities.
Jack Stillens
Board Member
Jack Stillens grew up on a Nevada County cattle and sheep ranch, going on to earn an accounting degree from San Jose State. After a 28 year career with IBM, he worked part-time for Truckee River Bank (Bank of the West) before starting an income tax and bookkeeping service in Truckee. Jack also helped organize and incorporate Truckee Community Care, serving as the group's treasurer for 15 years.
As a member of the Land Trust's Finance Committee since June 2006, Jack has found a great venue for his financial expertise. He and his wife, Marie, live on a ranch off Bitney Springs Road where they lease out grazing land and manage about 30 acres in timber. They have three married children and three grandchildren.
Meredith Struthers
Board Member
Meredith is a native Californian who grew up exploring the trails and terrain of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space Preserves and State Parks of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. As an avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast, her motto is "A hike a day keeps the doctor away!" In 2000, she and her husband (both longtime restaurant workers) decided it was time to leave the urban sprawl behind for a more rural way of life where they could open their own little eatery and raise their child amongst the natural treasures of the Sierra Nevada Foothills. Over the past decade, Meredith's mission of giving back to her community has included being President/ Executive Director of Sequoya Challenge (the nonprofit organization that founded the Independence Trail, the nation's first identified wheelchair accessible wilderness trail), becoming a "Volunteer in Parks" for the South Yuba River State Park, and supporting young musicians (one of them being her son) as a Board Member of the Nevada Union High School Band Boosters. Meredith serves on the Bear Yuba Land Trust Lands Committee as well as the Board of Directors.
Bill Trabucco
Board Member, Nominating Committee Chair
Bill Trabucco was born and raised in San Francisco, with much family travel in California, and backpacking in the Sierra. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a BSEE and spent most of his career as a research engineer with a Stanford University upper atmospheric physics program. He designed, built, and installed diverse types of electronic instrumentation to implement carry studies, mostly in the Antarctic. Bill retains a strong avocational interest in music. He built a now-15-rank pipe organ, plays piano, sings, and is strongly interested in early music, jazz, and ragtime. Under his wife’s influence, Bill has become a horse enthusiast, especially of smooth-gaited Peruvian Pasos. Bill’s many years of field work in remote parts of the globe prepared him well for his present life on an 865-acre cattle ranch, much of which is operating under a conservation easement with Bear Yuba Land Trust. He and his wife Anna want to ensure that the land they love stays rural, in agriculture and well managed. On the ranch he has (mostly) completed building an off-the-grid solar home and music studio. He's looking forward to having a garden, orchard, and poultry flock.
Staff
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Marty Coleman-Hunt
Executive Director
Marty holds a BA from UC Santa Cruz in Linguistics and an MBA from San Francisco State University. She has had a 30-year career as a business and marketing professional for non-profit organizations and in the business sector. Soon after moving to Nevada County for the sheer beauty of our landscapes and access to first class outdoor recreational activities, Marty became a fundraising volunteer, then a Board member for Nevada County Land Trust (now Bear Yuba Land Trust). In 2007 she became Executive Director and today she works to protect the quality of our rural community. She is on the Boards of Sierra-Cascade Land Trust Council and the Bear-Yuba Partnership. In the past, she held a Board seat for the San Francisco Special Olympics for 5 years, she ran an anti-toxics campaign under Mayor Dianne Feinstein, and she launched Green Communications Group which promoted Green initiatives for business and environmental NGOs. In 2003 she was given the Leadership Award from TWIN (Tribute to Women in Industry) and also for the 2020 Vision and Leadership Award. marty@bearyubalandtrust.org
Jean Gilbert
Operations Manager
With a professional background in management and finance in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jean joined the staff of Nevada County Land Trust (now Bear Yuba Land Trust) in 2007. As Operations Manager, she supports Land Trust programs, outreach and events and also serves as Membership Coordinator, Board Liaison, Accounting Manager and Webmaster. Jean led the Land Trust’s accreditation team and managed staff, board members and volunteers during the application process spanning a year and a half and culminating in national Land Trust Alliance accreditation in 2009.
