Scott Mabbutt
With Mark Langton leaving CORBA’s Board of Directors, we put out a call for Board nominees. We’re happy to announce that we have welcomed two new board members, Scott Mabbutt and Joyce Deprest.
Scott is a respected filmmaker, storyteller and self-declared cat whisperer. When asked how he came into mountain biking, his is an unusual story: “My first bike was a portable folding bicycle that I bought because I heard that Talking Heads artist David Byrne rode one around New York City.” That quickly led to a full-blown love of bicycles, and especially mountain bikes.
Scott is a member of the Mountain Bike Unit (MBU), a group of mountain bike volunteer patrollers that work closely with the National Park Service, California State Parks and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) patrolling the Santa Monica Mountains to assist and educate visitors on the trail. Scott can be found somewhere in the Santa Monica mountains every weekend.
He has attended several CORBA board meetings over the past few years, just to keep abreast of what’s happening in the area. Now he’ll be attending as a CORBA board member, helping keep CORBA on mission. We’re delighted to have him aboard.
Also joining the CORBA board is Joyce Deprest. Joyce is an MBU member and patroller, with her favorite place to ride or patrol being Point Mugu State Park. Joyce has been instrumental in re-introducing MBU members to do trailwork.
Joyce Deprest is a native San Fernando “Valley Girl.” Her professional life began working in Non-Profit Organizations, including event planning, office management and as the Director of a Synagogue in the San Fernando Valley. During the past 6 years Joyce has rediscovered her love of the mountains, canyons and oceans.
Joyce Deprest
The re-experience started with an impromptu hike up a narrow trail in Serranio Park, meeting up at Dirt Mulholland and then up what appeared to be an impossibly steep hill to climb. The adventure was so exciting the next day she did it again. She was hooked. Joyce soon discovered that not only did she enjoy the hiking and being in mountains, and embracing the awesome canyons and ocean views, she loved meeting people on the trails. She found that without an effort, people talked with her and asked her for directions. Joyce started talking to Mountain Bikers and learned that by mountain bike riding she could go further, see more and grow her experience with the Santa Monica Mountains. After her first ride on her 10 year old hybrid bike, in Sycamore Canyon/Point Mugu, she realized that a mountain bike with suspension was necessary. The knowledge grew and with that knowledge and a few crashes she realized she needed some MTB riding lessons. One day online she discovered Mark Langton. For the next 4 months she and Mark met in Los Robles for weekly training sessions. In addition to hiking and riding, Joyce was also interested in learning about the trails and trails maintenance. By the end of that year Joyce had completed a one week Trails Maintenance class with COSCA and had participated in many hours of trail maintenance with CORBA.
Joyce continued to hike, ride and work on trails. She joined Girlz Gone Riding and in January 2015 Joyce joined the Mountain Bike Unit with the goal of supporting the parks, advising and assisting visitors. Shortly after graduating from the MBU Joyce took on the role of Fundraising Coordinator with the Mountain Bike Unit. Her commitment and sense of stewardship of our public lands is inspiring.
We’re excited to have two new board members who also serve with the MBU. The MBU was a CORBA program, arguably the first organized volunteer patrol in the country. The MBU program grew beyond what CORBA could manage, and is now an independant program of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, administered by the National Park Service. IMBA’s National Mountain Bike Patrol is largely based on CORBA’s early work in establishing the MBU.
While our Board of Directors now stands at five members, we are still interested in expanding the Board, and will continue to accept nominations.
We invite everyone to meet the CORBA board of directors at one of our Board meetings, or the upcoming Ride and Mingle event on November 27.
