Who We Are
Danielle Katz, Founder and Executive Director: At four months of age, Danielle took one of the last runs down the Stanislaus River before it was dammed. At 14 she became a river guide, regularly working trips on the Klamath, Rogue, and Tatshenshini-Alsek in Alaska for James Henry River Journeys. She ran her first Source to Sea trip in 2009, paddling 2,271 miles down the length of the Mississippi for the non-profit What About Blue, raising funds to build wells and sanitation projects in Rwanda. She has worked with local river non-profits, including the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, and the Tuolumne River Trust.
John Dye, Co-founder and Associate Director: John brings 40 years of on-water experience to the campaign. His background in project management includes co-founding a youth aquatic fitness non-profit. John has run fundraising events for the Sonoma Land Trust, the Tuolumne River Trust, and currently acts as the Tuolumne River Trust’s principle guide and instructor. He teaches kayaking at California Canoe and Kayak and has had paddling articles appear in Surfski and Waterdog Ezines.
Season Martin, Board Member: Treasurer Season started boating on the desert rivers of the Colorado Plateau at the young age of three. Since then she has worked as a river guide in Colorado and Utah, explored the rivers of the Pacific Northwest while obtaining her bachelors of Environmental Science and Geology from Whitman College, tromped around the southern forest of Utah documenting public lands grazing impacts and the benefits of beaver reintroduction and worked as Restoration Coordinator at the Tamarisk Coalition focusing on restoring native plant communities along rivers systems throughout the West. She is excited to start exploring the rivers of California when she starts her masters at UC Santa Barbara in the fall of 2013 to study sustainable water markets.
Haven Livingston, Cal 100 Race Director, Board Member: Secretary- Haven is a freelance journalist with a background in field biology. She earned a MS in Water Resources Management from Madison, Wisconsin, and a BA in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz. She is a water-girl in every sense; learning to swim at age 2, she now also surfs, kayaks, sails, scuba dives and puddle ducks. If she’s not out adventuring she’s writing about it or others’ adventures and supporting the work of nonprofits like Rivers for Change.
Stephen Linaweaver, Board Member: is a sustainability professional with a big passion for rivers. He has guided rafting trips in the US, Nepal, Kenya, and on the White Nile in Uganda, and has previously worked as an environmental educator for Save the Bay. When conditions allow, he still squeezes into a twenty year-old baby-blue Perception Dancer and kayak commutes to work across the San Francisco Bay from his home in Oakland.
Galen Licht, Headwaters Ambassador: Galen Licht has been kayaking since he was three years old. He is the founder of the UCSC Kayak Club, a Kokatat kayaking ambassador, and a strongly respected member of the paddling community. He recently placed 7th in the Men’s HP World Surf Kayak Championships (2011), and placed 1st in the Men’s HP at the Santa Cruz Surf Festival in 2009 and 2010. He will lead the Rivers for Change Headwater’s Team through the Class IV and V+ sections of the watershed.
William Spangler, grew up drinking Hetch Hetchy water and has river stewardship coursing through his veins. Will has an academic background in Environmental Policy and is drawn to maps and mountains. He has spent the last three years teaching the basics of grassland restoration and leads outdoor trips for UC Santa Cruz and high school students, stopping often to key out California native bunchgrasses. He looks forward to highlighting the beautiful and invaluable natural resources lining the state’s rivers.
While Darin McQuoid‘s extreme motivation has made him a crucial member of some of the most difficult remote expedition kayaking trips in the past six years, it is his aptitude at documenting them that’s inspirational. In only a few years he has established himself as the premier whitewater expedition photographer. To afford chasing this passion, he has lived simply for many years. His most permanent home, a 10′ trailer parked next to rivers or at the Mount Shasta Ski Park, was recently put into retirement by a bear looking for a snack.
Seth Dow has been splitting his time between school and kayaking ever since he learned to roll. Now he has combined the two as the Math Instructor for New River Academy, a travelling kayaking High school. He has spent the last year training some of the best young kayakers in the world both in the lessons of river and lessons of academia. His passion for water runs the span of any drainage, from the steep creeks, through the big water, and all the way down into the ocean, where he SUP surfs. He now has traveled from Canada to Chile to find some of the worlds best rivers, only to find that the best whitewater, the water worth keeping, is in his own state of California.
Halie Kampman is a northern California native, with a love for both her home state, and also the draw of traveling the world. She has a background in international development, which has led her to international work, but somehow always back to beautiful California. Since graduating from UCLA in 2009 she’s worked with arts nonprofits. Her current interests are in media arts including graphic design and most recently documentary film-making. She always tries to reserve time for fun outdoors, and loves to run, hike, and play in the ocean. She’s excited to be a part of Rivers for Change, documenting the good things that they are doing!
