Board | Staff | Consultants
Board Members
Dave Palley
President
Dave Palley is a founder (1990) and past president (1993-94) of the Nevada County 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 are relocating from Nevada City to a ranch in Penn Valley. He is a member of the 49er Breakfast Rotary Club and supports numerous community activities.
Fran Cole
Vice 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 VA. School of Law and practiced in major law firms and corporations for over 20 years. She volunteers with several animal welfare organizations
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.
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 NCLT 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 of Bitney Springs road where they lease out grazing land and manage about 30 acres in timber. They have three married children and three grandchildren.
Bill Trabucco
Board Member
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 but also elsewhere around the world often using Stanford students as slave labor. Actually, they loved it.
Despite not being allowed to change his major from engineering to music during his senior year at Berkeley, Bill nonetheless retains a strong avocational interest in music. He built a now-15-rank pipe organ, starting while still in high school, 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 the Nevada County Land Trust. As he and his wife Anna have chosen not to have any progeny, the use of a conservation easement is the best way to ensure that the land they love, the ranch, 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.
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 Assoc.
Brent Fraser
Board member
Joe Byrne
Board Member, Lands Committee Chair
Joe Byrne has been a commercial real estate developer for over twenty-five 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, 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.
Greg Fenner
Board Member
While attending Purdue University on a football scholarship, Greg received BS in Mechanical Engineering, and later an MBA from Stanford University. After 27 years of managing technology companies, Greg has turned his attention to non-profit organizations, having served on the board of directors of the Colorado Springs Economic Development Council, and Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital. He is also the founding president of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Nevada County. Greg and his wife Sue now have a “Technical Journalism” consulting business from their Nevada City home.
Tracy Gidel
Board Member
After four years of service in the US Navy, Tracy earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Occupational Health from California State University, Northridge. He has spent his career as a registered California Environmental Health Specialist and Certified Hazardous Materials Specialist, and currently serves as Program Manager for Nevada County's Department of Environmental Health Hazardous Materials/ Emergency Response Program and Solid Waste Program. Tracy is also active in the community serving on the boards of the Peguins Swim Team and Nevada County Girls Softball Association, and is a member of the Nevada Union High Band and Choir Boosters.
Rich Johansen
Board Member
Rich is owner and operator of Johansen Ranch, with farms in Orland, Penn Valley, and a vineyard in Nevada County. A Nevada County resident since 1980, Rich has family roots here dating back to 1850. He holds a degree from UC Davis in agricultural economics and business management.
Bill Nickerl
Board Member
Retired as Chief of Real Estate Acquisition for U S Bureau of Land Management, Bill is also a former president of the German American Club. An avid outdoorsman, he founded the Mid-Week Hike Trek series, and helped estabish the Woodpecker Wildlife Preserve. Most weeks, Bill leads Land Trust treks for persons with limited mobility.
Tom Goodenough
Board Member
Tom Goodenough holds a B.A. in Social Science from San Jose State University. Prior to moving to Nevada County on 2002, he was the working owner of a real estate brokerage firm in the San Francisco Bay area for 25 years. Tom’s volunteer experience includes membership of the Foundation Board of Shawnigan Lake School in British Columbia, Canada, as well as active participation in Hidden Villa, a land conservatory trust in Los Altos Hills for many years. Tom is currently enjoying retirement with his wife Sue.
Staff
MARTY COLEMAN-HUNT
Executive Director
Marty holds a B.A. from UC Santa Cruz in Linguistics and an M.B.A. 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. Four years later she became Executive Director in 2007 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 five 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@nevadacountylandtrust.org
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, age 38, lives in Grass Valley and works for Ferrelgas. Jennifer, age 36, lives in Sacramento and works for Jones and Stokes Associates as a wildlife biologist.
After attending majoring in Forest Management at Humboldt State University Bill served in Germany as a military police officer in the US Army for 14 months. Bill spent 34 years working for the Forest Service, in Mendocino N.F., San Bernardino N.F., and then the Tahoe N.F. 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. After retiring on March 21, 2003 after 36 years of Federal service, Bill began working for the Nevada County Land Trust in April of 2003 as Trails Coordinator.