Jean and her family moved to Nevada County in 2003 in search of “a road less traveled.” They love living in a natural environment and enjoy the varied wildlife which shares their property – bears, mountain lions, bobcats, fox, coyotes, and a wide variety of bird species. jean@bearyubalandtrust.org
Stacey Konner
Development Director
Bill Haire
Trails Coordinator
Bill was born in Fresno, California and raised in the small farming community of Kingsburg. He now lives in Grass Valley with his wife of 41 years, Joyce. They have 2 children, Mike and Jennifer. After majoring in Forest Management at Humboldt State University, Bill spent 34 years working for the Forest Service, in Mendocino, San Bernardino, and Tahoe National Forests. He specialized in Recreation and Land Management in the Forest Service, with some experience in timber, range, wildlife, and watershed management. He managed the trail program for the Nevada City and Downieville Ranger Districts for 7 years. Bill retired in 2003 and became Trails Coordinator for Nevada County Land Trust (now Bear Yuba Land Trust). He works to insure community involvement and understanding of the trail program, meets with other groups interested in developing trails, plans trail routes that will connect to public lands in accordance with the terms of a grant from the Forest Reserve, works with property owners to secure public easements for the trails, organizes and trains volunteer work parties to construct and maintain trails, and assists the Land Trust in raising funds for the Trails Program.
In 2007 Bill was awarded the Lifetime Professional Achievement Award at the California Trails and Greenways Conference for his accomplishments in trail planning, construction and maintenance, and for his work with diverse groups of trail users throughout his career. bbillhaire@aol.com
Larry Gruver
Trails Coordinator
larrygruver1@aol.com
Erin Tarr
Stewardship Program Manager
Erin was raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa. At 18, with dreams of mountains and snow heavily engrained in her mind, she ventured to Colorado with her boyfriend Kacy. There they explored the Rocky Mountains and enjoyed the year round snow they received living at 10,500 ft. In 2003 they moved to California and began adventures in the Sierra Nevada and surrounding foothills. They now have two children, Savannah (8) and Kaden (6). Erin received at BA from CSU Sacramento in Environmental Studies with a minor in Biology. She began her career as a GIS intern at ECORP Consulting Inc. in Rocklin. From here she kayaked and boated the foothill rivers, interviewing anglers and obtaining genetic data from various fish with CA Dept of Fish and Game. Realizing that field work was her passion, Erin continued her career with The Nature Conservancy as a vegetation monitoring technician. She learned the value of open spaces and each day was an adventure into a different wild area where nature was still allowed to flourish unobstructed by humans. This experience showed her that protecting open space was a huge benefit for all. As a Sierra Nevada AmeriCorp Partnership employee serving at Placer Land Trust in Auburn, Erin learned what is involved in open space protection. She joined the staff of Bear Yuba Land Trust in 2011 and enjoys working with the local community to connect them with the land that surrounds us.
erin@bearyubalandtrust.org
Chris Gee
Lands Conservation Coordinator
Chris grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from the University of California, Davis. A self-professed adventurer, he has always had a deep appreciation for nature but it was not until he studied abroad in China that he realized the importance of conserving the land on which we live. Chris got hands-on experience in 2010 as an AmeriCorps intern with the Student Conservation Association in Idaho’s Salmon-Challis National Forest, engaged in a variety of projects from trail maintenance to Quaking Aspen inventory, all the while nestled in endless miles of mountain ranges carved out by creeks that drained into the nearby Salmon River. He joined Bear Yuba Land Trust in 2011 via the AmeriCorps program as Conservation Programs Assistant, working on trails and youth programs. In 2012, Chris joined the staff to coordinate the Lands Conservation program.chris@bearyubalandtrust.org
Kaye Wedel
Outreach Coordinator
Kaye is a native Californian who enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after high school. She became one of the first 10 women in the U.S. to serve as a Radar Air Traffic Controller during wartime. Beginning with the military, Kaye has lived and traveled extensively around the world and the U.S. She holds a B.S.B.A. from the University of Phoenix. She has had a 25 year career as a Marketing and Business professional in high tech, factory process equipment for computer manufacturing and the hydro-electric industry. After moving to Nevada County she became an active volunteer in the community and donates hundreds of hours annually to various organizations including Nevada County Land Trust (now Bear Yuba Land Trust), Nevada Theatre Commission, Sierra Stages, Center for the Arts, CATS, Music in the Mountains and other non-profit organizations. She is a board member for the Nevada Theatre Commission, an active forester on her own property and believes in the restoration of land to its natural state. She also speaks Spanish, is a vocalist and plays the flute.
