William (Bill) Knudsen
Bill Knudsen has been hands-on in organic and natural juice making since 1961, when his father Russel founded the R. W. Knudsen Family juice business. In 1977 Knudsen stepped in as president and expanded manufacturing to establish the company as the leading producer of natural and organic fruit products. Knudsen helped create the Organic Food Alliance (OFA) to promote the growth and development of the organic foods industry by establishing national organic standards. In 1999 Knudsen founded Natural Vitality, Inc. with his wife Nancy, former president of Eden Foods, another leading organic foods manufacturer.
Roger Lederer
Professor emeritus of biological sciences and retired Dean of the School of Natural Sciences at California State University, Chico, Roger Lederer served as the university’s first Endowed Professor of Environmental Literacy as well as first director of both its 4,000-acre ecological reserve and the Bidwell Environmental Institute. Key interests are ecology, science education, and ornithology. His new Birds of Bidwell Park joins Amazing Birds, two field guides to birds, and the textbook Ecology and Field Biology. Roger earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. When not fishing in Wyoming or traveling with his wife Carol Burr, Lederer serves as president of the local science fair board and maintains his popular website, Ornithology.com.
Taran March
A 25-year veteran of publishing, Taran March has edited and written for newspapers, magazines, book publishers, and universities. Currently she is contributing editor for Quality Digest Daily, an online newspaper for manufacturing, global standards, and business management, and also a contributor to Chico Statements. Previously she served as arts and leisure editor and columnist for the Chico News and Review. A member of the California Native Plant Society, she propagates drought-tolerant plants for landscapes.
Beth Spencer
Beth Spencer obtained her MA in English from CSU, Chico, and is the editor and publisher of Bear Star Press, which publishes poetry and, occasionally, short fiction from writers west of the central time zone. Bear Star was recently honored with a 2010 American Book Award for a collection of short stories, Live from Fresno y Los, by Stephen D. Gutierrez. Spencer is also a writer and instructor, and occasionally teaches in the editing and publishing program at CSU, Chico. She lives in Cohasset with her husband Antoine Baptiste.
Kim Weir
A lifelong Butte County resident, Kim Weir is a writer whose specialty is California. She wrote seven California guides for Moon Handbooks, including the bestselling Northern California Handbook, which the San Francisco Chronicle called “that rarest of travel books–both a practical guide to the region and a map of its soul.” She has written for many newspapers and magazines and also contributed to the international Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia. Weir has a BA in Environmental Studies and Analysis and an MFA in Creative Writing.
Susan Wooldridge
Author of the bestselling Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words, now in its seventeenth paperback printing, Susan Wooldridge recently published Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process. Both books, published by Random House, were national Quality Paperback Book Club selections. Wooldridge also leads creativity and writing workshops throughout the United States. She lives with some 30 families in Valley Oaks Village, a co-housing community she helped establish near Bidwell Park in Chico.
