STAFF
Lindsay Wood
Executive Director
Lindsay Wood is a proud resident of Plumas County, recently moving to Meadow Valley where she is currently building her own home. With ten years of biological consulting experience, she is excited to have her dream job become a reality as Plumas Audubon Society's new Executive Director. She is a wildlife biologist and has conducted fisheries, avian, and herptile research throughout the Sacramento River Watershed.
An alumnus of the California State University, Chico Biological Science program, Lindsay spent her undergraduate career leading the Hands on Science Lab, surveying Western Pond Turtle populations, and studying resident and migratory avifauna at the Universidad de Costa Rica Manuel Brenes Reserve. Lindsay spent a field season tracking the Greater Sage Grouse and two years working on a fish screen improvement project which aims to reduce impacts to endangered salmonid populations within the Sacramento River. Lindsay has worked with the Altacal Audubon Society, studying Aechmophorus grebe populations on the Thermalito Afterbay and leading field trips for the annual Snow Goose Festival. Lindsay leads ecotours at Eagle Creek Ranch and Peace Valley in the Sutter Buttes as a guide for with Sacramento River Ecotours. She has worked with consulting firms throughout the Sacramento River watershed, surveying for migratory birds and listed species, monitoring construction, and ensuring environmental compliance.
An alumnus of the California State University, Chico Biological Science program, Lindsay spent her undergraduate career leading the Hands on Science Lab, surveying Western Pond Turtle populations, and studying resident and migratory avifauna at the Universidad de Costa Rica Manuel Brenes Reserve. Lindsay spent a field season tracking the Greater Sage Grouse and two years working on a fish screen improvement project which aims to reduce impacts to endangered salmonid populations within the Sacramento River. Lindsay has worked with the Altacal Audubon Society, studying Aechmophorus grebe populations on the Thermalito Afterbay and leading field trips for the annual Snow Goose Festival. Lindsay leads ecotours at Eagle Creek Ranch and Peace Valley in the Sutter Buttes as a guide for with Sacramento River Ecotours. She has worked with consulting firms throughout the Sacramento River watershed, surveying for migratory birds and listed species, monitoring construction, and ensuring environmental compliance.
Email Lindsay: plumasaudubon@gmail.com
Elizabeth Ramsey
Operations Director
Elizabeth Ramsey moved to Plumas County from Southwestern Michigan in the Fall of 2017 to begin her education at Feather River College, where in 2019 she obtained her Associate degree in Environmental Studies and a Biological Field Technician Certification. While studying at FRC, she learned about an expansive array of topics pertaining to the environment and became fascinated by the Earth’s
biodiversity and interconnectedness. She was the president of the Student Environmental Association at FRC and represented the student body on the Sustainability Action Team and Associated Students of FRC. She currently attends Humboldt State University where she is working to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies, emphasizing in Ecology & Conservation Science and Media Production. There, she also hopes to continue studying Spanish and study wildlife abroad in Central America.
Alongside environmental humanities, Elizabeth also studies sustainable agriculture and photography. She enjoys birding, hiking, reading, cooking, and gardening in her free time. One unique thing about Elizabeth is her participation in the local non-profit circus collective, Quircus, where she performs with a fire and LED hula-hoop and teaches classes.
biodiversity and interconnectedness. She was the president of the Student Environmental Association at FRC and represented the student body on the Sustainability Action Team and Associated Students of FRC. She currently attends Humboldt State University where she is working to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies, emphasizing in Ecology & Conservation Science and Media Production. There, she also hopes to continue studying Spanish and study wildlife abroad in Central America.
Alongside environmental humanities, Elizabeth also studies sustainable agriculture and photography. She enjoys birding, hiking, reading, cooking, and gardening in her free time. One unique thing about Elizabeth is her participation in the local non-profit circus collective, Quircus, where she performs with a fire and LED hula-hoop and teaches classes.
Email Elizabeth: elizabeth@plumasaudubon.org
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Piers Strailey
President
I was born and raised in Pennsylvania but have lived in California most of my adult life. I have an undergraduate degree in International Relations and teaching credentials in English, social studies, and special education. My wife, Faith, and I met as VISTA volunteers on a project in South Carolina in the 1970’s. Quincy has been our home for over thirty years. Plumas County was a deliberate choice: we were attracted by its natural diversity and beauty and its relatively small human population. We are both teachers retired from PUSD. Our two sons graduated from QHS. While teaching, I was actively involved in coaching soccer and contract negotiating on behalf of the teachers’ union. I have been involved in various community organizations and efforts, especially since retiring.
