Gary joined a federal job training program called the “Young Adult Conservation Corps” in 1978 and spent about 8 months working daily on Alcatraz Island in the SF Bay, cleaning up and restoring buildings to improve the visitor experience to the island.  He enjoyed the work so much that he spent the next 13 years at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in various capacities with the National Park Service (NPS). 

Gary and his wife, Lori, married in 1983, and in 1991, he accepted a Maintenance Supervisor position at Voyaguers National Park in Minnesota, where they also started a family.  Their daughter Amber was born there in 1993.  In 1995 they moved to Dinosaur National Monument where he worked for 19 years, raising Amber and then a second daughter Taylor (born in 1996) in Vernal, UT.

Lori and Gary moved to Manton in 2015 after he accepted the Chief of Maintenance position at Lassen Volcanic National Park.  He retired in 2025 but still remain active with NPS initiatives.

The Motts enjoy living in Manton and having access to NorCal destinations like Lassen and the North Coast.  As a Board Member for Manton Parks, Gary hopes to bring his facility management experience to help improve the Community Center.

Marlo Eakes Meyer holds a Masters Degree in Socio-Cultural Anthropology and has worked in the education field for the past 18 years, specifically as an Education Administrator for the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She has telecommuted her position with UVA since 2010, when her family moved back to their home state of California.

Since moving to Manton in 2015, Ms. Meyer has become an integral part of the community by creating the Manton Education Council, a 501c3 non-profit to keep educational opportunities available for children and adults in the rural town of Manton. She has helped write a charter school petition to alleviate the situation that a closed campus can cause. In 2018 she started an after-school enrichment program offered free to Manton children, and will be soon be pursuing a PhD in Education Administration.

Kalan Redwood has been a Manton, California resident since 2006. Her deep connection to the land is evident in her stewardship of a 40-acre property in the foothills of Lassen Peak.

A 2002 graduate of UC Santa Cruz, Kalan founded Redwood Seeds in 2009, a testament to her dedication to sustainable agriculture and seed saving. This venture represents Kalan's broader commitment to ecological preservation and community engagement.

Kalan is a mother, homeschool parent, 4H leader, and a key figure in local education, notably as a founding member of the Manton Education Council. Her life in Manton is marked by a balance of family, farming, and community involvement, illustrating her multifaceted role as a guardian of both her land and her local heritage.

After several years in the Southern California entertainment industry, and subsequently running a handful of successful companies in the San Francisco technology scene, Carrie and her husband chose tending to land, animals, and establishing rural roots over the computers and chaos of the Bay Area.

Carrie has a degree in English and Spanish from UCLA, and a Masters in Business from UC Irvine. As a tech entrepreneur, she was a featured partner of companies such as Microsoft and Meta, was a sought-after speaker at major industry events, and worked with hundreds of global brands and their executives on internal collaboration programs.

She’s the proud mom of a teenage son and thrilled that her husband Lee convinced her to make that first trip to Manton, where they now raise rare Spanish Ibérico pigs at Bellota Farms.

John Povey has been a resident of Tehama and Shasta counties since 1957. He, his wife Patty, and their four children all went to Red Bluff High School, and have lived in the Paynes Creek / Manton area since 1977. A 1976 graduate of UC Davis in Fisheries Biology, John has worked at multiple private trout farms in the area, including Mt. Lassen Trout Farm for 37 years.

John and Patty love the life in Manton and the beautiful surrounding areas. He looks forward to helping Manton continue to grow and flourish, and seeing the great folks of Manton work together through the many great opportunities for activities, education, and recreation being created by the varied organizations in town.