A Massachusetts native, John Regan has lived in the Sierra Nevada for nearly twenty years. He moved to the Yuba Watershed after spending an afternoon on the South Yuba. He is president of Smart Campaigns, Inc, a national consulting firm specializing in policy research, strategic communications and advocacy campaigns. He lives in Nevada City with his wife Sarah, their daughter, Andia Bee, and a redbone coonhound named Bella.

Roger Hicks, MD – Co-Vice President and Secretary

Roger first moved to the Yuba Watershed in 1979 because of the river.  One of the founders of SYRCL, he was the spokesperson for the organization from 1984 -1988 and served as the first Board President from 1988 – 2000. He received his MD from Cornell, completed his medical training at UC Davis, and is co-founder of Yubadocs Urgent Care Clinic with his wife Linda. He is Medical Director of Yubadocs and of Harmony Health Medical Clinic in Marysville.  Roger lives on Little Deer Creek, and enjoys whitewater boating and skiing.

Steve Rothert, Co-Vice President

Steve joined the SYRCL Board in 2013.  Steve is Director of American Rivers’ California Regional Office in Nevada City. In addition to overseeing office operations, he manages American Rivers’ programs in California related to salmon restoration, meadow restoration, dam removal, floodplain restoration  hydropower reform and others. Prior to joining AR, he directed the Southern Africa Program for International Rivers Network based in Botswana, was Director of the national Hydropower Reform Coalition, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the fisheries program in Sierra Leone, West Africa. He has a B.S. in ecology from University of California at Los Angeles, and M.S. in natural resource sciences from University of California-Berkeley.

Georgette Aronow – Treasurer

Georgette joined the SYRCL Board in 2010. She brings her background in public finance, having worked as a consultant addressing utility rate, economic, and finance issues for public agencies over the last 18 years. Georgette’s current capacity is Treasurer for SYRCL. When not crunching numbers, Georgette spends time with her husband and two young children, and cultivating her photography business.

Barbara Getz

Barbara is a forty year resident of the San Juan Ridge.  Through the years she has spent many summer afternoons enjoying the South Yuba.  Barbara, her husband Mike, daughter Azriel, and son-in-law Michael operate the local movie theaters in Grass Valley and have been showing independent/alternative/foreign movies in Nevada City for 32 years.  She’s an avid gardener, kayaker, skier, and “Nanna”.

Luke Hunt, PhD

Luke grew up in the headwaters of the Stanislaus river, fly fishing and kayaking, during a time when the watershed was famously transformed by 2 major dams.  Now he works for American Rivers in Nevada City.  Luke has a BS in Earth Systems and a PhD in biomechanics from Stanford and he has worked in ecosystems from Arctic mountain tops to the Antarctic seafloor.  His wife Heather (neé Jacobson) is a chiropractor and son Jake is a stoked, 3rd-generation Nevada County boy.

Shana Maziarz

Shana still vividly remembers the first time she smelled the Yuba Watershed in 1989.  She was immediately put under the spell of Kitkitdizze and Ponderosa and California Bay Laurel, not to mention the seductive color of the iron red earth.  She resolved at that time to make the Yuba Watershed her home.  After rambling the earth for a while, she has been happily reunited with the Yuba for the past decade.  Shana has a BA in Psychology and Adventure Education from Prescott College and an Ed.M from Harvard University.  She spent ten years as an outdoor educator, and has also been a college professor, high school principal, river guide, and goat milkmaid.  She was the Creative Director of SYRCL’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival for two years, and is currently in the process of opening a brewery, bakery & wood-fired pizza restaurant in downtown Nevada City.

Holly Mitten

Holly is a life coach and lawyer with a life long love of nature. She’s committed her adult free time to supporting conservation and restoration efforts around the country, as well as enjoying the outdoors, hiking and backpacking.