Meet the Staff
Caleb Dardick, Executive Director
Caleb Dardick returns to Nevada County from the Bay Area with over 18 years experience in community outreach and advocacy to serve as SYRCL’s next executive director. This is a homecoming for Caleb who grew up on the San Juan Ridge. Caleb’s passion for community relations was inspired by his early exposure to political organizing on the Ridge where people would come together to build a new school or protect the environment.
Caleb is the son of former two-term Nevada County Supervisor and disability rights activist Sam Dardick, who passed away in May, and Geeta Dardick, a marriage and family therapist. He managed his father’s first campaign for Supervisor and remains deeply connected to the county. A graduate of Nevada Union High School, Caleb earned a B.A. in History with honors at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
In the mid-1990s, Caleb moved to Berkeley and served as acting chief-of-staff and legislative aide in the Berkeley Mayor’s Office. He then worked in UC Berkeley’s Office of Community Relations before starting his own consulting firm in 2000. For nearly a decade, Caleb provided public relations and public affairs consulting to a broad range of clients in business, government, the nonprofit sector and politics, and earned a reputation for integrity and diplomacy. Caleb secured political and community support for a diverse array of community-serving projects including the Ed Roberts Campus, a community center for people with disabilities, and the David Brower Center, a center for environmental nonprofits.
For the past two years, Caleb has served as Director of Local Government and Community Relations for UC Berkeley’s Office of the Chancellor, where he facilitated positive community engagement in what has frequently been a challenging town-gown environment.
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.
Melinda Booth, Director of Development and Wild & Scenic Events
Melinda Booth spent her early years growing up in Texas exploring the nearby woods and catching crawdads. A move to the Bay Area at age 9 and subsequent exploration of the vast natural diversity of California had her hooked on nature. A graduate of UC Davis in Environmental Biology, Melinda began her career with Defenders of Wildlife and became a passionate advocate for wildlife conservation. Interested in exploring other spectacular regions of our country, Melinda headed to the University of Montana, Missoula where she received an M.S. in Environmental Studies and completed her thesis on public attitudes toward management of black bears in an urban-wildland interface. The development component of her expertise began in earnest during grad school organizing fundraising events as a means to an end, and has since continued full-force. After grad school and prior to joining the SYRCL team, Melinda worked for the California Wolf Center (Julian, CA) raising funds for wolf conservation, research and education; and for the Sequoia Park Zoo Foundation (Eureka, CA) furthering the education and conservation mission of a 21st Century zoo. While in Humboldt County, Melinda concurrently taught environmental grant writing at Humboldt State University. When not working, Melinda enjoys extreme tubing, hiking with her husband and two dogs, home improvement projects and dreaming of the garden she will have one day soon.
Miriam Limov, River People 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 taught for 10 years 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 River People Coordinator, she is busy organizing SYRCL’s events and coordinating the marvelous volunteers that SYRCL is lucky to have. 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!
Lori Van Laanen, Associate Producer of Wild & Scenic Events
Lori Van Laanen has claimed Nevada County as home for the past twenty-six years although half of those years she has livedabroad in Japan and India. In 2009, Lori moved home with her family and began volunteering at SYRCL as a way to support the river she loves and as a means to reconnect with the community. Now in her role as Associate Producer of Wild & Scenic Events she gets to concentrate on the nationwide tour of the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, which reaches over 100 venues per year.
Jane Theobald, Administrative Assistant
Jane arrived in Nevada City just in time for the last film festival and has been involved with SYRCL ever since. She is absolutely delighted to be a part of this great organization and it has made her feel even more welcome in this community.
Jane comes from Cornwall, England, and both she and her spaniel are still making the transition from living by the ocean to living amongst trees! She has previously been a jeweler and a teacher and is mum to three fabulous extraordinary children.
As a jewelry and silversmithing teacher she always encouraged her students to be particularly aware of the negative effects of mining for precious metals and gems, so she feels that working with SYRCL has brought those interests full circle.
Sarah Phillips, RiverScience Program Assistant
Born and raised as a southern girl, Sarah spent her first twenty years throughout the Southeast of the country, mostly in Atlanta, Georgia. She began her studies at Kennesaw State University, in Georgia, accomplishing her general education so that she could then transfer to a school that actually had an undergraduate program in Environmental Studies. At age 20, she ventured out to Northern California to find home sweet home, and to eventually finish her degree at Sonoma State University in Environmental Studies and Planning, concentrating in Restoration and Conservation with a minor in Biology. This broad degree allowed her ample room to intern in very diverse realms of Environmentalism. One example included working for Petaluma Bounty, a non-profit sustainable farm in Sonoma County that provides affordable, organic produce to low-income families. Recently, Sarah has had the honor of working with The Amazon Mycorenewal Project team in Lago Agrio, Ecuador. The main focus being to train and build healthy ties with indigenous peoples in effort to using mushrooms to remediate (Mycoremediation) petroleum-contaminated lands from Texaco-Chevron’s mess since the 1960’s.