Responding to an appeal from PAS for new board members three years ago, I soon assumed the position of Board President. I believe PAS serves the county’s residents well, whether it be by fostering an appreciation of birds through outings, presentations, and classroom support, by conducting wildlife inventories or a festival to celebrate and protect grebes, or by coordinating large-scale habitat improvement for all living things. I am pleased to be able to work with such an ambitious and effective group.
In my spare time I enjoy a number of outdoor activities, including hiking, camping, travel, and gardening. When time allows, carving and woodworking are also of interest.
Responding to an appeal from PAS for new board members three years ago, I soon assumed the position of Board President. I believe PAS serves the county’s residents well, whether it be by fostering an appreciation of birds through outings, presentations, and classroom support, by conducting wildlife inventories or a festival to celebrate and protect grebes, or by coordinating large-scale habitat improvement for all living things. I am pleased to be able to work with such an ambitious and effective group.
In my spare time I enjoy a number of outdoor activities, including hiking, camping, travel, and gardening. When time allows, carving and woodworking are also of interest.
Suzanne McDonald
Secretary
I began my bird-watching career at the age of eight in Ventura, California when my mother tied up a mockingbird nest that the wind had damaged. I began following the baby mockingbirds around the back yards of my neighborhood and soon was watching all the other neighborhood birds. When I discovered Roger Tory Peterson’s Field Guide to the Birds on a family vacation to a National Park, I was on my way to a birdwatching hobby that has never stopped. Luckily, my parents instilled in me a love of the outdoors and nature which became imbedded in my personality and my belief system. As I went about my life, the visual (and later auditory) stimulation of birds has always been the icing on the cake. Concern for our environment and the habitat of all animals has been a logical consequence of this awareness.
My dream job was to be an outdoor interpreter for birds and the rest of nature. However, I never actually pursued that goal, instead filling a variety of odd careers from secretarial to puppetry to landscape maintenance to working in our local prisons as clerical staff. Many of my jobs were a lesson in what I did NOT want to do. From 1989-1996 I was a partner-owner in McDonald Boat Rentals which operated out of Plumas Pines Marina on Lake Almanor near Chester, California. It was in this job that I learned to operate boats and to know Lake Almanor (where I still live).
While most of the tourists were interested in fishing, I was busy watching the bird life. I had a front row seat for eight seasons watching Western Grebes, Common Mergansers and Common Loons, Pied-bill Grebes, Forester’s Terns, Spotted Sandpipers, Buffleheads, Common Goldeneye, Ospreys and Bald Eagles as I rented boats and waited for them to return. I even had a cut-out window in the old building we used to store life vests where I watched Tree Swallows raise their nestlings. Birding has filled the hours, edges, margins, interstices, corners, dreams, weekends, vacations, and trips of my lifetime. Now that I am retired, I am volunteering with Plumas Audubon Society as a Board member because of its many activities that further my love and passion for birds and hope that I can impart some of that joy to others.
My dream job was to be an outdoor interpreter for birds and the rest of nature. However, I never actually pursued that goal, instead filling a variety of odd careers from secretarial to puppetry to landscape maintenance to working in our local prisons as clerical staff. Many of my jobs were a lesson in what I did NOT want to do. From 1989-1996 I was a partner-owner in McDonald Boat Rentals which operated out of Plumas Pines Marina on Lake Almanor near Chester, California. It was in this job that I learned to operate boats and to know Lake Almanor (where I still live).
While most of the tourists were interested in fishing, I was busy watching the bird life. I had a front row seat for eight seasons watching Western Grebes, Common Mergansers and Common Loons, Pied-bill Grebes, Forester’s Terns, Spotted Sandpipers, Buffleheads, Common Goldeneye, Ospreys and Bald Eagles as I rented boats and waited for them to return. I even had a cut-out window in the old building we used to store life vests where I watched Tree Swallows raise their nestlings. Birding has filled the hours, edges, margins, interstices, corners, dreams, weekends, vacations, and trips of my lifetime. Now that I am retired, I am volunteering with Plumas Audubon Society as a Board member because of its many activities that further my love and passion for birds and hope that I can impart some of that joy to others.
