- How did you first hear about the CWC?
My local CPW area manager and state representative brought the opening to my attention. I’d been recommended in a prior year by one of our West Slope wildlife commissioners and also a Front Range philanthropist. At the time, the role didn’t fit with my existing obligations.
- What is your role on the CWC?
As a municipal elected official in Carbondale, Colo., and an avid outdoors person, I’m the municipalities representative for Colorado’s 278 statewide jurisdictions.
- Tell us about your background when it comes to conservation.
Being a Colorado resident who lives our everyday rugged lifestyle that misses metropolitan conveniences, I developed a healthy respect for the richness of the Rocky Mountain ecology that holds me here and instilled the desire to protect and conserve its unspoiled character.
- Why are you so involved with conservation?
Delighting in the attributes of an untouched wilderness provides a special sense of awe and tranquility that only the natural environment can convey and, for me, makes it critical to defend.
- What is your favorite wildlife species and why?
I love all wildlife but especially the chance critters that allow me to look into their wise eyes as if to silently connect with a shared understanding.
- What is your favorite thing about living in Colorado?
One of my favorite things is to still be able to find scarcely traveled two-lane blacktop roads that take me to remote scenic spaces.
- What do you wish Coloradoans knew about the council or wildlife?
I wish Coloradoans and visitors alike recognized the hard work that goes into keeping their personal access to outdoor recreational amenities easily accessible and widely available. Neither the council nor the wildlife agencies it represents were established to inhibit public enjoyment of natural resources by imposing protective restrictions or modest maintenance fees. These necessary measures are meant to keep the surroundings and experience they provide memorable.
- What types of outdoor recreation do you partake in?
I love alpine skiing, gardening, and hiking as local alternative activities to the outdoor outfitting I do daily on a seasonal basis. Anything, including an occasional round of golf or tennis match, that allows me to breathe in the fresh mountain air and leaves me with a well-earned sense of fatigue.
- What is your most memorable story about wildlife or being out in the wild?
There are lots! Laughing at my mistakes with like-minded companions is always the best. Most recently while refreshing my fly-casting rig by straightening the line behind me, the fly on the water attracted a sizeable acrobatic wild rainbow trout that I had no idea had been caught. My buddies’ whooping and hollering only added to the commotion and the trout deservedly won that fight. A startling episode we still recount hysterically.
