Staff and Board of Directors

Steve is a retired scientist and lives with his wife Rosemarie in Mariposa County near Yosemite National Park. Steve received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from U.C. Irvine with an emphasis on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and then moved to Pasadena where he was a Senior Research Fellow on the Research Faculty at the California Institute of Technology. Steve uses his background in science to help educate the local community about climate change and things we can do to mitigate it.

As a kid growing up in Southern California, Kristina Rylands daydreamed that a river ran through her backyard and knew it was all over as a 10-year-old when she first set foot in the Merced River in Yosemite National Park. She has been a volunteer with the Upper Merced River Watershed Council nearly since its inception in 2001 and leads the Water Quality Monitoring program. Professionally, she spent 13 years as an NPS wild and scenic river planner on both the Merced River Plan (including supporting multiple rounds of litigation) and Tuolumne River Plan (0 litigation!). In addition, she served as an NPS representative on the Interagency Wild & Scenic Rivers Coordinating Council. In 2011, she left the NPS to follow her passion for inspiring the next generation of stewards as the Yosemite Regional Director for NatureBridge (formerly Yosemite Institute), a nonprofit education partner of the NPS.

Today, in addition to serving on the board, she works as a freelance project manager in support of the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Grant to revitalize the efforts of the Watershed Council. Kristina is the current president of the River Management Society’s Pacific Chapter and also serves on the Wild and Scenic Rivers Coalition. She has a BA in English & Environmental Science from UCLA and a MA in Organizational Leadership with a concentration in Ethics from Claremont Lincoln University. In addition to spending time with her family–including husband + three young adult kids and a menagerie of horses, dogs, and cats–you'll find her spending as much time as she can on the river, often floating in her kayak named Bunny.

Jim began his professional career with Great Northern Corporation, a non-profit housing and community development organization operating in northeastern California. He has served as the director of the Mariposa County Housing and Community Development, and more recently, as a director for Mariposa County Habitat for Humanity, and as chair of the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors Housing Programs Advisory Committee.

When not causing trouble, Jim can be found fishing, hiking, reading, and napping after playing with his grandchildren

Holly fell in love with the Upper Merced River over the 14 years she commuted to El Portal for her job (membership coordinator) at Yosemite Association, now Conservancy. Driving along the river twice a day in all seasons was a great joy: in the words of John Haines, “To live next to a large river is to be kept in the heart of things.” .Previously a teacher, she’s a good example of “once a teacher, always a teacher.” She spent a decade in the classroom (mostly in the Bay Area), teaching American History (Civil Rights; Earth Day origin & Ecology). Holly is a founding member of the Upper Merced Watershed Council, since 2002.

Mikey is the Senior Community Design and Development Planner at the Mariposa (CA) County Planning Department, where he manages a range of interdisciplinary planning and design initiatives, all of which seek to blend ecological design, economic development, public health, and storytelling to nurture and build community. With backgrounds in both community planning and landscape architecture, he applies a broad skillset to articulate and implement bold ideas for building community and enriching the lives of the people who live there. Mikey has a bachelors degree in American Studies from Tufts University, and masters degrees in community and regional planning (from the University of North Carolina) and landscape architecture (from North Carolina State University).

His love for the river is exceeded by only a few things, among them his wife, daughter, and Steely Dan.

Jessica grew up exploring the Sierra Nevada Mountains in her hometown of Truckee. Her early childhood experiences instilled an intense interest and passion for wild landscapes, outdoor adventures, and wildlife. She obtained her college degree from the University of Nevada in Reno while simultaneously working in the wildlife department at Yosemite National Park for six years participating in recovery, restoration, and monitoring efforts for special status species of amphibians. During her time in Yosemite Jessica’s zeal for conservation grew as did her love of the foothill communities. The beauty and diversity of the sierra foothill communities, both wild and domestic, inspired Jessica to make Mariposa County her long-term home. She lives with her dog Blue and enjoys backpacking, trail running, biking, and hiking.

In addition to her service on the UMRWC Board since 2020, professionally, Molly currently serves as the Executive Director of the UC Merced Sierra Nevada Research Institute, where she works to promote interdisciplinary and equitable environmental research in the Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, and beyond. Prior to that, she served as Associate Director of the UC Merced Natural Reserve System, overseeing reserves in the Sierra, foothills, and San Joaquin Valley and promoting research, university education, and public outreach. A brief but fulfilling stint as a grant writer for Mariposa County provided opportunities to apply her research grant-writing skills toward local community needs, a highlight being a recently awarded $3.5M award from CalOES/FEMA for water storage for community drought and wildfire resiliency. But the bulk of her professional career focused on research in aquatic environments. As a molecular ecologist and project scientist for over 18 years at University of California (Davis and Merced), she conducted research on population genetics, genomics, systematics, and management of threatened and endangered species like native inland trout, salmon, and toads; the restoration of salmonids to the San Joaquin River; and understanding plant community networks of Valley vernal pool wetlands using environmental DNA.

If you spot Molly in the wild, she is probably: 1) listening to a podcast, 2) coaching local Mariposa youth soccer, or 3) adventuring in her watershed with her family.

Rosemarie was born in Kremmling in the Colorado Rockies to a ranching and farming family where her parents, aunts and uncles taught her to respect and work with the land, to respect other people and to give back to the community. Since 2014 she has served District 1 as a Mariposa County Supervisor and is active in a variety of local and regional organizations, including the Upper Merced River Watershed Council on which she serves with her husband, Steve Smallcombe. Her work in private industry impressed on her the importance of developing partnerships to achieve common goals. That mindset was critical in forming the local tree mortality task force and in a number of other initiatives she has pursued as County Supervisor for District 1.

Rosemarie has a BA in psychology from UC Riverside, a Masters in Research and Development from San Francisco State University, and an MBA from Golden Gate University. When not engaging with the local community she and Steve enjoy sailing and taking care of a menagerie of animals at their “green” home in Jerseydale.