Staff

Heather MacSlarrow, Executive Director
Heather grew up in Northwest Washington and Hong Kong, both of which gave her an appreciation for wilderness and solitude.  She received her Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana, and from there embarked on a 10-year adventure in public land and Wilderness stewardship with conservation corps across the West from Arizona to Alaska.  She worked with the Washington Conservation Corps, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps in Steamboat Springs, Montana Conservation Corps, Youth Corps of Southern Arizona, Southwest Conservation Corps in Tucson, and Southwest Conservation Corps in Salida.  Her last position in corps was as the founder and Executive Director of the Southwest Conservation Corps in Salida, Colorado.  Heather left corps work to pursue her Masters of Natural Resources through the University of Idaho and work with the Colorado Mountain Club as the Lands Director.  Through these positions, Heather worked with many Wilderness Areas, including: Buffalo Peaks, Collegiate Peaks, Sangre de Cristo, Great Sand Dunes, Spanish Peaks, South San Juan, Weminuche, La Garita, Admiralty Island, Glacier Bay, Wrangell Saint Elias, Misty Fjords, Kenai, Organ Pipe, Chiricahua, Gila, Saguaro, Rincon Mountain, North and South Maricopa Mountains, Superstition, Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains, Selway Bitterroot, Rattlesnake, Mission Mountains, Bob Marshall, Mount Zirkel, and High Uintas.  
 
Heather is highly dedicated to the professional stewardship and management of Wilderness.  She sees this as the key to allowing Wilderness to do what Wilderness does best - facilitate life-changing experiences and maintain important ecological systems, both of which provide essential support for, and strengthen, our communities.  
 

Jacob Wall, National Program Director

Jacob is a 2016 Colby College graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Policy and Geology. His environmental policy honors thesis researched deforestation in Ethiopia analyzing spatial, ecological, and socio-cultural factors. After graduating from college, Jacob worked in Yosemite National Park as a Student Conservation Association (SCA) intern. There he participated in vegetation restoration projects as well as developed habitat models for rare plant species in order to understand how climate change will impact future habitats. In 2017, Jacob worked as a Wilderness Fellow with SWS in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho where he gained an appreciation for solitude in one of the nation’s largest wilderness areas. Jacob continued his work with SWS as a Wilderness Character Monitoring Core Team Leader, in which he provided technical assistance to Forests and Fellows working on Wilderness Character Monitoring. Aside from exploring different Wilderness areas, Jacob enjoys skiing, reading, and cooking.

 

Michael Smith, Wilderness Character Monitoring Core Team Leader

Mike Smith received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Delaware in 2011 and a master’s degree in environmental science and management in 2016. During graduate school he specialized in conservation planning. He looks to use his Biology and Environmental Science degrees to pursue a career in conservation biology and management. Growing up in a heavily forested region of the mid-Hudson valley in upstate New York near the Catskill mountains he had the opportunity to experience the outdoors and found an appreciation for its value. Exploring the dense forests and being 15 to 20 minutes away from the nearest development allowed him to enjoy the woods with his dog.                                                                                                           

 

 

Wilderness Fellows Program

Currently, there are 14 Wilderness Fellows working with the U.S. Forest Service accross the country on wilderness research projects. 

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The Society for Wilderness Stewardship is a non-profit, charitable organization under the 501 (c)(3) section of the Internal Revenue Code.