AVLT Board Members
Karen Altaras
Karen has been active in the community since 1971. She is a founding board member of Anderson Valley Arts, and a former member of the Anderson Valley Chamber of Commerce. Karen owned and operated Rookie-to Gallery in Boonville before retiring in 2015.
Barbara Goodell
Barbara is a founding member of AVLT and has been a resident of the valley since 1978. She has served on the board of directors of the Anderson Valley Community Services District, established the community’s adult school, and has advanced sustainable agriculture on a countywide basis.
Nancy Hornor
Nancy retired from the National Park Service as the planning manager at Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), ending a career in planning and environmental review dedicated to helping shape the GGNRA as a new national park. Her work involved planning and community involvement in a wide range of projects, from master plans to site plans, restoration, trails. Nancy joined the Board in 2016. She and her husband John spend their time between San Francisco and Anderson Valley.
Yoriko Kishimoto
Yoriko was born in Japan and raised in the United States. She attended Wesleyan University and earned her Master of Business Administration from Stanford University. Yoriko has an extensive record of service on the Board of Directors of numerous public agencies throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Of particular note for the Anderson Valley Land Trust is Yoriko’s interest in open space and education being on the Board of Directors for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District and Hidden Villa, a working farm that fosters educational experiences, build connections, and inspires a deeper appreciation and respect for nature, food, and one another. Living in Boonville and Palo Alto, Yoriko enjoys painting, and she and her husband love hiking and growing grapes and olives.
William Meyer
Bill has been an integral part of Anderson Valley for 43 years. He started out in 1980 working at the Christmas Tree Farm in Philo utilizing his expert fence building and farrier skills and then, “The phone never stopped ringing.”
Bill grew up in the Bay Area and has always liked animals and outdoor activities; he is very happy that he has fulfilled a childhood fantasy of living on a beautiful homestead where he could have a garden, orchard, and horses. He feels like his two children had a great opportunity to grow up in Anderson Valley because of our great community where you can enjoy cross-age friendships and know a great portion of the community.
Barbara Nelson
Rob Risucci
Whether it be the corker, the case-packing robot, the tractor, the chicken cage, the waste water ponds, or the labeler that needs fixing at Roederer, guess who gets the call. The Facilities Manager, Rob Risucci! Busy all year ‘round at Roederer, Rob still has ample energy and desire to delve into the AV community to understand how it works with all its intricacies. He believes in investing in his community.
Rob was born in Southern California and came to Anderson Valley through Sebastopol, where he worked on a mushroom farm. He likes challenges in many forms, from art to the skill of ordering machine parts in French or Italian. He is working on adding Spanish to his repertoire.
Enjoying backpacking and the natural world, Rob feels conservation is direly needed, but requires better packaging. He sees good communication as the key to shepherding AVLT’s work to the next level and he is putting that in motion.
Dan Sicular
Dan grew up in Berkeley and attended U.C. Berkeley, where he earned a Ph.D. in Geography, a degree that allowed him to pursue his fascination with both the natural and social worlds. He has owned land in Anderson Valley since 1991.
Some of you may remember Dan as the coordinator for the pioneering Navarro Watershed Restoration Plan, which came out in 1998. He has walked much of the river and its many tributaries, met many land owners and, for three years, with a broad and very diverse stakeholders group, he wrestled with the complexities of the watershed’s hydrology, sediment and temperature, fisheries, and forests.
Dan went on to work as a consultant with ESA on environmental issues, as forest manager for the Pacific Forest Trust, and now as a highly respected independent consultant. We are so fortunate to have him join the Anderson Valley Land Trust board of directors where his skills have immediately been put to work.
AVLT Advisory Committee
Kathy Bailey
Connie Best
William Chambers
Micki Colfax
Thom Elkjer
David Hopmann
Daniel Imhoff
Jed Pogran
Alan Porter
John Scharffenberger
Steve Snyder
Laurie Wayburn
Peter Wiley
More Information
Please call our office (707.895.3150) if you would like more information about our work, a presentation about conservation easements, to make a donation, or to volunteer your expertise or time. Visit the Contact page for further details.
