A Lasting Legacy
For thirty years I led community-based nonprofit organizations, which allowed me to help conserve what makes Teton Valley special, as well as contribute to the local economy. In my leadership role with the Teton Regional Land Trust, I led the start-up and development of a successful not-for-profit business that ultimately had a paid local staff of 11 and delivered well over 100 million dollars in value to local communities.
Later, in my ten years as Executive Director of the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, I championed the High Divide Collaborative. Through this project I convened all kinds of people and interests to find common ground, including ranchers and farmers, local community leaders, public land managers, state wildlife agencies, scientists, and conservation groups. We worked together and raised millions to conserve and restore lands of importance for local communities and the broader landscape. |
In 2018, I received the Land Trust Alliance's prestigious Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award after establishing the Teton Regional Land Trust and growing the Heart of the Rockies Initiative.
I have also received other regional and national awards for research and conservation leadership, including the Craighead Wildlife Conservation Award and the Wilburforce Foundation’s Conservation Leadership Award. |
I completed a B.S. from the University of Utah, an M.S. at Idaho State University with a thesis on the bighorn sheep of the Teton Range, and most of my Ph.D. work on the Conservation Biology of bald eagles at Montana St. University. I taught university level wildland ecology for 12 years in the Northern Rockies and Far East Russia and earlier taught high school biology.
Prior to my career in the research and non-profit sectors, I was a U.S. Forest Service biologist, wildland recreation manager, and wildland firefighter for 17 years in eastern Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado. |