Conservation Awards | Bear Yuba Land Trust

Each November Bear Yuba Land Trust recognizes leaders in conservation including the William Nickerl Award for Conservation Leadership, the John Skinner Sierra Outdoors Recreation Award, the Young Leader Award, along with our Business Sponsor of the Year, Partner of the Year, and our Volunteer of the Year, at our annual Conservation Awards & Gratitude Breakfast.

Please SAVE THE DATE for the 2026 Conservation Awards & Gratitude Breakfast:

Saturday, November 21, 2026
9:30am – 11:30am
The Miners Foundry Cultural Center in Nevada City

Criteria for the William Nickerl Award for Conservation Leadership

Live or work in Bear and Yuba River Watersheds region
Demonstrate a long time commitment to land conservation
Be an advocate for sustainability and environmental policy
Have proven dedication to BYLT’s mission to enrich a community connection with land
Have achieved measurable success through fostering or inventing a new effort
Be a leader who never gives up in the face of a challenge and inspires others to act

Criteria for the John Skinner Outdoors Recreation Award

Live or work in Bear and Yuba River Watersheds region
Advocate for local parks, preserves, recreational programming and/or outdoor education
Have a proven track record of outstanding volunteer service and success
Be a leader who never gives up in the face of a challenge and inspires others to act

Criteria for Young Leader Award

Aged 21 or younger at time of nomination
Lives in Bear or Yuba River watersheds
Demonstrates commitment and leadership in areas of outdoor recreation, land conservation, and/or environmentalism
Has turned their passion for outdoor recreation, land conservation, and/or environmentalism, into an opportunity to educate, inspire, and mobilize others to action at home, in their school, and/or their community

William Nickerl Award for Conservation Leadership

William “Bill” Nickerl devoted his life to land conservation in the California foothills. The William Nickerl Award for Conservation Leadership is given to Bear and Yuba Watershed residents with a similar conservation ethic who inspire others to build a connection with the land. Bill passed away on November 30, 2017 at his home.

“Bill gave himself wholeheartedly to the cause—the forest, the environment, the educational side of the land trust’s mission. He inspired me and others in his quiet way. I am glad we have a prize in his name that he be long remembered,” said BYLT Founding Member Dave Palley.

William Nickerl Award for Conservation Leadership Recipients

2025 Don & Barbara Rivenes

Don and Barbara Rivenes have spent decades championing conservation across California and Nevada County through leadership, advocacy, and volunteer service. Together, they have helped protect forests, watersheds, wildlife habitat, and open space while serving with organizations including Sierra Foothills Audubon, the Sierra Club, Community Environmental Advocates, the Yuba Watershed Council, SYRCL, and numerous climate and forest protection initiatives. Their efforts have contributed to landmark conservation victories, including protecting roadless areas, stopping major development projects, advancing renewable energy policies, and safeguarding the South Yuba watershed. Lifelong educators and stewards of the natural world, Don and Barbara have dedicated their lives to ensuring that California’s landscapes remain healthy, wild, and accessible for future generations.

2024 Richard Anderson

Richard Anderson’s involvement with the natural world began in third grade, when his family moved from the suburbs of the East Bay to the small Sierra town of Long Barn, on Highway 108. Those early years in the Stanislaus National Forest shaped his values, leading to a baccalaureate in environmental studies and, because many of our environmental problems have their basis in how we use land, a master’s in city and regional planning. Fishing was an early passion, and avocation became vocation when, in 1992, Richard launched California Fly Fisher magazine, which he sold earlier this year. He moved to Truckee in 1999 and soon became involved in protecting fisheries and open space there, and this advocacy led to two terms on Truckee’s town council, followed by two terms as a Nevada County supervisor. Richard also served on the boards of the California Wildlife Foundation and California Trout, and is the recipient of California Trout’s President’s Award and Journalism Award. He currently is a board member of the Truckee River Watershed Council and president-elect of the Rotary Club of Truckee, and remains involved in advocacy as a stakeholder on the Truckee River Basin Water Group and the Town of Truckee’s River Health and Access Action Team.

