About Tuleyome

Stephen grew up running around forests and soccer fields in South Carolina’s foothills to the Appalachian Mountains. After receiving his BS in Civil Engineering from Clemson University he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali (West Africa). Stephen received his MS and PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering from UC Davis in the 1990s, and has worked as a water quality consultant based in Davis since 2000. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in California and a Certified Lake Manager. Because of his extensive involvement with UC Davis, he received a 2021 Distinguished Engineering Alumni award. Although he has visited over 50 countries, he loves to explore Northern California on his four bicycles (and a motorcycle), four boats, and in his many pairs of hiking shoes. He recently stepped down after over a decade of service on the board of directors for another local nonprofit, Putah Creek Council. His involvement with Tuleyome over the past two decades has been as a donor, volunteer, California Naturalist guest speaker, tour guide and contracted project manager. He has gained expertise dealing with mercury as an environmental pollutant through various projects assessing and remediating mercury mine sites.

Bill became a Tuleyome staff member in 2016, retired in 2021, and has continued his involvement with the organization as a volunteer. His staff roles included activities/education coordinator, lecture series host and California Certified Naturalist instructor. Bill fell in love with the natural beauty of the Berryessa-Snow Mountain area while working as a geologist in the geothermal fields of Lake County in the late 1970’s. He earned a double major BA in Environmental Biology and Geology from UC Santa Barbara. After a decade or so exploring for geothermal energy, Bill earned an MBA from San Francisco State University and started a second career in Information Technology designing and managing Health Care and Financial Information systems. Bill’s next, roughly decade-long, career was as a stay-home dad, scout leader, parent volunteer and home manager. In 2016, finding and joining Tuleyome was the perfect place to consolidate such a wide range of life experience into a final career. Bill is honored to continue his contribution to Tuleyome and the people of Tuleyome’s focus area as a board member.

Lyndsay is one of the founders of Nature’s Theater, a program which provides nature-based programming and opportunities for school-aged children. Lyndsay’s passion for the outdoors developed from a childhood of camping trips and world travel. She earned a BFA from U.C. Santa Barbara in Theater Arts with an acting emphasis. Lyndsay spends most of her time writing, expanding the scope of Nature’s Theater, playing with kids and enacting characters like Mother Nature, Star Walker or the Jester. Nature’s Theater will help shape the junior guide program for the new Woodland Regional Park with walking stories featuring teens as costumed characters guiding young kids through nature themes with story driven adventures that teach appreciation of nature.

Dr. Holstein received his PhD in Botany from U.C. Davis and is retired from his position as Senior Scientist with Zentner and Zentner, a local biological consulting company. He has published peer reviewed research on California Prairie in Madroño, the journal of the California Botanical Society. Glen is Chapter Botanist for the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society , represents that Chapter at Habitat 2020 and was the California Prairie spokesman at its Wildflower Weekend in April , 2005 . He is also on the Board of Tuleyome, a non-profit organization working to protect the Cache Creek watershed and other areas in Yolo County, and on the steering committee of Yolo County’s Natural Communities Conservation Plan (NCCP). The NCCP program is an unprecedented effort by the State of California, and numerous private and public partners, that takes a broad-based ecosystem approach to planning for the protection and perpetuation of biological diversity. An NCCP identifies and provides for the regional or areawide protection of plants, animals, and their habitats, while allowing compatible and appropriate economic activity.

Born in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, André Sanchez was nurtured by his family, community, and culture in the agriculturally fueled town of Madera, CA. A community where working the land is often the norm and focusing on enjoying nature for pure joy has often been a foreign experience for most members of the community. Fortunately for André, his family taught him to form relationships with non-human relatives (i.e. nature) and enabled opportunities for him to joyfully experience being outside during his formative years. After receiving a B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from UC Davis, André’s professional journey led him to work for different natural resource programs and projects, including conducting aquatic restoration in Yosemite National Park (the most influential place visited during his childhood), monitoring trout populations in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California, and performing coastal climate change monitoring in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his current “9 to 5” life, André works for a statewide-focused environmental nonprofit, where he advocates to protect “public lands and waters”, as well as advocates on issues relating to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Access as related to the outdoors. André is also deeply involved as a volunteer with Latino Outdoors, a latine-led organization that connects and engages leaders and community members in the outdoor recreation, conservation, and nature movement across the country. Due to his combination of community focused efforts, André was recognized as a 2022 Nominee for the UCLA Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award. As a member of the Tuleyome Board, André aspires to help have more of the local BIPOC community joyfully experience and connect with the landscape that Tuleyome works to protect and steward.

Kim grew up going to nature camps in Delaware and spending summers on the New England coast. After earning a BA in Biology from Smith College and a PhD in Biology from Harvard University, she moved to California, and studied at the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute. She has lived in the Sacramento Valley for over 30 years and has applied her scientific knowledge and skills to her interest in advancing education and environmental conservation in her community. At UC Davis, Kim served as co-director of a Sloan Foundation grant to support women faculty and students in STEM fields. Her advocacy work includes serving as Natural Resources Chair of the League of Women Voters of California: she worked with a team to create a discussion guidebook on quality of life for California communities to use in local forums and evaluated proposed state legislation on environmental policy to determine advocacy goals. Kim is a certified California Naturalist. After raising a family, she is pleased to join Tuleyome and work to conserve and preserve the natural landscape of Northern California.

