MEET OUR TEAM
The Sawtooth Association is lucky to have a dedicated board, staff and volunteers who work together to meet our mission. We are always looking for volunteers to help with special events and programs. Please join our mailing list to learn about volunteer opportunities or check out the link below to see if we have any employment opportunities!
Staff & Summer Crew
Lin Gray
Executive Director
Lin returned to the Sawtooth Association in January 2020, after enjoying five summer seasons working with and for the Sawtooth Association from 2009 to 2013. She is an Idaho native and thrilled to be working for SIHA again in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. She is a graduate of Hampshire College and the University of Idaho and spent several years as an environmental education instructor in both Idaho and California. Most recently Lin was the director of the Sacajawea Interpretive, Cultural, and Educational Center in Salmon, Idaho. Lin believes there is always more to learn about the places we love, and conservation and preservation efforts only endure when we help create personal connections to the land around us. She is excited to expand the work of the Association and create new opportunities for visitors and the community.
Erica Cole
Business Manager
Erica grew up in Guilderland, New York. She came to the Sawtooth Valley in 2003 for a summer job. Captivated by Stanley, she made it her year-round residence in 2006. Erica spent 19 years working for Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch and is excited to transfer those skills into the SIHA business manager position. Her desire to learn is evident through her A.A.S degrees in Administrative Assistant, Business Administration and Hospitality Management as well as continuing her education through online classes during the winter months. She loves to hike in the summer and cross country ski in the winter. Other hobbies include reading and writing.
Alicia Lindbom
2024 Summer Programs Coordinator
Alongside her family and cat, Alicia’s two great loves are art and nature. Originally from Oklahoma, she has a BFA in Illustration. After a few years as a graphic designer, she swung the other way and has happily spent the last 16 years working in the outdoor education/recreation field. From leading wilderness trips for youth, to running state park naturalist programs, to coordinating projects and volunteer programs for environmental centers, Alicia loves connecting people of all ages and backgrounds to the great outdoors. When her husband left the Navy in Fall 2022 they set out with their cat in a 16’ Scamp to visit family, travel, and spend some time on her small art biz. Having been to the Sawtooths for a short backpacking trip in 2014, she’s excited to get to know the area better and jump back into outdoor education programming with SIHA this summer!
Heath Bagley
2024 Naturalist
Heath has an associates in biology from the College of Western Idaho and plans to continue his education at Boise State University for a bachelor’s in environmental science. Born and raised in Boise, he is passionate about preserving Idaho’s ecosystems and teaching people about conservation. Heath likes to go birdwatching and hiking the trails around Boise on the weekends. Heath is also an artist and chronic doodler. He is a returning naturalist for SIHA and is looking forward to working at one of his favorite places and meeting new people this summer!
Jenna Downing
2024 Naturalist
Jenna is originally from upstate NY and is currently studying Fisheries & Wildlife Conservation at Paul Smith’s College. Two of her favorite outdoor activities are hiking and fishing, but when inside she likes to read, do puzzles, and crochet. This is a photo of Jenna on Whiteface Mountain this past summer.
Rory "Cush" Cushen
2024 Naturalist
Hailing from Southwest Florida, Rory was born in Maryland but has lived in Florida for half his life. He moved to Southwest Florida to pursue a degree in Environmental Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. Most recently, he guided kayaking tours through a mangrove estuary, providing scientifically grounded education while ensuring a great time on the water, working for SWFL’s only biologist-led kayaking company. Additional experience includes working as a high school marine science teacher, a student naturalist for FGCU, and an internship at a 70,000-acre non-profit land trust, educating about Florida’s delicate freshwater resources. Rory’s interests include dendrology, birding, photography, hiking, and reading nature books. While the Sawtooths may seem a world away from Florida’s Gulf Coast, he is ecstatic to be switching beaches for mountains and to learn the history and ecology of the region.
Azelie Wood
2024 Historic Specialist
Azelie recently graduated from Benedictine College with degrees in history and philosophy. As her previous education has focused on academic history, she is excited to practice historical research in a museum setting. As a native of Northern California, she loves the outdoors, and is looking forward to spending the summer in the Sawtooth mountains. In her spare time, Azelie loves to read, hike, and slowly improve her baking skills.