Within the last year and a half, Sarah left the Bay Area to return to Nevada City, volunteering her services to SYRCL in any way fit. She is beyond excited to take on this new position through the AmeriCorps SNAP Program in serving SYRCL’s greater needs as their new Watershed Coordinator Specialist. She looks forward to getting to know the community in addition to restoring the Yuba Watershed one step at a time, for the overall greater good of the Yuba River and its tributaries.
Jillian Van Ness, Development Assistant
Growing up on the beaches of southern CA, Jillian has always been happiest when surrounded by water. Collegiate and professional adventures, however, carried her to a number of diverse environments. From the streets of Boston to the mountains of Arizona, Jillian pursued an experiential education where she graduated with a B.A. from Prescott College. She then moved to the fields of Oregon to deepen her knowledge of human systems and the environment in a Permaculture Certification course, and later, to the villages of Ethiopia, working with USAID’s Urban Gardens Program for HIV-Affected Women and Children.
Returning to California last year via Truckee for a Forest Inventory project, Jillian was thrilled to discover SYRCL through the Wild and Scenic Film Festival. Her passion for water, sustainability, and connecting with the community is at the heart of her work.
Additionally, Jillian is an artist specializing in paper, book, and eco-arts as well as a musician, songwriter, and cook. She loves the outdoors, her soon-to-be-husband, and avocados.
Jessica Roberts, AmeriCorps Member: Watershed Coordinator
Since she can remember, Jessica has always had a curiosity and love for nature. When she was little you could find her in the backwoods of Pennsylvania climbing trees. Eventually, she developed an interest in conservation work and attended American University in Washington, DC for an International Relations degree with a focus on environmental policy.
When she wasn’t studying or working as a Resident Assistant, Jessica interned with the U.S. Botanical Gardens, the Smithsonian National Zoo, and the Green Festival. But it wasn’t until she worked as a water quality-monitoring specialist with the National Park Service that she decided to take on an Environmental Studies second major. This allowed her to combine the two things she loves most: working with people and conserving the environment.
Jessica is very excited to put her two loves to work at SYRCL. So far, she is enjoying the sense of community in Nevada City and everyone’s enthusiasm for environmental work. She can’t wait to explore California, meet new people, and work to restore and protect the greater Yuba watershed!
Eric Rubenstahl, AmeriCorps Member: River Monitoring Coordinator
While growing up in northern Connecticut Eric developed a strong appreciation for the outdoor environment. His passions led him to enroll in the Environmental Studies program at Westfield State College in Massachusetts. After three semesters his adventurous side propelled him to transfer to University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Enrolling as a meteorology student he discovered that he wanted to broaden his spectrum and finished with a double major; Environmental Studies and Geography. After sticking around Salt Lake City for an additional year snowboarding, hiking, camping and biking Eric moved to Colorado.
In May of 2009 Eric landed a position with Colorado Legends and Legacy Youth Corps based out of Colorado Springs, CO. After several months of trail work, campground restoration and environmental education he moved to Denver for more experience. After a winter in Denver, Eric started working for the Natural Areas Program in Fort Collins Colorado. The work there focused on creating the healthiest ecosystem possible by using tactical land management plans.
Eric is very excited to apply his naturalist skills to the River Monitoring Coordinator position at SYRCL this year. He looks forward to serving as a SNAP member in the Sierra Nevada and exploring all the nooks and crannies that California has to offer.
Kaitlyn Hacker, River Monitor Contractor
Kaitlyn Hacker is happy to join the SYRCL team as the River Monitoring Coordinator and AmeriCorps member. Kaitlyn grew up in Murphys, CA and from an early age developed a deep love and appreciation for waterways in California due to her proximity to the Stanislaus River. She attended University of California, Berkeley where she obtained her BA in Integrative Biology in May 2009. Following graduation, Kaitlyn was a research intern on a Vineyard Agroecology project focused on testing the floral resource provisioning hypothesis in vineyards in Napa and Sonoma, as well as the UC Kearny Agricultural Center near Fresno. She then went onto intern for the National Park Service doing early detection surveys for invasive plants in Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore. While working for NPS, Kaitlyn was also a part of the GGNRA Habitat Restoration Team. As an aspiring aquatic ecologist, Kaitlyn is extremely excited to be a part of a citizen-based program dedicated to monitoring and maintaining the integrity of a watershed. She looks forward to working with the wonderful volunteers that sustain SYRCL’s River Monitoring Program as well as learning all about the Yuba!!!
