Board Chair

Stevensville, MT

Shawn is originally from Pittsburgh, but has lived in Oregon, Washington and Montana since 1991. He recently retired from the book publishing industry, where he served on the board of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. He has also been a member of the Mazamas, the Forest Park Conservancy, the Pacific Crest Trail Association, the Rocky Mountaineers and Run Wild Missoula. Shawn is an avid trail runner, mountain climber, backpacker, and has lived, worked and traveled in more than 60 countries. After having spent most of his adult life enjoying wilderness areas across the Western United States, he feels lucky to now have the time and energy to help maintain and protect the wild places that have given him so much pleasure. Shawn and his wife Susan live outside of Stevensville with a beautiful view of the Northern Bitterroot Range.

Vice Chair

McCall, ID

Kate discovered the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness as a high school student on a Student Conservation Association trail crew. The experience was so formative that she grew passionate about conservation and dreamt of one day returning to Idaho and its public lands in a more permanent way. After 20 years and experiences ranging from studying conservation and ecology in Botswana and co-founding an educational anti-racism NPO, Kate made her way back; first to Moscow where she connected with a seasoned group of SBFC volunteers for her first wilderness stewardship hitch. Kate now lives in McCall where her Wilderness journey first began. She is passionate about exploring the backcountry by way of running, skiing, and working as a board member to further the mission of SBFC.

Treasurer

McCall, ID

Ted has been lucky enough to live in McCall for the past 20 years, raising two kids and teaching/coaching well over a thousand. He has been a passionate advocate for wilderness protection and wild trails since he started working with young people out in the wilderness of southern Utah in 1992. In the past 20 years, Ted has taken every opportunity he can to explore the wild lands around McCall and into the Frank with his wife, children, and friends. He has also had the opportunity to live and work in the Netherlands, Ecuador, and Thailand where he learned to appreciate other cultures but also see the immense value and uniqueness of the wilderness we are so lucky to have here in the US. He is excited to further the mission of SBFC and work with young people in the Frank and Selway-Bitterroot.

Secretary

Moscow, ID

Heather grew up in upstate New York and spent her early years hiking, camping, and canoeing in the Adirondack mountains. She got her first real introduction to trail work at 16 with an SCA backcountry crew off the shores of Lake Chelan in central Washington. She moved out west to Moscow, ID in 2005. She went to the University of Idaho and got her BS in Forestry. She has worked various natural resources jobs in forestry and fisheries. Heather also recreates quite frequently in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. She and her husband Bryan own and operate Hyperspud Sports in Moscow, ID, an outdoor gear shop. She is passionate about getting folks of all backgrounds outside, especially in Wilderness areas, where folks can truly test themselves and discover the beauty of nature. Heather and Bryan can often be found enjoying public lands in North Central Idaho hiking, camping, paddling, and skiing.

Past Board Chair

Moscow, ID

Jim was born and raised in Detroit.  He has been living in northern Idaho for the past 40 years.  Jim’s first volunteer project with SBFC was in 2008; when we were still the Selway Bitterroot Foundation.  Since then he has been on 20 projects with the Foundation and will embark on his 21st volunteer trip this summer (2022).  Jim has worked in public schools in Idaho and Washington as a school psychologist or special education director for the past 37 years.  Being mostly retired, he spends his free time reading, gardening, and exercising.

Board Member

McCall, ID

Carlos was born and raised in Chicago. He has been living in Idaho for the past 34 years, the past four of them in McCall. Carlos is a retired Business and Information Technology executive with a BA in Finance, and an MS in Organizational and Human Resource Development. His love and spiritual connection for the mountains and wilderness were the driving force for deciding to move to Idaho, where he and his wife Diane raised their two daughters. Most of Carlos’ time is spent outdoors where he enjoys hiking, biking, and skiing in the West Central Mountains.

Board Member

Grangeville, ID

Nick was born and raised in North Central Idaho. He started his 35-year Forest Service career in the Moose Creek Ranger District at 18 years of age. Clem Pope, Warren Miller, and Dick Walker were workmates and mentors in those early days of wilderness management. Being immersed in wildland and trail management on the Nez Perce Clearwater and Bitterroot National Forests, it was natural to practice and develop a pride in traditional tools and skills used to keep remote trails usable. That objective and a tested wildland commitment piqued his interest in the SBFC Foundation and its mission. Living 20 miles east of Grangeville, retirement includes maintaining trails used to access perimeter fences; felling and cutting firewood trees; home brewing and managing vegetation to reduce the wildland fire risk.

Board Member

Boise, ID

Maureen was born in the Midwest, raised in Phoenix, and has lived in the Northwest since 1997. As a child, she never spent a night in a tent and eschewed most outdoor adventures. While attending law school at Gonzaga University, she started venturing outdoors, exploring Idaho’s panhandle. In 2004, she moved to Boise for a one-year job and has remained there since. Her husband, Kevin, introduced her to backpacking, sparking a love of wild, beautiful places and solitude. Maureen is currently the Associate Director of the Idaho State Bar. She and Kevin love hiking, backpacking, fly fishing and camping off-the-grid in Idaho.