Andrew, a licensed landscape architect, is presently the assistant director of UC Davis arboretum and public garden, and is a former president of Tuleyome’s Board of Directors. He has been a constant advocate for appreciation of the Putah and Cache Creek watersheds in the central valley of California. To draw attention to the region, he founded Yolohiker.org, a local trails advocacy, hiking, and outings webpage and co-founded the Capay Valley Hiking Club, an ad-hoc group of hikers that meet twice a month to hike in the watershed. In 2002 Andrew co-founded Tuleyome. In 2015, Andrew was honored with a national “Trails Worker Award” at the 2015 American Trails Association’s award symposium in Portland, Oregon for his work on trails in the Central Valley, especially the marathon-level Berryessa Peak Trail.

Bob Schneider

Bob is a co-founder of Tuleyome and was a key strategist for many or our campaigns including the Cache Creek State Wild and Scenic River, establishment of the Cedar Roughs and Cache Creek Wilderness and dedication of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. He has worked on mercury mine remediation and key Tuleyome land acquisitions including the Ireland Ranch, Cold Canyon Headwaters and Goat Mountain parcels. Bob began his conservation career as a volunteer working on the establishment of the Redwood National Park in 1968 and helping to stop Forest Highway 100 that would have bisected Sierra wilderness with a road from Fresno to Mammoth. He co-founded the California Wilderness Coalition in 1976 and served as the California Wild Heritage Director. Bob is married to Liz and has two sons Charlie and Logan. He enjoys climbing, ski mountaineering, river boating, sailing, and bike riding.

Sandra brings decades of experience as a strategist, counsel, and governmental affairs and program director at the state, local and federal government levels on a variety of environmental, natural resource and agricultural issues. She began her work in Washington, DC after receiving her Masters in Philosophy and Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado Boulder and moved on to work for nonprofits and government. Ms. Schubert was Counsel for Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the United States Senate, advisor to United States Senator Barbara Boxer, Environmental and Public Works Committee member, Director of Government Affairs for Environmental Working Group, taught at Georgetown University Law School, and returned to California to become Undersecretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, open her firm Schubert Legal Strategies and teach at California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo. After serving on Tuleyome’s volunteer Board of Directors for two years, Ms. Schubert has joined staff as our Executive Director.

Nate grew up outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and spent 12 summers as a camper and counselor at a summer camp surrounded by the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan. He received his Bachelors of Science in natural science from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, where he studied everything from the Point Reyes conglomerate to chemistry to glacial geomorphology. Nate’s entire professional career has been spent working with kids and young adults in various aspects of outdoor education and conservation. In addition to his work as a camp counselor and outdoor educator, he was the recycling program manager for the Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps. At the Corps, he worked with young adults on conservation efforts throughout the region. 

Kristie grew up on the prairies of North Dakota and prefers to stay as far away from snow as possible. She received her BS in Biology from California State University, Bakersfield. Shortly after graduating Kristie began her biology career in the oil fields of Kern County. After relocating to Sacramento, Kristie continued working up and down the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys for consulting firms and later in the land conservation and mitigation banking industry. The majority of her career has been spent outdoors conducting surveys for special-status species, habitat assessments, or collecting data for naturally existing and constructed habitats. Kristie spends the majority of her spare time outdoors as well, watching their daughter play competitive soccer.

Geoff grew up in upstate New York, where he spent much of his childhood reading, hiking, and camping with his family. He received his BS in Crop Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his Ph.D. in Plant Biology from UC Davis, where he studied the molecular biology of plant stress responses. After completing graduate school, Geoff worked as an Academic Coordinator at UC Davis, where he oversaw teaching laboratory operations for a large introductory biology course (Biodiversity and the Tree of Life). While working at UC Davis, Geoff began hiking and botanizing extensively in and around what would become the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, which led to volunteer work with Tuleyome and Solano Land Trust, and eventually to the Education Associate position at Tuleyome. In his free time, Geoff enjoys hiking, hunting for wildflowers, cycling, and playing guitar.

Darlene grew up in Southern California, in the suburbs of the San Gabriel Valley northeast of Los Angeles. She spent much of her childhood outside playing with friends, riding bikes and skateboards along with many trips to the Azusa Canyon exploring nature. After a 4-year stint serving as an F-16 Avionics Specialist in the United States Air Force, Darlene moved north and made Sacramento her home. Darlene attended American River College pursuing associate degrees in accounting and horticulture all the while camping, hiking and biking the many trails throughout Northern California. She has worked for a variety of companies over the years but found the most enjoyment working for several non-profits in the Sacramento area including Fairytale Town, The Sacramento Zoo, and the Effie Yeaw Nature Center. In her spare time, Darlene enjoys reading and playing the bass guitar, but is also an avid reptile lover (has a small zoo at home) along with devoting her time volunteering with NorCal Bats providing education and outreach services sharing the many benefits bats provide to our ecosystem.

Bryan Pride grew up in Southern California in a suburb of San Bernardino County. His early experiences camping and hiking in California State and National Parks fostered a deep connection to public lands that would shape his career. Bryan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master's in Public Policy from California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo, with a focus on environmental preservation and sustainable development.

As a policy leader, Bryan excels in coalition building and stakeholder engagement, making complex conservation frameworks accessible to diverse communities and decision-makers. His collaborative leadership style has proven effective in developing partnerships between government agencies, indigenous leaders, and local communities to achieve lasting conservation outcomes.

Bryan's career includes service as a Mickey Leland Hunger Fellow and U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer, where he honed his skills in community-driven program design and advocacy. With his policy expertise, he has contributed to significant policy frameworks related to food security and climate adaptation while championing inclusive approaches to land conservation and environmental justice. His innovative methodologies and sustainable impact were recognized by the Congressional Hunger Center, when he was presented with the Rising Star Leadership Award.