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Board of Directors Share
Jon Dettmann, Minnesota, President
Jon is an attorney with the Minneapolis firm of Faegre & Benson, where he is a partner in the firm's regulatory litigation group. Jon has represented several public interest clients in public lands and wildlife issues nationwide. His cases include the 11th Circuit's recent decision in Wilderness Watch v. Mainella, which found that public motorized vehicle tours through wilderness on the Cumberland Island National Seashore were unlawful. He also represented Defenders of Wildlife in a successful appeal upholding the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, and represented The Wilderness Society in a case involving wilderness review and planning in over a dozen units of the National Park System.
Louise Lasley, Wyoming, Vice-President
Louise’s pursuit of backcountry activities has produced a strong advocacy for wilderness and the values we find in wild places, and has directed years of work to protect those values across the globe. Louise joined the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance in June 2007 as lead staff person for pubic lands and wildlife management issues. She has lived in Jackson Hole for 24 years, and her advocacy includes work for the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, and Africa Rainforest and River Conservation. She has consulted on wildlife biology issues and worked as a naturalist for the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Louise has a wide breadth of knowledge and experience about the land and wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Gary Macfarlane, Idaho, Secretary
Gary is the ecosystem defense director for the Friends of the Clearwater, an advocacy group in central Idaho's Wild Clearwater Country. For nearly 30 years, Gary has been one of the country's most dedicated public lands' activists working throughout the Intermountain West and Northern Rockies. Gary is a recipient of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies Conservation award for his efforts on behalf of Wilderness in the region. Gary holds a B.S. in range science from Utah State University.
Bill Worf, Montana, Treasurer
Co-founder of Wilderness Watch, Bill was on the Forest Service task force that in 1965 wrote the regulations for implementing the newly passed 1964 Wilderness Act. Bill became the Forest Service’s first wilderness program leader, a position he held until 1969 when he transferred to Missoula, Montana where he served as Regional Director for Wilderness, Recreation and Lands. Bill served on the Commission On Ecology for the International Union for Conservation of Nature from 1978 through 1988.
Stewart Brandborg, Montana
Executive Director of The Wilderness Society from 1964-1976, Stewart has had a long and distinguished career with a number of environmental and conservation organizations. “Brandy”, as he’s known to many, was a leader in the campaign to pass the Wilderness Act of 1964, and remains a tireless advocate to ensure its proper implementation. He has also worked in the field conducting groundbreaking wildlife and wild lands research for state and federal land management agencies.
Joe Fontaine, California
Joe is a retired high school science teacher living near Tehachapi, California with his wife. He is a former president of both Wilderness Watch and the national Sierra Club boards. He has been a volunteer environmental activist for the Sierra Club for over 40 years, on issues including Wilderness, national parks, and public lands management. Much of his current work focuses on the southern Sierras, and he was a leader in the recent establishment of the Sequoia National Monument. Joe also serves on the Sierra Club Foundation Board of Trustees.
JEFF KANE, OREGON
Jeff's devotion to the natural world was nurtured early on by family outings to the Sierra Nevada including joining his uncle, a wilderness ranger, on tours in the John Muir Wilderness. After college, Jeff worked in the San Francisco Bay Area as an environmental engineer cleaning up contaminated industrial sites, while also leading activists on wilderness advocacy for the local Sierra Club chapter. After completing a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering, he spent five years studying freshwater ecology in the Sierra Nevada, where he also assisted Wilderness Watch and other grassroots conservation groups in a successful lawsuit curbing commercial use of the John Muir and Ansel Adams wildernesses. Buoyed by the rewards of the successful efforts there, Jeff is now pursuing a career in environmental law at the University of Oregon, where he plans to use his scientific expertise and passion for wilderness to work toward improved public lands policies and management.
SUSAN MORGAN, WASHINGTON
Susan Morgan, PhD, works with the Whatcom County Library System in Maple Falls, Washington and is a free-lance copy editor. In 1968 she began her conservation career as outings coordinator for The Wilderness Society, then became Director of Education, and has subsequently worked on wilderness, wildlands, and public lands conservation for over 40 years. She served as staff with LightHawk, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, the Washington Wilderness Coalition, The Wildlands Project, and was most recently communications director for Forest Guardians (now WildEarth Guardians) in New Mexico. Susan is a conservation fellow with The Rewilding Institute.
Bob Oset, Montana
Bob is a retired wilderness ranger, whose work in the backcountry dates back to summer employment during college when he worked on a trail crew for the Magruder Ranger Station deep in the Selway-Bitterroot. He’s been a wilderness packer, a trail supervisor, firefighter, outfitter liaison, and wilderness specialist. He served on the first board of directors of Wilderness Watch in 1989 and has worked as a longtime advocate for wilderness education.
HOWIE WOLKE, MONTANA
Howie Wolke is one of the most experienced wilderness guide/outfitters in the country, having led roughly 600 multi-day backpack and canoe trips in wilderness and roadless areas from Alaska to Mexico and beyond. For over 3 decades he has been one of America's widely acknowledged experts on and advocates for public lands and wilderness. He has authored two books and numerous articles and papers on the values of real wilderness. He is also an avid hunter, whitewater rafter and backcountry skier. He lives a few miles from Yellowstone National Park where he and his wife, Marilyn Olsen, run Big Wild Adventures.
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