Kelby Gardiner
Interim Treasurer
Kelby has been a resident of Plumas county for 15 years, all the while working as a Forest Service Hydrologist and enjoying our incredible Sierra/Cascade landscape. Hobbies like hunting, fishing, and foraging are usually accompanied by a pair of binoculars to aid in bird identification along the way. He is a founding member of the Plumas Underburn Cooperative and is a proponent for continued efforts by this Audubon chapter to create and maintain defensible space for our wildlife and human communities ever-threatened by wildfire.
Jill Slocum
Human Resources
Jill moved from the Bay Area to Sierra Valley after retiring about 12 years ago. I'm in love with the area and am amazed each year at the number and diversity of birds migrating through and breeding here. What's not to love about watching a crane family grow up? Not surprising that National Audubon has designated Sierra Valley as an Important Bird Area. Think it is important for everyone to do what is possible to help preserve this special place. Look forward to seeing you all on field trips, programs, and maybe you'd like to join us in our efforts to help with outdoor education in this incredible area.
Faith Strailey
Education
I have lived in Plumas County since 1989. Birds have been a lifelong interest, particularly with regard to the disturbing decline in avian population numbers and species diversity. I have served as a board Member of Plumas Audubon Society since August 2019, but have been a member of the National Audubon Society for over 40 years. As a board member, I co-ordinate Audubon’s participation in the Cal Trans Adopt-A-Highway program and serve on the Education Committee. I graduated from UCLA with degrees in History, Anthropology, and Geography-Ecosystems.
Upon graduating from UCLA, I enrolled in Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to secure teaching degrees in elementary and secondary education. Several years later I obtained a Master’s Degree in Education and Special Education and Resource Specialist teaching certificates at the same institution. Before beginning my career in teaching, I volunteered for VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America). The project to which I was assigned, focused on community center development in low income neighborhoods. The program goal was to provide educational programs that would benefit the community.
I taught for 34 years at all levels of education, 1st – Adult, including 22 years in special
education. As a teacher at Quincy Elementary School, I sponsored an extra-curricular club commonly referred to as QEEC (Quincy Elementary Environmental Club) for 12 years. The goal of QEEC was to introduce students to endangered species, why they were endangered, and what we can do to help them. Students also engaged in fund raising activities to support groups who were fighting to save specific species threatened with extinction. I also organized Family Science Night for several years, and organized in-school Earth Day activities for students.
As a PAS member, I wholeheartedly support Plumas Audubon’s involvement in habitat
improvement projects, including making forests more fire resilient and conducting population studies as a means to help assess forest and fresh water health. I am deeply encouraged by the decision of the Plumas Unified School District to designate 5th grade as the “Year of the Bird” and the school district’s incorporation of the PAS generated PEEP (Plumas Environmental Education Program) curriculum into the general science curriculum.
Upon graduating from UCLA, I enrolled in Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to secure teaching degrees in elementary and secondary education. Several years later I obtained a Master’s Degree in Education and Special Education and Resource Specialist teaching certificates at the same institution. Before beginning my career in teaching, I volunteered for VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America). The project to which I was assigned, focused on community center development in low income neighborhoods. The program goal was to provide educational programs that would benefit the community.
I taught for 34 years at all levels of education, 1st – Adult, including 22 years in special
education. As a teacher at Quincy Elementary School, I sponsored an extra-curricular club commonly referred to as QEEC (Quincy Elementary Environmental Club) for 12 years. The goal of QEEC was to introduce students to endangered species, why they were endangered, and what we can do to help them. Students also engaged in fund raising activities to support groups who were fighting to save specific species threatened with extinction. I also organized Family Science Night for several years, and organized in-school Earth Day activities for students.
As a PAS member, I wholeheartedly support Plumas Audubon’s involvement in habitat
improvement projects, including making forests more fire resilient and conducting population studies as a means to help assess forest and fresh water health. I am deeply encouraged by the decision of the Plumas Unified School District to designate 5th grade as the “Year of the Bird” and the school district’s incorporation of the PAS generated PEEP (Plumas Environmental Education Program) curriculum into the general science curriculum.
Janet Swirhun
Director At-large
On sabbatical leave.