2023 Andy Kramer and Carol Kramer

When Andy and Carol Kramer moved to Grass Valley and purchased their 84 acre ranch on Wolf Creek, they didn’t have plans to protect it with a conservation easement. But over the years and getting to know the unique flora and fauna that depends on their land for habitat, they knew putting it into a conservation easement was the best decision for them and the land. In 2018, BYLT recorded an agricultural conservation easement on the property.

Carol Kramer is a member of the Northern CA Working Sheepdog Association and travels the west showcasing the herding skills of her dogs. She is also a member of the Gold Country Fly Fishers Association, Nevada County Farm Bureau, and Yuba Bear Burn Cooperative.

Andy Kramer spent his career as a museum curator and since retirement has been involved in many important projects including the Sacramento Museum of Science and Curiosity (MOSAC) and is the Vice President of Nevada County Habitat for Humanity.

Both Andy and Carol are passionate about their land and have held multiple workshops in 2022 and 2023 showcasing prescribed fire to control invasive grasses and improve forage. Their projects have brought experts from many fields together to learn this innovative and important land management technique.

2022 Bill Trabucco and Anna Reynolds Trabucco

In late 2001, Bill Trabucco and Anna Reynolds Trabucco donated a Conservation Easement on 760-acres of their ranch, Linden Lea, to keep the land as wildlife habitat and in productive agricultural use forever. Today the ranch is the base for Nevada County Free Range Beef (grass-fed & finished beef) and Restoration Land and Livestock (goat brushers). The livestock graze the extensive rangelands to help sustain native grasses and maintain an important natural balance. Over the last 20 years, Bill and Anna have been generous supporters of Bear Yuba Land Trust (BYLT) financially and graciously hosting numerous events including our Open Spaces & Wild Places Galas under the oaks at their ranch. Bill served on the BYLT Board for nine years until terming out in 2018. This included serving as Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Bill Trabucco graduated from UC Berkeley and spent his career as a research engineer with a Stanford University upper atmospheric physics program, carrying out many studies in the Antarctic and other parts of the planet from Alaska and Canada to Puerto Rico. Bill retains a strong avocational interest in music. He started to build a now 15-rank pipe organ while still in high school, plays piano, sings, and is strongly interested in early music, jazz, and ragtime. Under Anna’s influence, Bill has become a horse enthusiast, especially of smooth-gaited Peruvian Pasos. He has built their off-the-grid solar home, shop, and music studio and despite climate change challenges has a garden and small orchard.

Anna Reynolds considers herself a Nevada County native, having come here as an infant. She grew up on a small farm whose milk cow, organic garden, goats, and chickens provided much of the family’s sustenance. After graduating from UC Berkeley and later Stanford, Anna began a career as a freelance copy editor and proofreader. She has had lifelong interests in horses and music, especially early music and blues. Anna and Bill met, aptly enough, in an a cappella group in Palo Alto. Over the last 20 years, Linden Lea ranch has become an off-the-grid mecca for music, horses, and events from house concerts to “Power Out Parties.” Although Anna’s editing career has ground to a near halt, there is never a lack of things to do. Anna and Bill both eagerly welcome the EquiTreks that BYLT hosts on their land. These popular horse rides have become a favorite of local equestrians.

2020 Shelly Covert

Shelly Covert is the Spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. She sits on the Tribal Council and is community outreach liaison. She is also the Executive Director of the Tribally guided, non-profit, CHIRP, as known as the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, whose mission is to preserve, protect and perpetuate Nisenan Culture. Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal members are direct, lineal descendants of the original Indigenous people who were here thousands of years before the gold rush.

Most of Shelly’s work is focused within the Bear and Yuba River watersheds which are the ancestral homelands of her Tribe. Recently, with the efforts to restore federal recognition to the Nevada City Rancheria, her work has taken on a wider scope that includes social, environmental, and racial justice topics that impact the Tribal community and their wellbeing. Undoing the erasure of Nisenan history has been at the forefront of Tribal efforts and a focus for CHIRP. Raising the visibility of the Nisenan through community outreach, public events, and education has been of great importance as the Tribe struggles with the reintroduction of its culture and identity in 2020. As Tribal liaison, Shelly works closely with the Elders, Tribal Council, and Tribal members, to identify the areas of greatest need, and then guides CHIRP as Executive Director, to develop and implement projects that have found funding.

