STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Ann Christensen will be honored with the Champion of the Sawtooths Award at the Sawtooth Society’s annual Sagebrush Soiree.
The Soiree, which features an Idaho-inspired dinner, locally curated cocktails, auction, entertainment and pledges to support the preservation, protection and enhancement of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 27, at Smiley Creek Lodge on Highway 75 between Galena Summit and Redfish Lake.
Tickets are $350 per person and tables of eight and 10 area are available. There will be some overnight accommodations at Smiley Creek that can be purchased with tickets.
To purchase tickets, go to https://sawtoothsociety.org/soiree.
The evening starts at 5:30 p.m. with a cocktail reception, locally curated hors d’oeuvres, silent auction and live music. The sit-down dinner will be complemented by wine pairings, local entertainment, a live auction and pledge to support the SNRA.
Christensen will be honored at this time for her work as an environmentalist, educator and activist, which began years ago when she and her then-young daughters rescued a floundering salmon near their cabin in Stanley.
Not only has she been a strong advocate for the SNRA but she has taught countless children to revere the environment around them through her weekly children’s talks at The Community Library, week-long camps that go chasing after dragon flies and frogs in the creeks north of Ketchum and mini-workshops at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden’s Bug Zoo Festival.
“Her unwavering commitment to environmental conservation, her dedication to raise awareness about the importance of safeguarding Idaho's precious natural resources, and her life-long effort to engage local youth in conservation, are all instrumental in ensuring the continued beauty and sustainability of the area,” said Kathryn Grohusky, executive director of the Sawtooth Society.
The Sawtooth Society was founded 26 years ago to advocate for the SNRA and maintain its trails and other recreational attributes. Over the years it has organized countless volunteer trail work projects.
Pledges made at the Sagebrush Soiree generate 60 percent of the Society’s annual revenue.