STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

It was just last year that fire from the Bench Lakes and Wapiti fires forced the Sawtooth Society to move its Sagebrush Soiree fundraiser from a hilltop in Stanley overlooking the jagged Sawtooth Mountains to the inside of The Argyros in Ketchum.

This weekend the Soiree returned to Redfish Lake where fire from an unattended backcountry campfire had threatened the historic Redfish Lake Lodge, leaving part of the popular Bench Lakes trail looking like a moonscape.

Attendees celebrated the Clegg family, who had continued paying employees during the fire, and they raised their paddles for the Sawtooth Society, which has funded trail crews to clear trails in the burned woods.

John and Carolyn Lloyd remember when Redfish Lake didn’t look like Central Park in the middle of summer.

“We had a campaign recently to grow the trail crew, so we are going to add more,” the Sawtooth Society’s executive director Kathryn Grohusky told the crowd. “We’re also advocating for the salmon and assisting the SNRA, which is down to nine people from 31 a few months ago because of governmental staff cuts. They had 60 staff in the 1960s.”

Supporters mingled under a tent near the lake, nibbling on lobster mac and cheese, corn bisque and lamb chops prepared by the chef of Redfish Lodge.

“We like to support the Sawtooth Society because we like to recreate up here--it’s so beautiful “said Kathy Boylston, who attended with her husband Greg.

The Sawtooth Society was founded 28 years ago as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization to enhance recreational facilities and services in the 756,000 acres of land that encompasses the Sawtooth Wilderness, Cecil D. Andrus-White Clouds Wilderness and the Hemingway-Boulders Wilderness.

Kathy and Greg Boylston stand next to poster of SNRA goat plates, which have raised $1.2 million for recreational enhancements.

It also facilitates volunteer projects in the area, which boasts more than 900 miles of trails, 40 peaks rising above 10,000 feet and more than 300 alpine lakes.

“With all the reductions to Forest Service what they’re doing is critical,” said Paul Ries, who was the area SNRA ranger who worked with Bethine Church to create the Sawtooth Society. “They’ve raised over a million dollars with their license plate program alone—that’s significant.”

Since 2014 the organization has coordinated projects involving 13,400 hours of labor, cleared 5,000 trees from 612 miles of trails and provided stewardship education opportunities to more than 400 youth.

“All of us here have a shared mission to preserve, protect and enhance the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. It’s a huge job. It takes all of us,” said Grohusky.

Mary Bauer, who attended with Scott Varner and Heather Varner came from Boise to support the Sawtooth Society. “The first time I told my wife I loved her was here in the Sawtooths,” said Scott. “And I love seeing my dog running around free on the trails,” said Heather.

The Sawtooth Society honored Stanley Mayor Steve Botti as its 2025 Champion of the Sawtooths. Botti worked in ecological fire management more than five decades, beginning his work in 1971 at Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks where he helped pioneer prescribed fire practices.

Later, at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, he helped shape national fire policy, contributing to such initiatives as Wildland Fire Use, Hazardous Fuels Reduction and the National Fire Plan.

During the Bench Lakes, Wapiti and Frog Lake fires in 2024, he gathered information at   Incident Command meetings and transferred that information to the public in words laymen could understand through the Sawtooth Society’s Sawtooth Valley Wildland Fire Collaborative. He was also able to work with the incident team using his background to help them make better decisions.

Sue and Alex Orb were honored as Sawtooth Society Guardians. The couple has demonstrated their commitment to the long-term viability of the Society, funding it so it can move into the next chapter of trail work and advocacy.

Sue and Alex Orb were named Sawtooth Society Guardians.

Sue has served as a director of the Sawtooth Society and a member of the Sawtooth license plate fund committee. She also championed preservation efforts in the Sawtooth Valley through the Trust for Public Land.

Alex helped found the Wood River Community YMCA, Sun Valley Youth Hockey and the Sun Valley Suns.

An entertaining live auction full of laughter followed with auction lots that included three nights at the Lodge at White Clouds Preserve on the East Fork of the Salmon River coupled with a whitewater raft trip by White Otter, a progressive dinner at Redfish that will start with hors d’oeuvres and wine on a sunset cruise and 10 days for 10 at a luxury villa on Kauai’s North Shore within walking distance from the Na Pali Coast Trail.

Mike Hoover, the Society’s director of operations even showed a map of the Jurassic Park film locations in Kauai to pump up the bidding before handing out hula skirts to the winning bidder.

The paddle up, buoyed by a $30,000 matching challenge from Muffy Ritz, was followed by an opportunity for attendees to drop their paddles in fishing nets for a chance to win a year’s supply of salmon from the Wild Alaskan Company.

Hoover told how he had introduced his father to the SNRA when his father was in the final years of a 10-year battle with cancer. He rode the trail to Bench Lakes on horseback and jumped off an iconic rock into the lake near Grand Mogul. And, for the first time, he forgot about the chemotherapy he had had to endure.

“He moved through the SNRA openhearted, full-eyed and grateful,” Hoover said. “About 1.2 million people come to the SNRA every year to see this scenery. And, at the end of his 10-year battle with cancer last year, he insisted on looking at the photos we’d taken here.”

Want to know more about the Sawtooth Society? Visit https://sawtoothsociety.org/.