2019 Neil Robinson (1930 – 2020)

Neil Robinson was a Nevada County native whose great grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Robinson came to Penn Valley from Ohio in 1874. The 3,000 acres under the family’s ownership in Penn Valley, called Robinson Ranch, is one of 12 original ranches in Nevada County. The Robinson family was also instrumental in helping to start the Nevada Irrigation District, which is instrumental in providing water to agricultural operations.

BYLT worked with Neil Robinson and his family to protect 1,600 acres of the Robinson Ranch to establish an agricultural conservation easement on the property. This easement will eliminate future subdivisions and development of this land, and will ensure it remains in productive agricultural use. With this easement, the Robinson Family has now protected the entire 3,000-acre ranch – the largest private land holding under conservation easement in Nevada County. Sadly, Neil passed away January 22, 2020 but his legacy will continue.

2018 Joanne Hild

Joanne Hild has her MS in Zoology from University of Massachusetts in Amherst and her BS in Biology from Tufts University. She worked as a research scientist with the Wildlife Conservancy in Sacramento, with the Bermuda Biological Station and with Cornell University. She was a Biology Professor at Sierra College for 15 years, teaching various general biology, anatomy and physiology, and ecology courses.

Joanne began working at Friends of Deer Creek (now Sierra Streams Institute) as a River Scientist in February 2000 and became Executive Director in 2004. In her free time, she enjoys going on family adventures.

2017 Ted Beedy

Ted Beedy is one of the preeminent birders in Northern California (and beyond). A biologist and ornithologist, he has co-authored Discovering Sierra Birds and Birds of the Sierra Nevada. A lifetime love of birding has made him a much sought-after expert – an outing with Ted will have you looking with new eyes at these lovely creatures.

2016 Janet Cohen

As an experienced strategist for non-profits, Janet Cohen has secured tens of millions of dollars in grant funding for environmental causes. She was a key early player in the acquisition and conservation of BYLT’s largest landholding – 2,700 acres on the Yuba River known as Rice’s Crossing Preserve. Besides working with a number of conservation groups, Cohen served as the Executive Director of South Yuba River Citizens League for four years and mobilized thousands of volunteers to clean up trash in Sierra watersheds. She was an important player in the community effort to forever stop dam construction on the river and helped secure Wild and Scenic status for the Yuba. She developed the first Great Sierra River Clean Up and started the first Wild & Scenic Film Festival, now the largest environmental film festival in the nation.

Cohen is the winner of the 2005 River Network River Hero and wrote the first “Climate Change Toolkit” for the Sierra Nevada Alliance.

2015 Alicia Funk

Alicia Funk is the founder of the Living Wild Project and co-author of Living Wild—Gardening, Cooking and Healing with Native Plants of California. She lives off the grid with her husband and their three children. She first studied plant-based medicine in 1990 from an indigenous grandmother in Ecuador’s rainforest. She is the editor of six publications on herbal medicine, including and her Living Wild books and programs http://www.livingwild.org support environmental and cultural conservation. Funk is a long-time supporter of BYLT and believes strongly in the organization’s mission. She has led nature walks, orchestrated art shows and provided books and native plant baskets in support of BYLT.

2014 Roger Ingram

For nearly three decades, Roger Ingram has supported farmers and ranchers in Nevada County. After 28 years with UC Cooperative Extension, Roger believes the primary challenges facing local agriculture are: Economic viability, attracting a new generation to become farmers and ranchers and access to resources and capital. Ingram sees BYLT’s work to preserve historic farmland as critical to the local food supply. In recent years, Ingram’s efforts have focused on food security, coinciding with a growing community awareness and appreciation for a local food system. Ingram was part of the team that helped establish Nevada County Grown.