Morgan McCully
2024 Historic Specialist
Morgan just finished their sophomore year of college at the University of Idaho where they are studying History and Anthropology. A native to Idaho, they love the natural beauty and history that surrounds the area. In the summer, they can be found hiking, fishing, knitting, and huckleberry picking. They are looking forward to spending this summer getting to share their love of Idaho with you.
Steve Maier
2024 Volunteer
Steve grew up in Pleasantville, New York, served in the US Air Force, and lived and worked in the NYC suburbs until retiring in 2009. Full-time RV travelers since 2012, he and Chari have spent the last ten years as seasonal volunteers, mostly for the National Park Service, but also for the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife, and Army Corps of Engineers, staffing visitor centers and developing /delivering interpretive talks and tours. They’ve RVed to 49 of our 50 states, many Canadian provinces, and Baja California in Mexico, and recently begun some overseas adventures, so far to Argentina and Antarctica. Hobbies include outdoor photography, creating videos of his adventures with Chari (which he’s recently begun posting on YouTube) and kayaking (flat water only, thank you very much!). Idaho is a favorite part of our beautiful country and having worked for Lin once before at the Sacajawea Center in Salmon, they are looking forward to a great summer season.
Chari Maier
2024 Volunteer
Chari was born and raised in Valhalla, NY, served in the US Air Force and lived in Virginia and North Carolina. She graduated from Northeastern University and had a wonderful career as a physical therapist. A traveler by nature she hopes to put a foot on every continent and has visited 5 of the 7 continents. Since 2012 she and her husband have been full time RV travelers. They have volunteered from North Carolina to Oregon and Texas to Alaska. Backroads and scenic areas beckon her and provide opportunities to enjoy kayaking, photography and exploration. This is a photo taken last March in Ushuaia, Argentina just before our Antarctica cruise.
Jeff Lindbom
2024 Volunteer
Board of Directors
W. Stewart Wilder, President
Stewart is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Geology. He first visited the Sawtooth country at the age of 13 to visit relatives who came into the area in 1924.
Stewart married Debbie Osborn, daughter of Marie (Idaho’s first Nurse Practitioner) after a blind date set up as teenagers by Marie and Stewart’s Aunt Marjorie and Uncle Martin Pollock.
After 20 years working in the mining industry in gold and silver in the Yankee Fork country and iron ore mining in Minnesota and Newfoundland, the Wilder’s relocated to Boise.
The Wilder’s connection to the history of the Sawtooth Country and stories of the many old timers led to Stewart’s interest in SIHA’s mission, especially its oral history work. He joined the board in 2013 and has served as board president since 2019.
Stewart is active in Senior Care and Medical Staffing in Boise and serves as president of LiveWilder Foundation for youth suicide prevention, Idaho Suicide Prevention Coalition and Co-Chair of the Idaho Suicide Prevention Action Collective as a mental health advocate with a focus on public policy.
The Wilders share part-time residency in the Sawtooth Valley and enjoy fly fishing, hiking, and prospecting, but most of all connecting with the varied personalities of the past and present who make the Sawtooth experience a living story.
Terry Clark, Vice President
Terry divides his time between Lower Stanley and Hailey, Idaho. He is passionate about sharing his love for Central Idaho with visitors and locals alike.
In 2010, Terry retired from the U.S. Forest Service after a 34-year career that took him to National Forests in six states. He spent almost half his career here, on the Sawtooth National Forest.
In 1989, when he first laid eyes on the Sawtooth Mountains from Galena summit, he knew he had found his place in space. He has been dedicated to preserving, protecting, and enjoying it ever since.
Liesl Schernthanner, Treasurer
Liesl has her roots “just over the hill” in the Smoky Mountains, having been born and reared in the Wood River Valley. Always eager to hear stories from Old Timers, her interest in learning about the region and its history began in early childhood and has grown with time.
After a career in applied human-environmental research and subsequent years of supporting science in Antarctica, she moved to Obsidian in 2013 with husband, dog, and horses, and has made the Sawtooth Valley home since then, with occasional excursions to work in Antarctica conserving historic sites and monuments.
She strongly commends the work of SIHA and believes it is important to preserve, enhance, and promote regional heritage to inform and inspire those who live, work, and visit the area.