Board Member

Missoula, MT

Jennifer grew up in the Sacramento Valley of California and spent her summers hiking, camping, and exploring the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Her love for the outdoors led her to work with youth in outdoor settings, and Jennifer spent many years volunteering and working as a naturalist at outdoor science schools, summer camps, and as an Interpretive Ranger at national parks in Alaska and California. She earned a B.S. in Environmental Education and Interpretation from Humboldt State University and continued on to earn multiple teaching licenses to blend her passion for education in and out of the classroom. After college Jennifer spent six years working as an educator and Program Director for science education and the nonprofit world. Jennifer is now taking her passion of blending formal and informal education into nonprofit leadership and recently earned her Masters of Education in Educational Leadership at the University of Montana in Missoula. She is now continuing her academic career as a doctoral student at the University of Montana in Teaching and Learning. In her free time, Jennifer enjoys cooking meals with friends, going on hikes or walks with her dog Indy, and getting to know the community.

Board Member

Missoula, MT

Jamie was born in Colorado but spent most of his childhood in Iowa. His family made annual summer migrations back to the Colorado mountains which instilled a lifelong love of Wilderness. As a teenager, Jamie was lucky enough to participate in an IDOWA volunteer trip to the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness. He returned to Idaho a few years later as an SCA volunteer in the Frank Church and has called the northern Rockies home ever since. After a few years of working trails in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and finishing his degree at the University of Montana, he settled in Missoula. Jamie lives with his wife, Amelia, and their dog, Piper. Jamie and Amelia are both cartographers and their business Cairn Cartographics has published maps of Wilderness areas across the Western Montana and Northern Idaho.

Board Member

Stanley, ID

Chris moved to Stanley in 2007. Although his primary career has been in the avalanche industry, he’s also worked as a trail crew member, Wilderness ranger, and guide. His passion for “capital-W” Wilderness goes back 25 years. Chris fell in love with the Frank Church as a river guide on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. These trips inspired further exploration of the FC on foot, ski, and packraft, and eventually took him up into the Selway Bitterroot. He discovered the work of the SBFC Foundation in 2021 after hiking the freshly-cleared Marble Creek trail and has been a supporter since. After spending a cumulative two years of his life in the FC and SB Wildernesses, he’s excited to give back to these areas as a board member.

Board Member

Salmon, ID

Chuck grew up just outside Chicago, Illinois. Even though he was raised in an urban setting, he spent many summers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan camping, hiking, swimming, fishing, and riding motorcycles. After graduating from high school Chuck headed west to the University of Montana where he obtained a B.S. degree at the School of Forestry in 1981. He recently retired from the U.S. Forest Service where his career spanned 39 years in a variety of positions on Forests in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. Chuck has extensive experience in wilderness and wilderness fire management. He served his last 10 ½ years as the Forest Supervisor on the Salmon-Challis National Forest. He also chaired the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Board of Directors, which coordinated wilderness and river management across two Regions, four National Forests, and six Ranger Districts in the Forest Service across two states. He has always believed that National Forest management was all about working with people in local communities through the development of strong and lasting relationships. Chuck’s passion is wilderness stewardship and connecting people, especially young people to the land. He sincerely believes serving on the board will help preserve these wilderness areas for the use and enjoyment of the American public that leaves these areas unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness.

Board Member

Moscow, ID

Casey is originally from the east coast, and moved to Idaho with her family in 2017.  She did her first volunteer trip with SBFC in 2019, and has been hooked ever since.  Casey dabbles in trail running, backpacking, car camping, and hiking, all with her family and her small scraggly dog.  When off-trail, Casey is a professor of philosophy at the University of Idaho.  

Board Member

Boise, ID

Yila is a legacy Idahoan who grew up within the wildlands and rural spaces of the state. She was raised Eagle, and her childhood was spent on her family’s farms and vineyards. She was lucky enough to take annual trips to the Frank Church by way of the Flying B Ranch, and her time exploring this wilderness instilled a deep love for Idaho’s wild places early on. Yila left Idaho to attend university in Portland, Oregon, where her love for the outdoors translated to trail running and she started what’s become an enduring passion. After spending several years in Portland, Yila returned to Idaho; she lives in Boise with her husband, Sean. She’s educated with both a B.A. and M.A in Political Science and has been working in legal and financial services firms in the area. She spends much of her free time running in the Boise foothills or venturing into Idaho's backcountry. She is excited to support SBFC’s mission as a member of the Board, especially those programs that connect youth and young adults to the very same wilderness that helped shape her.