2013 Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin

For 30 years, Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin has been a leader in environmental advocacy and community organizing, working with a diverse constituency – from farmers to rural environmentalists. Izzy served as a Nevada County Planning Commissioner from 1991 – 1998 and County Supervisor from 1999 – 2002. She led the fight in the state legislature to put the South Yuba River into the state’s Wild and Scenic river program. In 2004, Izzy worked with Assembly members John Laird and Tim Leslie to establish the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. That same year she took the helm at The Sierra Fund. Most recently Izzy and The Sierra Fund helped Bear Yuba Land Trust secure funds for the acquisition of Rice’s Crossing Preserve.

2012 Andy Cassano

Since 1969, Andy Cassano has been a local leader in all aspects of land surveying, city and regional planning, environmental planning and land conservation for community development. He was involved in planning for some of the most important civic projects in our community including: Nevada County Campus of Sierra College and the City of Grass Valley Wastewater Master Plan. Andy worked extensively on projects such as Alta Sierra, Tahoe Donner, and portions of Lake Wildwood and Lake of the Pines. In addition to private sector work, Cassano served contractually as the first official City Planner for the City of Nevada City. Andy was an early leader of Nevada County Land Trust (today Bear Yuba Land Trust) for 9 years as Chairman of the Lands Committee and in 2004 and 2015 as President of the organization. Under Andy’s leadership, nearly 5,000 acres came under the protection of conservation easements and many of the area’s most beloved trails were built.

2011 Geri Bergen (1930 – 2018)

Geri Bergen was the first female line officer in the Forest Service, first as deputy forest supervisor and then as forest supervisor of the Tahoe National Forest. An active member of the Society of American Foresters, she has successfully made her way in a previously male-dominated federal agency. Geri also participated in volunteer conservation activity with Save San Francisco Bay Association, People for Open Space, and Richmond Citizens’ Planning Association, and Richmond Recreation and Parks Commission. She has been a very active member of the Society of American Foresters. Since her retirement, Bergen served as a board member and president of Nevada County Land Trust. Geri passed away in 2018. The Geri Bergen Memorial Forest at Woodpecker Wildlife Preserve in Nevada City commemorates her legacy.

2010 John Taylor (1926-2015)

A longtime resident of Grass Valley, John was a mentor for many agricultural and environmental professionals in our community. He has served in a number of agricultural and community service committees and positions, including: manager of the Nevada County Farm Bureau, past president of the Retired Public Employees Association, the Nevada City Rotary Club, and the Nevada County User Fee Committee. John is also a retired Nevada County Agricultural Commissioner and former president of the Nevada County Fair and Nevada County Land Trust Boards. He was on the boards of the Nevada County Resource Conservation District, LAFCO, Economic Resource Council, California Biological Control Committee, High Sierra Resource Conservation and Development Council, Yuba Watershed Foundation, and the North Star Historic Conservancy.

2009 John Deveaux Olmsted (1938-2011)

Founder of Independence Trail, John Olmsted was a noted naturalist, educator and volunteer conservationist. His life was dedicated to the land ethics and land preservation traditions of John Muir. He worked tirelessly to preserve wild areas, open space, trails, parks, and rural landscapes. In 1969 John rediscovered many rock-lined ditches and wood flumes previously known as the Excelsior Canal, overlooking the South Yuba River in Nevada County, becoming the origin of the Independence Trail — the nation’s first wheelchair accessible wilderness trail. In addition he helped to create the 2,250 acre South Yuba State Park. He founded the California Institute of Man in Nature in 1968 and Sequoya Challenge in 1974 with the purpose of restoring a living thread of landscapes – a necklace of parks across California – from Jughandle State Park in Mendocino to Lake Tahoe.

2008 William Nickerl (1935 – 2017)

BYLT’s first award recipient, Bill’s entire career has been focused on conservation of land in the California foothills. During his years with Bureau of Land Management as the acquisitions specialist for the state of California, Bill worked closely with The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, and several land trusts. He was instrumental in saving habitat for the California Condor and was on the Board of Directors for Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. Bill fostered the creation of the first Nevada County Land Trust conservation easement, the Round Mountain Wildlife Preserve, a 160-acre parcel of land just outside Nevada City. Round Mountain Wildlife Preserve became the first successful conservation easement and established the Land Trust’s role of land steward. He launched the Treks for Health program and developed a series of outings with FREED a series of outings called “Treks for People with Limited Mobility.” William Nickerl passed away on November 30, 2017 at his home.