Roland Miller, Secretary
Roland first arrived in the Sawtooth Mountains as a Student Conservation Association volunteer in 1980. From 1981 to 2001, he spent 17 more summers in seasonal roles for the Sawtooth National Recreation Area including natural interpreter, backcountry ranger, and Forest Protection Officer. From 1983 to 1984, Roland worked at Grey Towers/The Gifford Pinchot Institute for Conservation Studies in Milford, Pennsylvania. He ended his service at Grey Towers as the lead natural and cultural interpreter.
Like most of the residents of Sawtooth Valley, Roland wore many hats. Trained in high-angle and whitewater rescue, he was active as an EMT for the Stanley Ambulance and participated in many backcountry rescue operations. For ten years, Roland entertained guests at the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch with guitar and vocals.
Roland earned both his BFA and MFA in Visual Art from Utah State University. He recently completed his 32-year career in higher education as a Photography professor and then as Humanities dean at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois.
Roland’s photography of the United States’ space program includes projects documenting the abandoned space launch and test facilities around the United States and the Space Shuttle Program. He completed a project collaboratively photographing the interior of the International Space Station with Italian Astronaut, Paolo Nespoli. Roland’s photographs are included in numerous permanent museum and archive collections. He is happy to have the opportunity to give back to an area that has given him so much joy.
Gary Gadwa, Past President
Gary is a 1978 graduate of the University of Idaho with a M.S. in Wildlife Management. Gary devoted 28 years to protecting, perpetuating, and managing the fish and wildlife of Idaho during his career with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG). Electing to work in the field, Gary spent the majority of his career within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (NRA), the Sawtooth Wilderness, the southern end of the Frank Church Wilderness, and the White Clouds. His work in these very special wilderness and backcountry areas provided Gary with extensive opportunities to experience the country via horseback, trail cycle, snowmobile, kayak, raft, as well as aircraft as few, if any, others have ever done. His wildlife field studies included research on wolverine, elk, sheep and goats with opportunities to trap and relocate many other species from bats to small carnivores, lions, bears, and all major native big game. Gary twice earned recognition as Idaho Conservation Officer of the Year, the only IDFG Enforcement Officer with this honor. Gary is committed to preserving and interpreting the natural and cultural history of Idaho, and has been “addicted” to learning everything about the Sawtooth & Salmon River history since becoming acquainted in the early 70s with several central Idaho “pioneers”. Gary also serves on the board of the Stanley Clinic, as Commander of Sawtooth Search and Rescue, is a key EMS and fire department volunteer, and is active in Homeland Security as an amateur radio emergency coordinator. In 2004, Gary received the second annual Sawtooth Society Bethine Church Sawtooth NRA Service Award, the first such award having gone to his wife, Laurii, who also is instrumental to SIHA. Gary and Laurii raised and educated two children in Stanley and have been year-round residents since 1979. Gary enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking, Harley riding, trail cycle riding, snowmobiling, restoring old Fords, amateur radio, and photography.
Ed Cannady, Director
Ed is a Ketchum, ID-based photographer specializing in mountain sports and landscapes. He is an avid backcountry skier, hiker, backpacker and mountain biker.
Ed worked for USFS for 30 years, many of them spent as a backcountry manager in the SNRA.
J. Bernice Hartz, Director
Bernice’s professional career centered in secondary public education in the areas of geography and history in addition to serving as a field hockey coach, student council advisor and department chair in several Pennsylvania schools. Her Bachelor and Master degrees were awarded at Shippensburg University.
Employment with the US Forest Service in the Sawtooth NRA included three assignments within the visitor information services/visitor service division with much of that time serving at the Redfish Lake Visitor Center. Bernice received the initial Bethine Church award while employed by the US Forest Service.
In addition, she was employed as a teacher’s aide at the Stanley school and an instructor for Elder Hostel and volunteered on the Gem Community, the Stanley Independent School Board, the Sawtooth Mountain Mamas, and as a Redfish Center naturalist.
In Arizona she volunteered as a cave tour guide at Kartchner Cavern State Park for fourteen winter seasons and has served six years in the Pima County Sheriff Auxiliary.
It has been a joy to share the beauty, history and flora/fauna with many visitors in central Idaho. SIHA offers numerous opportunities to enhance the appreciation of the Gem of Idaho.