Ryan Thoni
Director At-large
Ryan Thoni is a biologist and educator. He completed his PhD in evolutionary biology and ecology from Saint Louis University in 2017, where he studied the biodiversity and evolution of Himalayan fish fauna. He has since returned to Plumas County to continue his passion for natural sciences and teaching. He is an associate faculty of the department of Environmental Studies at Feather River College, where he teaches classes wildlife diversity, field techniques, and environmental science. Additionally, Thoni still maintains active research projects in the mountains of Asia from Tajikistan to Bhutan. Despite his specialty in ichthyology, Thoni has worked on numerous projects spanning multiple fields of biology including fire ecology, botanical surveys, bird banding, carnivore trapping, various migratory waterfowl projects, freshwater mussel surveys and more. He Joined Plumas Audubon in the Spring of 2020.
In his free time, he enjoys mushroom foraging, fishing, juggling, and hunting.
In his free time, he enjoys mushroom foraging, fishing, juggling, and hunting.
Patricia Llamas
Director At-large
Mitch Poling
Director At-large
Mitch Poling grew up in Michigan and attended Grand Valley State University. There, he studied natural resource management, with an emphasis on wildlife management and ecosystem restoration. After working a couple of seasons for the Forest Service in Baldwin, MI, he began seeking out wildlife work in the Sierras. After moving around to various places, a Northern goshawk surveyor position with the Plumas Audubon Society caught his attention. He moved here for the job, with his partner Jac and his dog Milo, and they pretty quickly became enamored with Plumas County. With its unique ecology and beauty, Mitch decided that this is where he wanted to work to promote the wellbeing of wildlife and the ecosystems that they reside in. While living here, he has done surveys for Northern goshawks, black-backed woodpeckers, California spotted owls, Sierra Nevada yellow legged frogs, willow flycatchers, and carnivores, as well as various habitat restoration and fire management efforts with the Forest Service.
When it's the off season for field work, he's oftentimes working in kitchens. If you've eaten at Pangaea, he has probably fed you. He has also worked at some notable restaurants in Grand Rapids, MI and Portland, OR. When he isn't doing field work or working in the kitchen, he enjoys a good hike, camping, birding, fishing, reading old sci-fi novels, playing guitar, experiencing new music, watching old cartoons, the occasional video game, and relaxing by the creek. Mitch's favorite bird is a hermit thrush!
When it's the off season for field work, he's oftentimes working in kitchens. If you've eaten at Pangaea, he has probably fed you. He has also worked at some notable restaurants in Grand Rapids, MI and Portland, OR. When he isn't doing field work or working in the kitchen, he enjoys a good hike, camping, birding, fishing, reading old sci-fi novels, playing guitar, experiencing new music, watching old cartoons, the occasional video game, and relaxing by the creek. Mitch's favorite bird is a hermit thrush!
Micah Silver
Director At-large
Micah Silver was born and raised in Truckee, CA and has been living in Plumas County since 2013. In the spring of 2016 he assisted David Arsenault (executive director at the time) with spotted owl surveys. That same year Micah started working for the USFS as a wildlife technician, he has worked on the Mt. Hough and Beckwourth districts. Micah has conducted many Northern Goshawk, spotted owl, peregrine, bald eagle, golden eagle, willow flycatcher surveys with the forest service. He decided to join PAS so he could further assist in the conservation of the environment.
Dov Weinman
Director At-large
Dov Weinman grew up in Oregon near the Willamette River, and moved to Plumas County to serve as the Watershed Coordinator for the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment in 2019. He works to support and broaden the network of collaborative groups committed to forest and watershed management and rural development in the Sierra Nevada. Dov brings diverse experience to support PAS programs to protect biodiversity and build resilient communities, including a MS in Environmental Justice from the University of Montana focused on watershed governance issues, a graduate certificate in conflict resolution with the Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy, and three years of Peace Corps service in the Philippines. When he’s out of the office, Dov enjoys photography, creative writing, and trail running.
The mission of Plumas Audubon is to promote understanding, appreciation, and protection of the biodiversity of the Feather River Region, especially birds, through education, research, and the restoration and conservation of natural ecosystems.
Photo Credits: Plumas Audubon Society and Willi Hall
© COPYRIGHT 2017. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
© COPYRIGHT 2017. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.