John Skinner Sierra Outdoors Recreation Award

In 2013, Bear Yuba Land Trust began the John Skinner Sierra Outdoors Recreation Award.The award was created in honor of the late John Skinner who led many treks for the Land Trust. A retired Forest Supervisor of the Tahoe National Forest, John Skinner loved the outdoors. Despite a heart condition, Skinner hiked as many local trails as he could.

He was the author of the reference Sierra Outdoors Recreation – the paper “book” and online resource. The book featured over 200 trails, 100 lakes and 125 camping and picnic areas stretching one hundred miles from the Lakes Basin to Auburn State Recreation Area. Skinner wrote numerous articles for Sierra Heritage Magazine. John passed away on July 27, 2009.

© Photo Credit Wayde Carrol

John Skinner Sierra Outdoors Recreation Award Recipients

2025 Mary West

Mary West is a writer, hiker, and passionate advocate for local trails who has called Nevada County home for more than 18 years. She is best known as the author of the award-winning Day Hiker – Gold Country Trail Guide series and as the voice behind the Day Hiker newspaper column, which she began in 2016. Her work encourages people of all ages to explore the natural beauty of our region and to connect with the outdoors.

Mary’s love of hiking grew out of weekends spent on the trail with her husband, their two sons, and family dog, Stella. After exploring most of the Auburn State Recreation Area, she and her family turned to Bear Yuba Land Trust trails just as BYLT was opening new pathways for the community. These trails not only inspired countless family outings but also became the heart of her writing.

Through her books and columns, Mary has celebrated and thanked BYLT for their dedication to preserving access to nature, highlighting trails such as Black Swan and Yuba Rim among her favorites. Her work has received recognition from the Outdoor Writers of California with multiple CRAFT awards, and her trail guides continue to inspire new generations of hikers.

2024 Bill Haire

Prior to joining the Land Trust, Bill had a 36 year career with the Forest Service working on several National Forests in California. During much of his career his job included management of outdoor recreation in the forest, with other responsibilities including range management, overseeing mining activities, permitting of facilities on Federal land, and timber management. Developing and managing trails has always been high on Bill’s interest list.

Bill started as the Trails Coordinator in 2003 and has been designing, constructing, and maintaining trails in this position for 20 years. Building new trails is a process that begins with a proposal, then looking at feasibility, securing easements and permits, securing financial resources, and then constructing the trail. Utilizing volunteers, grants, donations, and working with partners, we have been successful in building a great and ever-expanding trail system.

2023 Bill Lawrence

Bill Lawrence and his family have lived in Nevada County for over 12 years, moving here from the Pacific Northwest. A good friend of his introduced him to the Bear Yuba Land Trust shortly after his arrival, and he began trail work with BYLT shortly after. Bill’s Initial volunteer work involved trail maintenance, but over time, he got more involved with trail construction, working on such trails as Rambler, Yuba Rim, Wolf Creek, and continuing to this day, on Sugarloaf in Nevada City.

Along with a couple of neighbors, Bill adopted Wildflower Ridge Trail near his home, where he has greeted many a hiker. It was great news to hear that the land trust purchased the 120+ acres in 2023 and turned it into a preserve.

Last year Bill and his wife Diane, along with our adjacent neighbors, granted a 20 foot wide strip of our properties to BYLT, now known as the Bailey Trail extension. This was inspired by the Slide Creek Trail, which now connects the Alta Hill neighborhood with downtown Grass Valley.

The Bailey extension trail and the Slide Creek Trail now allows hikers on the Wildflower Ridge Trail to continue onto downtown Grass Valley with only crossing two streets rather than walking along them. A good example of trail connectivity.

