Who We Are

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

In 2023, Sheena was named Flathead Rivers Alliance’s first Executive Director. She began her service to FRA as a contracted Watershed Coordinator in 2021 jumpstarting flagship River Ambassador Program. She looks forward to continuing to support the organization’s robust portfolio of projects and programs with partners to advance stewardship of this river system.

Sheena is a river enthusiast who floated rivers long before she could walk and worked her first job at a whitewater company. Over 15 years she has served as a hydrologist, communication specialist and project coordinator in the watershed science field, in Montana and Colorado. She strongly believes that awareness is an essential stepping stone towards the realization and protection of our natural resources for future generations. Sheena holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from University of Montana and B.S. in Watershed Science from Colorado State University. You’ll often find her on the river taking turns with her son and daughter on the oars and faithful Bridger searching for the best fetch stick.

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Carolan’s love of water was nurtured as a child on the shores of the Great Lakes. This love, along with a healthy dose of wanderlust, led her around the west and ultimately to the Flathead Valley. She spent many years working on trails and conservation related projects, supporting crews, and engaging youth with the outdoors through 9 years with the Montana Conservation Corps. She also spent 3 years working as the Community Partnerships Lead with Glacier National Park Conservancy, fundraising for and supporting Glacier. In the meantime, she and her husband were busy bringing their newborn babies out to live at Schafer Meadows in the Great Bear Wilderness. Soothing a crying baby by walking the shores of the Middle Fork deep in the Wilderness has increased her gratitude for, and bond with, those waters.

You can find her dreaming of frigid early morning river crossings, long slogs with a pack raft and full camp on her back, marches through early season mud up to her knees, and other type 2 fun that finds her filthy, tired, and ecstatic in the mountains, on the rivers, and in the lakes. But for now, you will actually find her exploring the outdoors with her husband and small children and focusing on adventures that the whole family can enjoy together- which still often includes type 2 fun.

Carolan strongly believes that the river is a place that brings the community together with our mutual love and respect for these special waters. She is proud to be working to support the Three Forks of the Flathead!

2024 BIG SKY WATERSHED CORPS MEMBER

Maggie is a Big Sky Watershed Corps member and will be shared with Flathead Rivers Alliance, Flathead National Forest, and Glacier National Park. She is from Eugene, Oregon, and graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a minor in Earth Sciences. She is passionate about protecting natural areas and is excited to learn more about the Flathead River System.

PRESIDENT

Bob has a passion for moving waters and has been running the Middle, North and South Forks of the Flathead for nearly 50 years. He is currently retired after spending a wonderful career as a river outfitter and mental health counselor. He is honored to be a founding board member of the Flathead Rivers Alliance and looks forward to working with our communities & local management agencies to protect the Flathead.

VICE PRESIDENT

Sam's love for water started with a paddle in his hand at an early age in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. During his tenure at Montana State, Sam worked as a whitewater guide, a profession which ignited a passion not only for technical rivers, but for the landscapes they inhabit. His passion for this river system now focuses on keeping it clean and wild for his son and future generations. Sam hopes to use his expertise in finance to help propel the Flathead Rivers Alliance downstream and ensure cold clean water for us all.

TREASURER

Jedd is a lover of the wild rivers and river valleys of northwest Montana. Whether car camping along the North Fork or hiking in to float the Middle Fork around Schafer Meadows, he can’t get enough of the living waters of the Flathead river system. Jedd has worked for Montana Conservation Corps and, now, Whitefish Legacy Partners for the past 10+ years and is dedicated to the local conservation and outdoor recreation community. Jedd ascended to peak-nerdiness when he wrote a master’s thesis at the University of Montana on the fight over coal mining in the North Fork river basin. Requests to recount stories about the 1988 International Joint Commission referral process on the North Fork are much appreciated.

SECRETARY

Rachel is a lifelong Montana resident; her two boys are the fourth generation of kiddos to be raised running around the streets of her hometown. After graduating from the University of Montana in resource conservation, she entered a career in sales and marketing for the outdoor adventure and equipment manufacturing industries, and conservation. In 2017, she was chosen by the Governor of Montana to create and direct the MT Governor's Office of Outdoor Recreation, striving to build a thriving and sustainable outdoor recreation economy for our state. Currently she owns her own consulting business with work primarily focused in conservation and outdoor recreation economy. You can find her with people she loves rafting local rivers, camping, chasing my bird dog, hunting and fishing, surfing on Whitefish Lake, skiing, and traveling.

BOARD MEMBER

Flannery comes to the board of FRA with a passion for the Flathead River and calls the North Fork home. She studied Life Sciences and Sustainability at the University of Portland and was the Program Director for the Outdoor Pursuits Program there for 2 years. A North Fork Preservation Association board member she’s no stranger to conservation. To her, serving on the board of FRA is an honor.

BOARD MEMBER

Lisa is a whitewater kayaker, packrafter, and longtime advocate for wild rivers and wild places in Montana and beyond. A native of southern Idaho, she graduated from the University of Montana and has called Missoula home ever since. She joined the staff at American Rivers in 2022 leading river protection work across Western Montana after nearly 20 years working at the University of Montana’s Wilderness Institute. She led broad-scale celebrations for the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 2018. She helped found and continues to coordinate the Wild and Scenic Rivers Coalition, a national alliance of more than 60 river groups, of which Flathead Rivers Alliance is a member.

BOARD MEMBER

Pat grew up as a cheesehead in Wisconsin fishing lakes and streams, chasing frogs and snapping turtles and transformed his love of water into a 32-year career as a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Forest Service. Pat spent 30 years working on the Flathead National Forest exploring the Middle, North and South forks of the Flathead River while working closely with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to protect native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout. He worked on the Flathead Forest Plan and Wild and Scenic River management throughout his career. Free time was river time from Alaska to eastern Montana but his favorite is the South Fork Flathead. It's only natural to follow a river thalweg from a career of protecting rivers to joining a river community such as FRA and taking a peak around the next river bend to have a dialogue about where do we go from here as a community.

BOARD MEMBER

BOARD MEMBER

Whether she is hammocking with her friends, doing homework at the lake, or stargazing at night, Lauren takes every opportunity she can to enjoy Mother Nature. Having grown up in Whitefish, her appreciation for the outdoors has recently developed into a determination to protect it. Lauren is currently a high school student who will graduate from WHS in 2025. She plans to pursue environmental science or environmental engineering in college, with her long-term goal being to continually make a positive impact on the environment around her. Lauren is excited to get started on her journey by helping protect our rivers with the FRA.