Lynne Nelson - Board President
Lynne is a veterinarian and researcher at Washington State University. Her research has focused on brown bears and Asiatic black bears. She has been a long time wildlife and wilderness advocate. She lives in Palouse, Washington.
Chris Norden - Vice President
Chris Norden is a professor emeritus of English and Environmental Studies at Lewis-Clark State College, where he began teaching in 1993. He has a PhD in English and African-American studies. He lives in Moscow, Idaho.
Harry Jageman
Harry is a retired wildlife biologist who worked for the US Forest Service for over thirty years. He grew up in Pennsylvania and completed a degree in forest science from Penn State University and served in the US Air Force. Harry completed his master’s degree in wildlife management at the University of Idaho. Since retirement he has received his PhD in wildlife resources, studying Northern Pygmy-owls. He lives in Moscow, Idaho.
Julian Matthews
Julian is an enrolled Nez Perce who has been actively involved in environmental issues for the last 20 years. Julian is committed to ensuring that the 1855 Treaty Rights to hunt, fish and gather are kept and protected. He has a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Gonzaga University and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Idaho. He also leads Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment, a tribal non-profit. He lives in Pullman, Washington.
Steve Paulson
Founder of FOC, Steve is a fourth-generation Idahoan and a life-long subsistence farmer, hunter, and fisherman. He is a registered nurse, has served as a US Marine, and is a former smokejumper with the Forest Service. He was integral to the Cove-Mallard Campaign, Gray Wolf Committee, and more. He lives in Idaho.
Gary Macfarlane
FOC’s long-time Ecosystem Defense Director who retired in April 2022, Gary still has a beat on public land issues in the Clearwater Basin. Gary has over 30 years of activist experience. He was a recipient of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies Conservation Award in 1997. Gary holds a B.S. degree from Utah State University’s College of Natural Resources. He lives in Idaho.
Beth Hoots
Beth started as an FOC volunteer in 2019 while working toward degrees in Ecology and Conservation Biology and Spanish language at the University of Idaho. She has served as the president of the Idaho chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology, and is passionate about finding science-based solutions to protect threatened and endangered species. She is continuing her education in Australia.
Chris Irlam
Chris Irlam is a Canadian transplant who has brought her love of the outdoors with her. She is a current cultural anthropology graduate student at the University of Idaho focusing on inequities and social justice. In a past life Chris worked as an environmental specialist for a major British Columbian power company where she quickly learned she was working for the wrong team. Chris’s favourite place in Idaho is the Kelly Creek roadless area where she made acquaintances with a moose who started her love affair with the Clearwater.
Nils Peterson
Nils Peterson, as a landowner on the American River north of Elk City, he has been going out the South Fork for 35 years and watching changes in salmon and big game. As the founding Board chair of Palouse Prairie Charter School and now the Executive Director of Moscow Affordable Housing Trust, he has a large experience with Board function and the challenges of working Boards as they seat executive directors, from both sides of the table. He hopes to bring both these experiences to the FOC Board.
Rick Rupp
Rick has lived in the Northwest for 50 years. He has a bachelor's degree in economics, working in manufacturing for 30 years. In that time, he became involved in conservation issues, especially in the Lewiston-Clarkston valley of Idaho. He has worked with many organizations on issues relating to orcas, salmon, dams, rivers, rewilding, and wilderness preservation.