2022 Jesse Locks

Jesse Locks is a California Naturalist and founding organizer of Folk Trails Hiking Club, a bi-monthly hiking group of outdoor enthusiasts interested in learning about the folk tales and natural history of our local trails. Jesse’s love for the outdoors has led to partnerships with BYLT that have had big impacts on the visibility of outdoor recreation in Nevada County. These partnerships include leading the 52 Hike Challenge initiative to encourage Nevada County r

esidents to venture outdoors in their own backyard 52 times in one year, Hike Like A Girl Weekends to encourage females of all ages to walk or hike every day, and as a local recreation expert at the Fireside Chats BYLT has held at Inn Town Campground.

In 2020 the Jones Fire devastated the beloved Independence Trail built by John Olmsted to accommodate all skill levels. Jesse volunteered and produced A Wild Independence with BYLT and Writer/Director Alden Olmsted, oldest son of John Olmsted to recreate the story of the trail and support its rebuilding.

Executive Director of Nevada City Film Festival, Online Community Manager for the Presidio Trust in San Francisco, and Board member of the Nevada County Arts Council, Jesse is an award winning media communications professional, recognized for her publishing, film, radio and digital media work. Under Jesse’s creative leadership, the Film Festival has been dubbed the “Sundance of the Sierra”. Jesse also serves on the Board of the Sierra Gold Parks Foundation and the Community Foundation of Nevada County. Through her many affiliations, Jesse actively promotes her love of Nevada County, her passion for conservation, and the work of Bear Yuba Land Trust.

2020 Debra Weistar

Debra Weistar is a lifelong resident of the Sierra, which imprinted on her before she was a year old – at the rustic Fallen Leaf Lake cabin built by her great-grandfather in 1913. Knowing firsthand what connection to place means to a child, she has spent the last 35 years working with youth in wild places; introducing them to conservation issues and activism, often through documentary filmmaking. She has mentored dozens of youth over the years – many who have gone on to careers in conservation and environmental leadership. She and her husband, Tom, co-founded and direct Synergia Learning Center, a non-profit youth organization based on the San Juan Ridge, and for five years ran Finding the Good, a high school semester program based on studying and documenting innovations in regenerative systems.

Their most recent initiative is Nature School, for local 6-11 year olds. Motivated by deep concern for protecting our watershed for future generations, in 2015 Debra joined the Board of Directors of SYRCL, the South Yuba River Citizens League, and has served as co-president, secretary, and most recently as vice-president. In 2017, she was selected for one of the environmentalist seats on the Nevada County CAG (Community Advisory Group for commercial cannabis ordinance).

Tim Kiser - 2019 Outdoor Recreation Award

2019 Tim Kiser

In September 2017, Tim Kiser was appointed as Grass Valley’s City Manager after working as the City’s Engineer since 2005. Kiser is a Napa County native who graduated from Sacramento State with a degree in civil engineering. He served as a senior engineer for Placer County before moving to Grass Valley in 2005. Under Tim’s guidance, Grass Valley has revitalized the downtown region and nearly completed construction of the Wolf Creek Trail between Northstar Mining Museum and the shopping areas around West McKnight Way.

Additionally, the City of Grass Valley has agreed to provide $30,000 of matching funding for the Litton Trail Enhancement Project. Tim provides strong leadership with an emphasis on bringing additional state dollars to Grass Valley to improve non-motorized transportation routes and our existing roads, sidewalks, and local parks. All of these accomplishments greatly enhance the quality of life in Nevada County.

2018 Rick Berry

Rick Berry began with the Tracker School in 1986 at the age of 15. Later, Rick spent two years in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey as a caretaker for the Tracker School, testing and refining his tracking and survival skills. Rick taught with both Jon Young and Tom Brown, Jr. through the Tracker School’s Coyote Camps, and moved on to serve seven years as Director of The Children of the Earth Foundation.

Today, with 25 years experience teaching Earth Skills, Rick shares dynamic teachings and philosophy of living as one with the Earth through 4 Elements Earth Education (4EEE) and its Fox Walkers program for school-aged children. 4 EEE is a unique non-profit, located in Nevada City, which immerses children, families and adults in nature and building skills of which most of us are unaware exist.

