Geri Byrne: ‘I love to organize’

Published 3:00 am Thursday, July 6, 2023

: Geri Byrne with one of her border collies.

TULELAKE, Calif. — Border collies, dogs that work with cattle and sheep, are part of Geri Byrne’s life.

While studying at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1976, Byrne bought her first border collie, Meg. A week after graduating with a degree in animal science, she married Dan Byrne, who she’d met while in college, and gave him Lad, Meg’s son, as a wedding gift in 1978.

A week later they hustled north to his family’s ranch along the California-Oregon border in Tulelake because, “Haying was going to start.”

Byrne, 66, has maintained her interest in dogs and agriculture. Earlier this year she received the Common Threads North award, which honors women “whose roots are deep in agriculture, have made a difference in their communities with bountiful giving of their time, talent and treasure.”

The nonprofit group includes representatives from the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation, Butte Ag Foundation, California Cattle Women, California Farm Bureau, Cal State University-Chico and University of California-Davis.

Byrne is deeply rooted in agriculture — and border collies, herding dogs known as being highly intelligent. After seeing how their dogs worked with livestock on the Byrne Ranch, she launched Border Collies in Action, a mail order business that eventually offered 300 items and had a mailing list of 15,000 households. She sold the business in 2006 to focus on the ranch and organizing border collie events.

She organized and hosted her first National Sheep Dog Finals in 1997. Over the years Byrne has managed seven national events — four near Merrill, one in Klamath Falls, and two near Alturas — in 2001, 2006, 2009, 2015 and 2018.

The last two were held in Modoc County because after being elected a Modoc County supervisor in 2010, “I decided that since I’m on the board we should have it in our county.”

Earlier this year she coordinated the State of Jefferson and Little Horse Mountain trials. She also hopes to return the nationals to Modoc County in 2025. “I love to organize,” explains Byrne, who also manages the Border Collie Training Center in Tulelake, where she organizes clinics, workshops and play days.

Byrne’s Common Threads award also reflects her 40-plus years of involvement in issues impacting agriculture and regional water concerns. She believes the 2001 water crisis, when water was eliminated to Klamath Basin irrigators, was impactful because, “The whole Basin woke up to the fact that you have to be involved.”

She was and is involved. Before and since being elected a county supervisor, Byrne met several times with state legislators in Sacramento. She’s currently second vice-chair of Rural County Representatives of California, which represents 40 rural California counties.

Last year she testified in Washington, D.C., about Klamath Basin water issues, meeting with the House Agricultural Committee, members of California’s congressional delegation, and officials from land management agencies.

“Agriculture is the backbone of not only the rural economy, but the nation as a whole. Without agriculture we wouldn’t have the food we eat, the clothes we wear or many of the other amenities we enjoy,” Byrne says of involvement. “Our local economy is highly dependent on agriculture, where multi-generational families produce high quality food and fiber.”

A Capital Press’ annual special section that highlights the contributions women make in the agricultural sector.

Read the stories of the exceptional women featured Women in Ag 2023:

Erika Ackley: ‘I like the independence of farming’

Geri Byrne: ‘I love to organize’

Lerrina Collins: Fluent in the language of stockdogs

April England: ‘It’s not just a job, it’s a life’

Suzanne Gallagher: ‘I love the work, I love the land and I love the cattle’

Denise Godfrey: A love of plants, and for the community

Mary Hood: Shattering ceilings in ag banking

Sharon Hoyt: A passion for the ranching lifestyle

Jessica Jansen: ‘I love agriculture, and I love teaching people about it’

Jean Kurtz, Ali Rodgers: Telling wine’s story in the Umpqua Valley