Sawtooth Group Leaders: Who We Are

Who is the Sawtooth Group?

The Sawtooth Group is one of five different groups in Idaho within the Northern Rockies Chapter of the Sierra Club. The Sawtooth Group encompasses the center of Idaho with Montana on the north, Nevada and Utah to the south, Arco on the east, and Gooding on the west. This is spectacular country that includes the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Shoshone Falls, Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, City of Rocks National Reserve as well as the Boulder-White Cloud mountains.

The Sawtooth Group includes the counties of Blaine, Custer, Lemhi, Twin Falls, Gooding, Lincoln, Minidoka, Jerome, Camas, and Butte.

We are committed to protecting this magnificent country as well as the wild critters that call this place home.

Meet some of the Sawtooth Group Executive Committee Members:

Scott Phillips, Hailey, ID
I have been the Chair of the Sawtooth Group since 2006. I graduated from the Utah State University School of Natural Resources with a Master's degree in Outdoor Recreation Management in 1968. I worked on the Bridger Teton National Forest in WY from 1968-1979. I worked on the Uinta National Forest in Recreation Management from 1979-1981 and as the Regional Winter Sports Specialist in Ogden, UT from 1982-1987. I also worked on our local Sawtooth National Recreation Area from 1987-1991 and retired in 1992. I currently belong to the Sierra Club, Earth Justice, Western Watersheds Project, Friends of the Clearwater, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Wilderness Watch, and the Southern Utah Wilderness Association (SUWA). The key focus of my environmental interests are protecting national forest Roadless Areas, eliminating fees on our public lands, and advocating for real Wilderness such as the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA)--a bill currently before the U.S. House of Representatives that would protection nearly 20 million acres of our public land as wilderness. I am especially concerned about global warming and Peak Oil. My outdoor passions include canyon explorations in southern Utah, wild river float trips, and wilderness backpacks.

Jack Stevens, Stanley/Boise, ID
Born and raised in the east, I fell in love with real wilderness when I worked in Grand Teton Nat'l Park in 1960. Subsequently, I worked in Yosemite and Crater Lake National Parks. I discovered the Sawtooths in 1994 and have spent all or part of every summer since then in Stanley - plus the winter of 2002-2003. We bought land in Stanley in 1995 and started building our cabin there in 1998. I worked as a volunteer with the Forest Service in the SNRA for several summers, and worked as a summer Ranger at the Stanley Ranger station in 2004. I became a member of the Executive Committee of the Sawtooth Group of the Sierra Club in early 2006 and currently serve as the Vice Chair. I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Sawtooth Interpretative and Historical Association which, among other things, cares for the small museum located between Stanley and Lower Stanley. I am a member of the Sawtooth Society, and in that capacity I was a member of the Steering Committee that planned and executed a year long local grass roots project dedicated to protecting and preserving the pastoral nature of the SNRA. The final report of this effort, titled "Sawtooth Vision 20/20: Shared Strategies for the Future", can be accessed at <www.sawtoothsociety.org/snra>. I am dedicated to the preservation of our natural environment for the sake of future generations, which includes my four grandchildren. It has been a special joy to share with my grandchildren the beauty and the majesty of the Sawtooths. I love hiking, camping, fishing, some climbing, travel and exploring new places, and jogging.

Kathy Richmond, Clayton, ID
I have been the Secretary of the Sawtooth Groups Executive Committee since April of 2006. I have been a conservation activist since 1993. I have volunteered in various capacities to protect wildlife and their habitat. I was on the Idaho Conservation League's Board of Directors for six years, the Ecology Center's Board for two years, and the BLM's Resource Advisory Council for seven years and currently on the board of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. My husband and I formed a local conservation group, Friends of the West, whose mission is to protect native predators and their habitat. I helped organize a citizen's initiative to ban bear baiting and later ran unsuccessfully for the Idaho State Legislature. I enjoy hiking, backpacking, whitewater rafting, canoeing, snowshoeing, birding, and studying wild mushrooms. If reelected to the Executive Committee of the Sawtooth Group, I look forward to working collaboratively with all parties involved in the issues that are important to the Sawtooth Group, particularly protecting native wildlife and their habitat, especially predators.

Steve Wolper, Ketchum, ID
I have lived in Idaho since 1979. I am presently the Conservation Chair of the Executive Committee of the Sawtooth Group of the Sierra Club. I have been involved actively in conservation since 1970. My first role as an activist was with the Sierra Club in California where we successfully defeated an attempt by the Disney Corporation to place a huge ski area at the base of the Mineral King Wilderness. I am a past board member of the Idaho Conservation League, Wilderness Watch, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. I am a founder and board member of Citizens for Smart Growth, in Blaine County. I was a member of the citizen's committee to rewrite the Forest Service management plan for the Sawtooth Wilderness. I have served on other similar committees. I believe in conservation as the only way we can hope to preserve our natural and human environment for future generations. I am passionate about preserving public land as part of our heritage. Recently, I spent three years sailing from Florida to Newfoundland, Canada to Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies and back. I have seen what happens to once healthy environments when they are abused or neglected. We face the same challenges here in the Rocky Mountain West. I am never happier or at peace than when I am outdoors. I ski, climb, mountain bike, fish, hike, backpack and I have swum along with my kayak in quite a few of Idaho's rivers.

Doug Christensen, Ketchum, ID

I am presently a member of the Board of Directors of the Sawtooth Society. I was on the Board of the Idaho Conservation League for 6 years and am a co-founder of the Blaine County Citizens for Smart Growth. I have been a conservation activist since 1967. I have been a member of the Sierra Club since 1969. I am dedicated to supporting the Wilderness Act of 1964 and helping to create as much wilderness as possible.