2017 Ron Mathis

Ron Mathis served as Director and Treasurer of the North Star Historic Conservancy from formation until 2014. The Conservancy was created for the purpose of rehabilitating the 14-acre parcel containing the North Star House designed by renowned architect Julia Morgan. Ron also served on the Nevada County Land Trust Board of Directors from 1996 to 2008.

2017 Warren Wittich (1933 – 2020)

Warren, 83, drives 55 miles one way from his home in Fair Oaks to volunteer on Independence Trail. He started on the board of Sequoya Challenge more than a decade ago when he was in charge of trail maintenance. When the nonprofit group founded by late naturalist John Olmsted disbanded, Wittich continued to devote his time to the nation’s first wheelchair accessible trail known for its Gold Rush-era wooden flumes and converted water ditches. With the trail now co-managed by CA State Parks and BYLT, Wittich works at least one day a month with BYLT’s Land Access Manager Shaun Clarke and volunteers to keep the trail in good working order. Wittich is optimistic that the community can come together to raise awareness and funding to restore the dilapidated wooden bridge at Rush Creek.

2016 David Lawler

Geologist and Paleontologist David Lawler is the Executive Director of Farwest Geoscience Foundation and for more than 20 years a volunteer leader of BYLT’s popular outings to Chalk Bluff and Henness Pass. At age five, David found his first fossils at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, while on a mineralogy field trip with his parents. As a teen, David participated with University of California research expeditions, collecting dinosaurs, other primitive archosaurs and early amphibians in the Southwest U.S. and Canada. At age 21, his paleo research culminated in the discovery of an early Jurassic missing link dinosaur “Scutellosaurus lawleri” on the Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona. In 1990, “Dino Dave” founded Farwest Geoscience Foundation, an interdisciplinary group devoted to geoscience research and education. The Foundation provides talks, field trips, walks, workshops, and publications on geoscience. David has worked as a mineral commodities specialist in Latin America, organizing many exploration teams in the Amazonian rain forest and mountain regions of northern South America. He spent a decade working for the federal government as a minerals specialist and California abandoned mine expert and in 2006 his team was honored in Washington, D.C. with the National Environmental Achievement award for developing toxic mercury remediation methods at an abandoned hydraulic mine site in Nevada County.

2015 Clarence Motter

Clarence Motter loves the outdoors. He can’t remember a time when he wasn’t curious about what he would find on the other side of the mountain. Adventurous, inquisitive and always seeking new discoveries, Motter has led multiple treks for Bear Yuba Land Trust over the years. A long-time member and volunteer, Motter helped build and maintain trails like Rattlesnake Ridge, Independence Trail and the connector to Cascade Canal. He helped paint the North Star House during the early years of restoration. In many ways, Land Trust values – like preserving open space and getting people outdoors – mirrors Motter’s own life path.

2014 Julie Carville

For over 35 years, as a writer, photographer and botanist, Julie Carville has led wildflower field classes in Tahoe, Pt. Reyes, and Nevada County. Locally she has led walks for Bear Yuba Land Trust, Yuba Watershed Institute, and the Native Plant Society. She created Mountain Gypsy Wildflower Seminars offering wildflowers field classes to children and adults. Carville is the author of Hiking Tahoe’s Wildflower Trails, (aka. Lingering in Tahoe’s Wild Gardens), a contributing author of California’s Wild Gardens, and co-author of Wildflowers of Nevada & Placer Counties, CA and Trees, Shrubs & Woody Vines of Nevada & Placer Counties, CA.

2013 Hank Meals

Hank Meals, archeologist, writer, and photographer worked off and on as an archeologist for the Tahoe National Forest for 25 years. His resume includes photojournalism, tree planting, firefighting, trail construction, cone gathering, wildlife habitat improvement, archaeology, trail guide and interpretation. He is the author of several books about trails: The River: Hiking Trails and History of the South Fork of the Yuba River and Yuba Trails 1 and 2 and is co-authoring a book about the Nisenan people. Meals began leading hikes for Bear Yuba Land Trust more than 20 years ago and his knowledge of local history and trails remain popular draws.

