New Season, New Faces – Welcome Andrea & Megan

Here at SYRCL headquarters, we have been busy with several exciting staff transitions and we want to share our excitement with you, our dedicated members! Join us in welcoming two new staff members.

Andrea Mason, a Nevada County resident since birth, has joined our team as the Finance Manager. Having worked in accounting offices since she was 18, Andrea found she had a natural affinity for numbers and appreciated the orderliness which only a cleanly balanced set of books can produce.

After marrying and starting a family, in 2006 she pursued her Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from University of Phoenix, graduating in 2009. At the same time, she was working for a Nevada City firm as their Quality Control Manager, ensuring accuracy and compliance on income tax returns and accounting projects.

Andrea brings with her a broad knowledge base, a commitment to excellence, a prodigious attention to detail, and a dedication to serving the people of the community she lives in and loves. In her free time, Andrea enjoys spending time with her family and friends, talking about all-things-Harry-Potter, reading, painting, wine-tasting, and book collecting.

Our River Science department also has a new team member. Megan Learned has joined us as the new River Education Manager. In this position, Megan will be leading SYRCL’s efforts to educate people of all ages to be informed and passionate stewards of the Yuba watershed. She is rapidly getting well-versed in our Salmon Tours Program, because she is currently on the water most days leading local youth down the lower Yuba. Megan will also coordinate our  school assembly programs, Project WET Training for teachers, Wild & Scenic Film Festival’s youth sessions and events, as well as high school programs and Youth for the Yuba events.

Megan grew up in the Central Valley of California and spent all her summers and winters in the Sierra Nevada. Upon graduating with an anthropology degree from UC Santa Cruz, Megan worked as an educator at various outdoor schools in California, then as a naturalist guide in Alaska and Hawai’i. After living on Hawai’i island for 16 years and teaching 10 years of middle school science at a public charter school, Megan returned home. Her enjoyment of and care for the South Yuba River led her to SYRCL, which she considers to be the ideal combination of advocacy, education, environmental science and eco-literacy. In her time off, Megan loves to explore new places and enjoy the seasonal beauty of the Sierra Nevada.