Our Team
The Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust
MIKE HUBBARTT serves as the current Board President of SBRLT. He is also on the Outreach Committee and assists with the bi-annual newsletter and makes public appearances to promote the land trust’s preservation goals. A former teacher, he currently works as an interpreter at the Oroville Visitor Center. Mike is the author of “The Sutter Buttes” in the Images of America Series, which is a history of the families of the Sutter Buttes. He enjoys hiking, backpacking, gardening, woodworking, and reading.
BABS COTTER serves as a Board Vice President and Director. Until her retirement in 2002, she taught elementary school for 38 years, retiring from Butte Vista School where she was also Teaching Vice-Principal. Growing up in Chico, Babs spent summers at the family’s cabin in the Sierra, developing a love for the outdoors, and a strong desire to preserve our natural landscape. Babs is also an active volunteer with the American Cancer Society, the local Sutter County Museum, and PEO Sisterhood. She lives in Yuba City with her husband, Morris. They have two grown children and two granddaughters. She continues to spend time at the family cabin, and also enjoys gardening, hiking, and spending time with her granddaughters.
DR. EMMA BLACKTHORNE serves as the current Board Treasurer for SBRLT. She has had a long and distinguished career spanning the fields of anthropology, education, executive management, and criminal justice. She speaks, reads or writes more than 15 languages and has traveled to every region of the world. She currently continues to teach anthropology to students in the Yuba-Sutter community as a professor with the Yuba Community College District. Dr. Blackthorne has been in executive management since 2007, has started two businesses, and has been involved with the leadership of numerous nonprofit organizations. She serves as the Director of the North Central Adult Education Consortium as well as accepting leadership of the Marysville Youth and Community Center.
JULIE STARK serves as the current Board Secretary for SBRLT. She retired from the Community Memorial Museum after 25 years, where she was the Director/Curator. A prominent focus of the museum is the history of the Sutter Buttes. Julie, who has two grown daughters and three grandchildren, received her BA degree from CSUC, and has a background in library work and teaching. She is a native of Chico and enjoys her leisure time gardening and reading.
JOE REUSSER serves as a Board Director and serves on the Stewardship Committee. Joe is a life-long resident of Yuba and Sutter counties, having grown up on a cattle ranch in the foothills east of Marysville. He is a Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes an interpretive guide and docent. He has a BA Degree from California State University-Sacramento and is an accomplished photographer. His hobbies include a love of the outdoors, hiking and backpacking and travel photography, although not necessarily in that order. Retired from a career in agricultural equipment repair and maintenance, he lives in Yuba City with his wife, Julie..
MARGIT SANDS serves as a Board Director for SBRLT. She hails from a family whose history is closely tied to the region. Her family has owned a ranch in the heart of the Sutter Buttes since 1898, and Margit considers herself fortunate to have grown up working cattle on the ranch, and finds that her appreciation for the Sutter Buttes grows with each passing year. She has retired from her lifelong career of teaching elementary school, primarily at Manzanita School in Gridley. Now she devotes more time to the cattle operation with some side interests of playing her flute and sewing. She also is the Charter Hike Coordinator for our sister organization, Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes.
BEN CHANDLER serves as Board Director for SBRLT. He grew up in Oregon, with meaningful summers in the Sierra Nevada lakes and forests, and farmlands of California’s Central Valley. Open spaces and farmland have been the source of his grounding and joy, in California and around the world. After working in the greater Bay Area and overseas, he relocated to Butte County in 2018 and works for the State of California. Ben continues to enjoy spending time outdoors, and especially being active with ranch activities in the Sutter Buttes.
RACHEL REIN is the newest Board Director. She is a citizen scientist, civic activist, writer, educator, and artist. She is currently pursuing an MFA. Her passions include genealogical DNA testing, data visualization, deep dive research, digital documentation, gaming, hand-coding HTML and CSS, and discovering new fruit to try. Rachel has made over 22,000 edits to Wikipedia. She volunteers with California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), the non-profit of the Nisenan Tribe, and serves on the Editorial Board of her local newspaper. She produces a local voter guide each election and created LandEmpty, which helps consumers find reusable alternatives to disposable products.
RICK GEDDES had served as President from 2015-2017 and is currently Director Emeritus for SBRLT. He has lived in the Yuba-Sutter area for 30 years. Having cycled through and around the Buttes for many years, he took his first hike in 2012 and was hooked. He brings an agricultural background having spent a career working with rice, walnut, almond and row crop growers and understands the role the farmer/landowner plays in land preservation. Hobbies include camping, cycling, hiking and boating with wife.
WALT ANDERSON is Director Emeritus/Naturalist for SBRLT. He pioneered the programs of access and interpretation in 1976 that evolved into the organization of today. Currently Professor of Environmental Studies at the innovative Prescott College in Arizona, Walt is also an accomplished photographer, artist, and guide of international expeditions. His second book, Inland Island: The Sutter Buttes, appeared in 2004.
ALYSSA LINDMAN serves as our Executive Director, and is a previous Board Director and Back-up Guide for our sister organization, Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes. Alyssa is also currently serving on the Yuba County Planning Commission for District 1. Alyssa graduated UC Davis with a B.S. in Landscape Architecture and minor in Landscape Restoration. Since graduating she has worked in the field of landscape architecture designing everything from public and residential landscapes to creek restoration and mitigation projects. Alyssa has also worked as on-site supervisor for several mitigation and restoration projects, which included project construction oversight, invertebrate and hydromonitoring, as well as land surveys. In her free time, Alyssa enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking, art, and family.
MARIA HANHARDT serves as Administrative Manager for SBRLT. She currently lives in Sutter County with her husband and two children. She has done volunteer work and assisted with event planning with non-profit organizations in the Yuba-Sutter area. Maria enjoys nature and visiting state and national parks whenever possible.
Build partnerships to balance conservation with economic growth, flood protection & agriculture
Provide the resources to create extraordinary opportunities and preserve the Sutter Buttes legacy.
Property is more than just real estate. It is a legacy, a part of family heritage.
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