2013 Greg Archbald

In 2013, Greg Archbald received the John Skinner Sierra Outdoors Recreation Award for Volunteerism. He has devoted his life’s work to conservation. Greg was one of the first environmental attorneys in California and an environmental activist during a time when the coastlines of Marin and Sonoma were being saved from development. He co-founded The Trust for Public Land with Huey Johnson in 1972. He set precedent with his ideas about citizen volunteerism and the natural resource stewardship programs he helped start at the Golden Gate National Parks are going strong to this day. In 2009, Greg worked with Bear Yuba Land Trust Trails Coordinator Bill Haire and his hiking friend, the late John Skinner in an effort to inventory local trails for BYLT’s online trails portal.

Young Leader Award

The Inaugural Young Leader Award honors an individual for their interest, commitment, and leadership in areas of outdoor recreation, land conservation, and environmentalism. The Young Leader is an individual who has turned their passion into an opportunity to educate, inspire, and mobilize others to action.

Young Leader Award Recipients

2025 Young Composers Project

Young Composers Project is the education outreach of the Nevada County Composers Cooperative. YCP is a nine-month long class for music students from junior high through college. The curriculum focuses on composing, notation, music theory, harmony and history, instrument families, conducting, ear training, solfège, listening, rehearsal and performance techniques. The program also encourages public speaking.
During the year, students will each write two new compositions: the first piece is for voice accompanied by one instrument. Students find a poem that speaks to them and set it to original music. The second is an instrumental composition inspired by a partnership with a regional non-profit. In 2025, that non-profit was Bear Yuba Land Trust.

2024 Walter Helvin

Walter has lived in Nevada County his whole life. He was raised on a small ranch and has always been close to nature. When he was younger, he loved to play around in the woods and to watch the night sky, looking up at all the stars. Surrounded by such a beautiful environment, he had a deep passion to care for and protect it. As he grew older, he got more familiar with the hard work necessary to care for animals and the land. He also began to learn more about the human impact on our environment and the threat posed by climate change. By the time he started high school, he wanted to get involved in his community to help make positive changes. Ghidotti High School requires community service to graduate, and when we was searching for ways to volunteer he found Bear Yuba Land Trust, as well as other local non-profits such as SYRCL and SSI. He showed up for trail work days, the Yuba River cleanup, and for water quality monitoring. These experiences introduced him to so many new places and natural phenomena that he learned about. Not only that, but he met many community leaders who inspired him to continue to be active in his community and build his own leadership skills. He was involved with a local climate advocacy group, Nevada County Sunrise, at the same time that the Rise Gold Idaho Maryland Mine controversy was occurring. To organize opposition to the mine, he presented to local high school students and educated them about the issue. He also spread a petition among students and organized students to show up to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors hearings. He felt this was important for our leaders to hear the youth’s perspective and to really contextualize the impact of long-term decisions on our community and environment. Today, he continues to volunteer and to be actively involved in his community. He has since graduated from Ghidotti and is a Sierra College student this year. He plans to transfer to UC Davis to study environmental policy analysis and planning. He is still very passionate about environmentalism and hopes to use his education and future career to make a positive impact for the climate!

2023 Marian Christiansen

The inaugural Young Leader Award was presented to Marian Christiansen, a senior at Nevada Union High School. Marian current studies include classes in Forestry and Natural Resources, Skills and Safety for Natural Resource Careers, and Greenhouse Management. Over the last two summers, Marian had the opportunity to work on several conservation corps including in Idaho, where she remote camped for sevenhttps://youtu.be/k3mawERI5Z4?feature=shared weeks while completing projects in habitat restoration for bighorn sheep in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve; and rerouting sections of the Idaho Centennial Trail to help prevent erosion. The following summer Marian headed to Kelly Forks Youth Conservation Corps to take invasive species removal, wildlife surveys for native bumble bees and flammulated owls, and pruning projects on the Western White Pine to prevent the spread of blister rust. Upon graduation, Marian would like to join a wildland fire crew for a season and then attend Feather River College to attain her A.S. degree in Environmental Studies.

Return to the Willam Nickerl Award for Conservation Leadership or the John Skinner Sierra Outdoors Recreation Award.