BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Sawtooth Society turned 20 this year and it’s looking for a new executive director. Gary O’Malley will retire at the end of 2017 after nine years at the helm.

Among his accomplishments: Launching the Austin Kraal Memorial Volunteer Program and overseeing more than a hundred recreation enhancement projects.

“Gary leaves some big shoes to fill,” said Sawtooth Society President Wayne Hughes.  “He was the face of the Sawtooth Society to the Forest Service, the public, donors, members and other organizations.”

The Sawtooth Society was founded in 1997 by the late Bethine Church and others to preserve and enhance the 756,000 Sawtooth National Recreation Area for future generations.

Its members also helped secure wilderness protection for the Boulder-White Clouds Mountains and led a long-range strategic planning effort called Sawtooth Vision 20/20 to identify risk and opportunities facing the area. And they assumed co-leadership of the Sawtooth Valley Wildland Fire Collaborative, which addresses the risk of another catastrophic fire

The Sawtooth Society’s volunteer stewardship program conducted 31 maintenance and construction projects in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area during the summer of 2017.

All told, 277 volunteers provided 2,900 hours of labor. Among the volunteers were urban and at-risk youth from the Magic Valley who became acquainted with nature while learning skills designed to build self-esteem.

Other groups that maintained trails, cleaned up camps and built log fences around sensitive areas represented The Limelight Hotel, Sawtooth Brewery, Flourish Foundation and Sage School.

For more information, go to www.sawtoothsociety.org.