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.

Co-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.

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

Moscow, ID

Mandy moved to Moscow from Canada in 2014. The rolling hills of the Idaho Palouse and the deep wilderness places in Idaho opened her eyes to the beauty of the outdoors and provided a welcome change from the very metropolitan life she'd lived.

Mandy set out on her first SBFC wilderness stewardship trip in 2018 with an accomplished group of wilderness volunteers, led by SBFC board member Jim Heidelberger. Since this first adventure, she has worked on trails in the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church Wilderness areas. These volunteer trips have become annual pilgrimages to wilderness and the centerpiece of summer for Mandy and her husband, Bert.

In her day-to-day life, Mandy is a professional Radio Broadcaster and avid vinyl collector.

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

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.

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.