kaye@bearyubalandtrust.org
Contractors
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Melony Vance
Treks Coordinator
Melony Vance calls herself an “Adventure Guide” leading hikes not only for the Nevada County Land Trust, but also for the Sierra Club - and she’s a volunteer whitewater rafting guide for the Friends of the River on the South Fork of the American River. When not out playing in nature she’s running wine tasting tours in Nevada County through her company, Gold Country Hiking & Adventures.
Melony’s roots in the area began as a child when her family spent the summers on the North Fork of the Yuba River where her dad mined for gold. Remembering how much she had loved the river, she moved back here in 2008. Shortly after settling in, while out hiking, Melony met the late John Skinner, former Tahoe National Forest Supervisor, who became her hiking & trails mentor.
In addition to her love of the outdoors, Melony is an avid reader (and former bookstore owner), and world traveler. She has a daughter who also shares her sense of adventure.
melony@bearyubalandtrust.org
Allison Dawson
AmeriCorps Member - Conservation Program Assistant
Allison is a born-and-raised North Carolinian with an accent and a passion for the environment. She graduated from Appalachian State University with a BS in Ecology and Environmental Biology. Equipped with information and spirit, she moved to New Hampshire for a Student Conservation Association internship as an environmental educator and conservation corps member. She is now serving with the Bear Yuba Land Trust as the Conservation Program Assistant via the Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership. Allison will be assisting the Stewardship Program Manager as well as the Trails Coordinator.
allison@bearyubalandtrust.org
Tam Reeves-Sullivan
Graphic Design
Pursuant to her studies at UC Santa Cruz, Tam has spent 15 years in design and marketing. Her experience in the corporate event industry included product and company promotions for many hi-tech, medical and apparel companies. 9 years ago she established her own business, Mander Design and Consulting, that specializes in brand development and furthering brand recognition. Tam is grateful that technology has allowed her to live in such a beautiful and peaceful environment while still working with diverse businesses worldwide. She joined the Land Trust family early in 2010.
tkrsully@gmail.com
Board Advisory Council
Zachi Anderson - Trails Builder
Peter Arnold - Forester (ret) and Past Director, NCLT
Cheryl Belcher - CCLT, Past NCLT Executive Director
Geri Bergen - Retired USFS, Past NCLT President
John Bilheimer - Attorney at Law, Haley & Bilheimer
Brian Bisnett - Bisnett Design
Andy Cassano - Nevada City Engineering
Jeff Darlington - Executive Director, Placer Land Trust
Jim Dodds - Past Director, NCLT
Beth Donnelly - Past Director, NCLT
Al Dover - Easement Donor
Steve Frisch - Sierra Business Council
Holger Hahn - Conservation Easement Landowner
Hilary Hedman - Past Director, NCLT
Anne Hendrickson - 20-year Resident of Yosemite Valley
Glenn Hovemann - Publisher
Ron Jauch - Author, Past Pres of Wheatland Historical Society
Rick Kalb - Northwestern Mutual Financial
Peggy Levine - President, North Star Historic Conservancy
Gil Mathew - Nevada County Economic Resource Council
Ron Mathis - Past President & Treasurer, NCLT
Irv Mazur - Past President, Gold Country Trails Council
Bill Nickerl - Past Director, NCLT
Judy Nielsen - NCLT Founder, Imaginarium
Tom Parilo - Independent Land Use Planning Consultant
Ray Patton - State Parks Supt (Ret)
Janey Powers, President, Wildlife Rehab & Release
Jason Rainey -Executive Director, SYRCL
Don Rivenes - President, Local Audubon Chapter
Lowell Robertson - SYRCL, FORE, Sierra Club, NCLT
Don Ryberg - Chairman, Tsi-Akim Maidu Tribe
Dave Sutton - Trust for Public Land
Bill Trabucco - Conservation Easement Landowner
John Vander Veen - Friends of Deer Creek
Mark Weyman - Real Estate Agent, Coldwell Banker GRR
Kevin Whitlock - Forrester
David Wright - Architect