MEET OUR TEAM

JOE REUSSER serves as the current Board President 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..

MIKE HUBBARTT serves as the current Board Vice 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.

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.

BABS COTTER serves as a Board 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.

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.

SAMANTHA SMALLWOOD serves as Board Director for SBRLT. She is currently in the process of earning her B.A. in Geography, which she hopes will help her to further understand, protect, and conserve our environment. She grew up in Northern California, as as such, has always loved the great outdoors. California’s incredible mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, valleys, and stunning coastlines inspired her life-long hobbies of backpacking, trail running, and kayaking. When she’s not outside, Sam enjoys spending time with her family and volunteering.

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.

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.