Our Staff Members
Chris Bachman
Conservation Director
Meet Chris
Sierra Owen
Headwaters Field Crew Member
Meet Sierra
Conservation Director
Meet Chris
Headwaters Field Crew Member
Meet Sierra
Rick is a nationally prominent nature and environmental writer. He is one of the founders of YVFC and has been invaluable to the development of the organization. Rick's numerous books and articles on the Yaak's wildlands and the need to protect the remaining roadless core habitat have brought national attention to our small grassroots organization. Rick has supervised two anthology book projects for YVFC and offers countless hours of volunteer field support as well as written articles and op-ed pieces.
Ashley grew up in the Troy area and spent much of her time in the outdoors growing up. Calling the Yaak Valley home, she works with the Headwaters field crew and wears many hats for the organization including Office Manager, Social Media Coordinator, Field Crew Technician, and Coordinator for our Pacific NW Trail campaign. Ashley started volunteering with the Yaak Valley Forest Council when she was 15 years old, and has been a part of our conservation work ever since. Ashley enjoys spending her time exploring and adventuring with her family, and restoring the wild Yaak landscape with the field crew team.
Contact Ashley: ashley@yaakvalley.org
Anthony has called NW Montana home since 2006. Being outdoors hiking, fly-fishing and pursuing wildlife/landscape photography sparked the connection to the wild places that Anthony now adamantly works to restore and protect. He has worked with the Yaak Valley Forest Council since 2013, implementing restoration projects on local waterways and data collection throughout the area. To his work as Headwaters Program Manager and Field Crew Leader, Anthony brings experience in backcountry trail work, wilderness first-aid, knowledge of the area and a passion to rehabilitate and preserve the unique bio-diversity of the one and only Yaak valley. Contact Anthony at anthony@yaakvalley.org
Chris has worked promoting the restoration of wildlife and holistic native ecosystems as the paramount mission of public land management for the last decade. He focuses his work on habitat restoration and holistic ecosystem resiliency advocating for native carnivore recovery while working to reduce human/wildlife conflict. His work promotes prioritizing management for wildlife on our public lands, particularly wild roadless areas; and promotes conservation as the priority management policy for fish and wildlife.
Chris is a former middle school science and math teacher who left teaching to follow his passion advocating for wildlife. Chris completed undergraduate and graduate work in Evolutionary Biology at Southern Illinois University and also holds a Master’s in Education from Whitworth University. Chris is a married father of two and enjoys hiking, backpacking and snow sports and is an experienced backcountry traveler and tracker.
Sierra Owen, Headwaters Field Crew – Sierra is the backbone and grounding force of the Headwaters Restoration Partnership project and, in her own words, shares the experience of working with the YVFC. Fifteen years ago I took a summer job working for the Yaak Valley Forest Council not realizing how indelibly my life would be changed by it. That summer I spent in the field working for the Headwaters Sediment Source Survey project, which had the admirable if daunting goal of surveying (on foot) the length of every stream in the headwaters of the Yaak watershed. As I crawled, climbed, and scrambled through the nooks and crannies in the forgotten corners of the Yaak, my eyes were thrown wide open to the astonishing variety and abundance of life in this forest. Following the streams as if they were the arteries of the forest, I saw for the first time how many diverse and connected ecosystems are crammed into this relatively small local landscape. The abundance of life and life-giving things in our forests was like nowhere else I'd ever seen, and I understood for the first time what it truly meant to call this place my home. Fifteen years later my life here has grown to include a husband, two amazing kids, and eight acres of heaven. Still, every year from the time the snow leaves until it returns I am out putting boots on the ground and miles under my belt for the YVFC and for the forest. And we are thankful she been here with us all these years protecting and restoring this landscape.