STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Environmental Resource Center will hold a goodbye party for outgoing ERC Director Hadley DeBree from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, at the ERC, 471 Washington Ave. in Ketchum.
DeBree is headed to Portland, Ore., for an adventure not quite determined and to be near her sister. She will be joined by Peter Jensen, whose family lives in Seattle.
DeBree grew up in the Wood River Valley before heading off to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology-Environmental Studies at Whitman College.
She returned to Sun Valley, joining the ERC as an AmeriCorps member and becoming its executive director in 2015. Under her direction, the ERC has focused on five core pillars—Youth Education, Connecting People with Nature, Pesticide Action, Recycling and Outreach and PUP (Pick Up for the Planet).
She also established the ERC Street Party for the Planet and oversaw the ERC’s 25th Anniversary Celebration at the Limelight Hotel. And she helped create such partnerships as the ROES Camp that Wood River Middle School sixth-graders partake in each year.
““The board always knew that Hadley has other dreams that she’d like to pursue someday, but it doesn’t make it easier to say good-bye and good luck to such a humble, yet determined and committed ED,” said Kingsley Murphy. “The entire board is happy for her and most thankful for all she has done for the Wood River Valley and the Environmental Resource Center. She truly exceeded everyone’s expectations of her.”