Jared Geiser

Executive Director

Jared Geiser is a Chico local who is passionate about protecting and restoring the ecosystems of the Sacramento Valley, the foothills, and beyond! As Executive Director of the AltaCal (Audubon Society), he works to further AltaCal’s mission of promoting the awareness, appreciation, and protection of native birds and their habitats, through education, research, and environmental activities. His passion for birds and their habitats stems from his fascination with the complexity of the natural world, and his commitment to protecting and restoring biodiversity. He is a certified CA Naturalist and a former conservation planner who has worked with farmers and ranchers to enhance wildlife habitat and carbon sequestration on agricultural operations. In his free time, Jared likes to ride his bike, bird watch, control invasive species, sow seeds, study the biodiversity visiting his gardens, reap the harvest, and be the sous chef to his supportive and culinarily skilled wife Maggie.

John Seid

Vice President and Biodiversity Education

John has been with Altacal for a number of years. His passion is to bring awareness and understanding about the need to protect the biodiversity of the planet, and to teach students of our interconnectedness and interdependency with our natural world. While teaching elementary grades for thirty-five years he would always incorporate units concerning the environment. For the last couple of years John and Jared have visited many schools, introducing the concept of biodiversity with examples of our interdependency on the environment, and making bird books with the students covering raptors, ducks and geese, wading and shorebirds, and common backyard birds. There is always some creative writing or poetry woven into these lessons.
Much of John's free time is taken up with photography and exploring the creeks, Sacramento River, and local refuges.
John is excited to be teamed up with Altacal and having these wonderful opportunities.

Karen L. Smith

Field Trip Coordinator

Karen L. Smith has been a lover of birds and nature from a very young age. In 2013 she attended Chico's Snow Goose Festival and fell in love with the area. Chico's vast variety of birds, the Pacific Flyway, open space, parks and preserves compelled her to move to Chico in 2016 where she retired. In October 2021, she joined AltaCal as their Field Trip Coordinator. She loves to share her knowledge with beginning birders and leads a variety of beginning birding field trips. Karen has traveled to several countries in search of birds including Costa Rica, Belize, Panama, New Zealand and Australia and several states within North America.

Elizabeth Webster

Secretary

Liz Webster is a long-time AltaCal member and a Snow Goose Festival volunteer. Growing up in Santa Monica, she became a lifelong bird watcher. A Bay Area transplant, Liz has lived in Butte County since 1998. She co-leads field trips in Butte County since retiring in 2018. She has participated in local Christmas Bird Counts sharing her passion for birding with others. Favorite bird: Bald Eagle. Liz enjoys riding her e-bike, walking, hiking, kayaking and watching birds during her travels, as well in her backyard in Chico.

Jennifer Patten

Programs Chair & Snow Goose Festival Director

When Jennifer was in third grade her teacher took her class on a field trip to Richardson Bay in Marin County. Here she saw hundreds of little sandpipers, hunting and poking for food across the mud flats. Her bird fascination started on this day and has been with her since. Her passion for birds has had her travel to many countries to see birds in Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Europe, Canada, and all over the US, Alaska, is a favorite! She joined AltaCal’s board in 1998, is one of the founders and current Director of the annual Snow Goose Festival, volunteered at Gray Lodge leading bird walks, and monitored wood duck boxes in the 1990s. She has volunteered in several bird projects and programs, helping students connect with birds and nature, at schools and the Chico Creek Nature Center. A bird and nature girl at heart, she instills that today in her four granddaughters.

Cathy Mueller

Snow Goose Festival Staff

Cathy joined the Snow Goose Festival as registration coordinator in 2022 after she met Jennifer paddling the Thermalito Forebay; Jennifer was needing someone to take over when Carla abdicated the throne. Originally from Minnesota, she worked 10 years at Bidwell Mansion in the 1980’s, raised a couple of kids, volunteered in the community, and co-founded the Sacramento Valley Scholastic Chess League which now serves close to 300 students from 25 schools in the North State. If she’s not paddling somewhere, you’ll likely find her hiking in Upper Bidwell Park.

Brita Lundberg

Board Member at Large

Brita is Chief Storyteller at Lundberg Family Farms, a leading grower of Regenerative Organic Certified® rice. As a fourth-generation farmer, Brita has boots-on-the-ground experience in the fields, where she learned the importance of working in partnership with nature—from replicating wetlands to reactivating floodplains to rescuing duck eggs. In her current role on Lundberg’s marketing team, Brita helps share the brand’s regenerative organic farming practices, while also educating a broader base of consumers on how regenerative organic agriculture can be a force of land-restoring, habitat-preserving, community-building wonder. Brita also serves on the Audubon California Advisory Board.

Ryan Schwalm

Website and Media Editor

Ryan Schwalm is new to birding but in his youth he did breed parakeets. Ryan grew up in Nevada County and has always been a lover of nature; hiking, kayaking, swimming, and stargazing since his youth. He especially loves the mountains.

He has a background in arts and activism, working as a performer, producer, and technician in many facets of the live entertainment industry, and he is excited by the opportunity to put his technical and design skills to good cause with Altacal.

Ryan's favorite bird and spirit animal is the Crested Auklet.