Vacant, Director
SIHA currently has a board vacancy. If you are interest in joining our board of directors, please reach out!
Paul Hill, Director
Paul and his wife, Ann, have been coming to the Sawtooth NRA since the 1990s. After a 35 year business career in Atlanta, Georgia, including ten years in private law practice and 25 years in executive management positions (including chief executive officer) at two major banks headquartered in Atlanta, Paul and Ann retired to live in Stanley and Ashland, Oregon.
Both are active in a number of civic and community organizations in both locations, including the Sawtooth Society and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Paul has served on both boards). Paul’s passions, which serve him well as a director of SIHA and the Sawtooth Society, include a love of things wild and a fascination with American history.
Amelia Jones, Director
Amelia has a love of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area because of a deep family connection. She had a career as a professor of mathematics before returning to Utah and Idaho. Until recently she and her family owned and operated Smiley Creek Lodge and she continues live in the area seasonally.
Amelia currently manages Needlepoint Joint, a retail establishment in Utah, and in her free time enjoys knitting and embroidery, cooking, gardening and the historic, artistic and natural resources of our world.
Susan Kim, Director
Susan retired from her professional career as a pediatrician in 2020. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, a medical degree from Vanderbilt University, and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After her pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, she and her husband moved west to raise their family and quickly fell in love with the Sawtooths. They now split their time between Stanley and Boise.
After retirement, Susan returned to the classroom to receive a certificate from Boston University in genealogical research and in 2023 she debuted her own genealogy business. Her love of the Stanley area, respect for history, and recognition of the importance of preservation is a natural fit with the mission of SIHA.
Jenny MacNichol, Director
Jenny, board member since 2020, was born in Northern California and raised in Portland, Oregon. Jenny is a retired internal medicine physician, having practiced for 30 years in Portland.
She and her husband, Carter, have been coming to the Stanley Basin to recreate and spend time with the MacNichol family at the Headwaters Ranch in Obsidian since 1982. They have two adult children who also visit regularly.
Jenny loves the many outdoor opportunities available in the Sawtooths, including hiking, fishing and horseback riding. Jenny’s long history and rich experiences in Stanley have made her passionate about preserving important local history and natural resources to share with visitors, residents and generations to come.
Becky Obletz, Director
Becky was born and raised in Boise, ID. She spent her weekends exploring the Sawtooth Mountains from her family cabin in Grandjean.
Becky is a retired physical therapist. She received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a graduate degree in Physical Therapy from Pacific University.
Becky married Doug Obletz in 1989 at Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch. They have two sons; Sam and Nick. Becky and Doug spend summers in Stanley and their winters in Portland, OR. Becky’s hobbies include hiking, mountain biking, trail running, and the many other outdoor opportunities that the Sawtooth Mountains provide.
Dave Pinney, Director
Dave graduated from high school in suburban Chicago and headed west to study at the University of Idaho. He married his wife, Melissa, in 1987 and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1988. After graduation, they moved to Boise where they raised their two children, Kyle and Christine, both now adults. Dave spent 30 years designing computer memory chips before retiring in 2018.
Dave and his family developed a significant love for the Sawtooth Mountains and the town of Stanley. They built a home there in 1995 and spent many summer weekends and holidays up in the mountains. Now, in retirement, they consider Stanley their home.
Dave is also a director for the Salmon River Clinic in Stanley and a founder/director for the Pulaski Users Group, another great nonprofit dedicated to the stewardship of our public lands in Central Idaho.
Caitlin Straubinger, Director
Caitlin is a Florida native and cultivated her love of the outdoors while leading backpacking and paddling trips throughout the southeast and the Appalachians. After a stint working in the Colorado high country, Caitlin moved to Idaho in 2014 and has been busy exploring our wild rivers and diverse landscapes on foot, bike, and boat with her husband.
She served as the SIHA Lead Naturalist in 2019 and loves everything about the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Caitlin currently works as the Community Engagement Director for Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation and enjoys connecting with people and helping turn their passion for wilderness into meaningful action.
In the Sawtooths, you can often find her on the boardwalk at the Redfish Visitors Center looking for beavers, paddle boarding around an alpine lake, or on a trail with her dog.
