Sierra Streams Institute is happy to introduce Ryan DeMasters and Cassiopiea Pryor as our Summer Field Crew Leads! Ryan and Cassi have been busy leading teams all over the Northern Sierra to collect data on the health of our streams and rivers.
Ryan grew up in Wilton, CA and is currently pursuing a degree in Natural Resources at Oregon State University, specializing in Sustainable Land Management & Ecosystem Restoration. He will be studying abroad Fall 2025 in Sweden at the Swedish School of Agricultural Sciences, where he will further explore his major from a global and sustainable perspective. His goals are to heal the interface between degraded agricultural lands and forested lands.
Outside of his fieldwork, Ryan enjoys hiking, nature photography, and cinematography, where he creates videos for friends and family as he captures the beauty of the natural world through both the sciences and art.
Cassi grew up in North San Juan, splashing in the Yuba, looking at rocks and bugs. She graduated from UC Davis with a BA in psychology.
Through the Field Crew Lead position with SSI, Cassi hopes to deepen her understanding of community science and contribute to the efforts of preserving the environment. Also, she gets to return to her roots of splashing around in the river and looking at rocks and bugs.
When Cassi isn’t working she lives in Antelope with her sister and brother in law and their 4 children. She loves art and dance. She teaches pole dance and will relentlessly try to convince you to come take her class.
The summer is quickly coming to a close with this being Ryan’s last week and Cassi only having one more month. We wanted to give them a huge thank you for all their work. They will complete a total of 37 creek surveys covering around 4.5 miles. This year we have also been doing some overnight surveys where the crew has taken some time, after the surveys, to go to hot springs, lava tubes, waterfalls and of course enjoying some late night stargazing.