His duties as the Nevada County Land Trust Trails Coordinator include: working with a trails committee to insure community involvement and understanding of the trail program; holding monthly meetings, and sub-committee meetings whenever necessary; meeting with other groups interested in developing trails; planning trail routes that will connect to public lands in accordance with the terms of a grant from the Forest Reserve; working/meeting with property owners to secure public easements for the trails; organizing volunteer work parties to construct and/or maintain trails; training volunteers in trail construction and maintenance; locating and purchasing materials and supplies for trail construction and maintenance, trail signing, etc.; and assisting the Land Trust in raising funds/obtaining grants, for trail construction and maintenance.
Bill regularly attends the National Trails Symposium and was a presenter at that event in 2000. The Symposium brings together trail professionals from throughout the US and provides a forum for continuing education and sharing experiences, successes and failures in various trails program.
In 2007 he was awarded the Lifetime Professional Achievement Award, at the California Trails and Greenways Conference, for his accomplishments in trail planning, construction and maintenance, and work with a diverse group of trail users throughout his career. bill@nevadacountylandtrust.org
Luci Wilson
Americorp Member
Luci is the Americorps member serving as the Riparian Habitat Restoration Coordinator for Nevada County Land Trust in Grass Valley. Her main responsibilities are to organize and conduct restoration projects on three NCLT owned lands and conduct the technical aspects of stewardship on land trust easement properties. This includes community outreach, organizing work parties to remove noxious and invasive weeds and developing long-term management and restoration plans.
Luci was born and raised in California and studied biology at UC Davis. She moved to the Sierra Nevada Foothills five years ago after marrying a Nevada County native. Luci and her husband have a small farm, raising chickens and dairy goats. Luci is also a fiber addict and can usually be found knitting or spinning whenever sitting still. luci@nevadacountylandtrust.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 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@nevadacountylandtrust.org
Stacy Prater-Vigil
Youth Programs Coordinator
Stacy Prater-Vigil received her Bachelors of Science Degree from San Diego State University. Graduating in Recreation Administration with an emphasis in Outdoor Education and a Minor Degree in Native American Studies. She received a scholarship award from California Parks and Recreation her freshman year, which contributed to continued interest in the environmental education field.
Stacy has successfully designed curriculums, developed and managed a wide range of youth programs in California, Hawaii and New Mexico. Her approach is to provide project-based, educational enrichment activities in the outdoor setting. Stacy has worked as an Outdoor Education Specialist for the San Diego Office of Education in which she developed and taught environmental programs that incorporated the California State Science Standards at Cuyamaca Outdoor School. Concurrently, she developed outdoor camp programs, partnering with state and federal agencies, for “youth at risk”. Trained in being a leader for at risk youth, she emphasized the importance of personal responsibility, communication and teamwork.
Stacy’s career has taken her to many amazing locations, which include being a Youth Supervisor for the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps in Taos, New Mexico, and Hawaii State Youth Corps, to running Youth Ropes Course programs in the mountains of Southern California, to working on an environmental youth project in Kyoto Japan. This summer, she ran the Nevada County Land Trust Summer Camp at Burton Homestead and launched the Junior Stewards Teen Program and the Grandparents are Gifts program simultaneously.
Stacy finds that Nevada County is the most rewarding place to be, as she can give back to the community that is home. She is so excited to provide educational, fun and relevant youth programs here, for all ages. She really enjoys community collaboration when running youth programs like the Summer Camp at Burton Homestead, so that the camp experience authentically reflects our incredibly diverse and wonderful community. Stacy is committed to empowering and educating youth in the outdoor education setting that results in passionate stewardship of our natural environment.
Right now she is planning the Fall Camp at Burton Homestead in October and hosting the well-known, EcoKids event at the Burton Homestead in November. Stay posted on all our events!
Consultants
Sandra Rockman
Stars Benefit Coordinator
Sandra Rockman has been living in this community since 1978. She is a free-lance writer and theater director and has worked for and volunteered in many local non-profit endeavors over the years. These include the Foothill Theatre Company, AFS Foreign Exchange Program, Citizens for Choice and various political groups. This is her 4th year coordinating the benefit concert event and she believes Stars at North Star House with Mavis Staples will be the best ever.
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
Betty Fry - Past Director, NCLT
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