Meet the new board members
RCLC has an all-volunteer board with a wide variety of talents and professional skills. We’re pleased to introduce you to the two latest board members to join.
Jim Nybakken
“My wife Marcia and I feel extremely lucky to be able to live in such a beautiful area and to be able to contribute to the preservation of its unique qualities.”
Jim joined the board this summer after retiring from The Sea Ranch Association Board of Directors. His role with Redwood Coast Land Conservancy is Stewardship Chair, a position he dived into right after joining. He coordinates with the four Project Managers of RCLC’s public access properties to help maintain those properties for ongoing public use.
Our coastal properties are being visited by increasing numbers of people. Most visitors enjoy these places responsibly but a few do not. On a busy 2020 Labor Day weekend, Jim found himself, along with his wife Marcia, pushing logs back to a parking lot boundary on Upper Mill Bend that had been disturbed. That same weekend, Hearn Gulch Preserve had illegal campers and fireworks. Protecting these coastal properties is an ongoing job.
Jim holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of North Dakota. Making his way west while serving in the Navy during the Viet Nam era, he met his wife Marcia in San Francisco and settled in the greater Bay Area. After 35 years of renting vacation properties here, they finally bought a home in Sea Ranch 11 years ago. He adds, “We are now living pretty much full time here on the Mendonoma coast and loving it.”
Jim has a long history of work in public and private development in San Francisco and the East Bay. He worked in a number of different capacities, including project management, harbor management, financial management, risk management, HR and employee relations, and manager of administrative services.
He has served on a range of non-profit and governmental boards over the years, most recently on The Sea Ranch Association Board of Directors. He is currently active locally with Redwood Coast Medical Services (RCMS), the Sea Ranch Chapel Foundation, the Posh Squash Community Garden, and North Sonoma Coast Fire Protection District.
Jim brings his wide administrative experience and a cooperative can-do attitude to the RCLC board.
Trish Miller
“All children, all people, deserve access to wild and beautiful places, and I am honored to be a part of an organization committed to protecting those places in our own community.”
Trish joined the board after serving as an active volunteer for RCLC. Some may recognize Trish from her RCMS work where she was a Registered Nurse doing patient education. She also holds a B.A. (Psychology) from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Her role with RCLC is Project Manager for the Hearn Gulch Preserve. She is also assisting with a proposed 12 acre addition to that Preserve working alongside Kathleen Chasey, Chair of Land Acquisitions.
One of Trish’s passions is making sure children and adults get access to wilderness and nature. Trish and her husband Brent raised their 3 children on their 20 acres north of Gualala, building a log house and home-schooling their children. (See the article “Where is Trespass Beach?” for more on those adventures.)
She says that her children’s frequent trips to Cooks Beach and their forest explorations contributed to their love of learning and their success later in life. With a son who is getting a PhD in Physics at Stanford and her college-educated children, her theory that nature helps people learn and grow seems to hold true!
Trish also volunteers with the Seal Docent program, California Academy of Sciences, and monitors Gualala Point Beach with The Farallones Association Beach Watch.
We’re delighted to have Trish’s generous help, love of nature, and long association with the Mendonoma coast– all valuable attributes for our board.