Ryan Ghelfi
September 16, 2025
The 2025 season of the SBFC Youth Wilderness Program is in the books. We still have Wilderness trail crews and adult volunteers headed into the field through mid-October. There is so much work to be done out there! But for now, I’d like to share with you, our esteemed readers, some of my thoughts and highlights from our second season of bringing local youth into the Wildest Place.
During my first year working for SBFC, I realized that we needed to take a significant step to connect the next generation of stewards to their backyard wilderness areas. I heard from numerous people that they had never been into the Frank or the Selway. With trail access often difficult and the skills, gear, and know-how required to step into the wild not easily accessible, we knew this was a gap we could help fill.
In 2024, SBFC hired a new program director who was tasked with the challenging project of building a new program from scratch, dedicated to immersing young people in our Wilderness complex and passing along the skills needed to confidently return and be stewards of these wild places.
The program launched last summer with four expeditions, and I am excited to share that the impact in 2025 (by the numbers and more importantly the individual experiences) has been even greater.
Providing these transformative experiences for free, where a young person's willingness and desire are the primary barriers to entry, was key. I am happy to say we’ve done that. Through the generosity of many donors (of money and gear), foundations, grantors, parents, teachers, Forest Service partners, the Connie Saylor Johnson Wilderness Education Fund, and staff, this work has come together to provide nearly 50 young people with the opportunity to learn how to care for their wilderness lands over extended, multiday backcountry expeditions in 2025. The personal growth and passions ignited have exceeded my expectations.
We will share more numbers, stats, and stories over the fall about the youth program, as well as all the other stellar crews, volunteers, and stewardship work people wearing an SBFC hat have done this year. But for now, I will leave you with a new blog by one of our youth participants this season. It’s safe to say, as one of our founding members Connie Saylor Johnson said, “if you can get them out there, they’ll be hooked for life”. We need these young people to be the stewards of these places today and for many years to come. And based on their feedback, I do not doubt that many of them will be just that.