See Also :

Links:

Tri-State Water Council

Idaho Department of
Environmental Quality

Idaho Department of
Fish and Game, Panhandle
Fishing Report

Environmental Protection
Agency, Region 10

100th Meridian

Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club

Rock Creek Alliance

Idaho Legislature

Idaho State Governor
Dirk Kempthorne

Albeni Falls Dam

Sandpoint, city of

Priest River, city of

Priest Lake

Ford's primary areas of practice include commercial law and banking, bankruptcy, trusteeships, and civil litigation. He has been granted a myriad of honors throughout the years, including a position as the former chairman of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the recipient of the Professionalism award and the Pro Bono Award from the Idaho State Bar, former chairman of the Airport Advisory Board, the Board of Trustees for the Bonner County School District, the Idaho State Bar Bankruptcy Section, ABI Programs and Seminars Committee, and more. He is and has been involved with several universities and colleges over the years including St. John’s Law School LL.M. Bankruptcy Program, and the University of Idaho School Advisory Board. Ford teaches as an adjunct professor at both the University of Idaho Law School and at St. John’s University Law School in the LL.M. Program. He has represented many local and national companies and is exceptionally well-regarded and respected in North Idaho communities.

Marc Brinkmeyer graduated from Buena Vista University with a degree in finance, and went on to work as a CPA for Arthur Anderson and Co. After that he worked as a CFO and was a member of the board of directors for the Brand S Corporation, a multi-division, privately held forest products company.

These days you’ll see Marc in and around North Idaho, where he owns and runs Riley Creek Lumber Co., the largest lumber producer in Idaho. Riley Creek Lumber Co. consists of state-of-the-art production facilities located in Laclede, Chilco, and Moyie Springs. Riley Creek has an annual capacity of 800 million board feet of dimension lumber sold throughout the United States. The company also has a “Land and Timber division” of approximately 52,000 acres of timberland in Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

In addition to the Lakes Commission, Marc is a member of the Negotiating Committee for Coalition for Fair Trade Lumber Imports, a member of the Board of Trustees for Buena Vista University, the past chairman of the Western Wood Products Association, a U.S. delegate to the European Softwood Conferences, and the former president of the Intermountain Forest Industry Association.

Linda Mitchell crossed the Long Bridge in 1977, and like so many before her, knew that she had found the place she wanted to spend the rest of her life.  Having been raised in a career Navy family, and moving every 1 to 3 years her whole life, this was quite a life changing experience…

Linda graduated with High Honors from the University of California Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies.  She moved to Montana hoping to pursue her graduate degree at the University of Mt, and in the process worked for Alpine Log Homes.  There, she was mentored by the owner and learned she had a knack for business.  3 years later, after moving to Sandpoint,  she became a partner in Idaho Wood Industries, and then started her own business, TKE Vacation Rentals, which she ran for 15 years, before joining her husband, Curtis Pearson, in their business, Lake Pend Oreille Cruises.  Linda’s many years cruising commercially and personally on Lake Pend Oreille gives her a personal stake in the future of our waterways.  She is focused strongly and with great drive to protect both its quality and quantity for future generations of people who, like her, want to see North Idaho retain its quality of life.

Craig Hill was born and raised at Priest Lake, Idaho. He is the owner and manager of the prestigious Hill’s Resort, a family business since 1946. Craig is also the president and construction manager for the Priest Lake Golf Course, which gained notoriety from the Governor a few years back for its management of wetland areas.

Craig has been thoroughly involved with recreation issues in North Idaho, particularly thru his involvement with the Priest Lake Trail Groomer Committee, dating from the early 1980s to today. He is very committed to endorsing recreation of all types and access to public lands.

Brent Baker, who is now a building contractor, developer, investor and consultant with over 33 years experience in construction and development, graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 1971 with a double major in French and German. After entering a Carpenter’s Union Apprenticeship in Santa Rosa, he went back to school, and graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Sonoma State College in 1975.

Brent has undertaken many community service projects, including the building of a 2100 sq. ft. fire station pro bono for the Sagle Fire District in 1990, acting as Commissioner for that same fire district, and co-founding “Gnomus, Inc.,” a 501 (c)3 educational research and development foundation. He has also been active on the Bonner County School District Board of Trustees, and on the board of directors for the Schweitzer Alpine Racing School at Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

Brent’s work experience includes the founding of “Baker Construction and Development, Inc.,” here in Sandpoint, where he serves as president. He is also a general partner to the “Brent and Laura Baker Family Limited Partnership,” and currently acts as vice president for “Winter Recreation, ULC,” where his primary responsibility is real estate development. His projects have included light commercial, residential, recreational, and agricultural. His investment activities include a mixed portfolio of active business interests, real estate, and securities.

Susan Martin received both her Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Idaho.  For her Masters project she conducted an aquatic productivity study on Dworshak Reservoir in Idaho.  She worked for several years with the U.S. Forest Service Research Station in Boise, Idaho, evaluating the effects of grazing and mining on fish and water quality.  From 1981 to 1991 she worked in various positions with what is now the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.  Her major focus was in programs dealing with nonpoint source activities such as timber harvest and agriculture.  She also worked to develop criteria for the state water quality standards.

Since 1991, Susan has worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  She started in the Boise office, working on re-licensing of hydropower facilities on the Snake River.  Her duties then expanded into working with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in evaluating the effects of their actions on listed species (the section 7 process).

In April 2000 Susan took on her duties as supervisor of the Upper Columbia Fish and Wildlife Office (UCFWO) located in Spokane, Washington.  Here she supervises around 45 staff located in two offices, one in Spokane and one in Wenatchee, Washington.  The UCFWO serves 20 counties in eastern Washington, from the Cascade crest east to the Washington-Idaho State line, and the 6 northern-most Idaho Panhandle counties.  The office covers approximately 51,000 square miles and implements all aspects of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Twenty eight ESA listed, proposed, and candidate species and over 50 species of concern, including some wide ranging species, are located in the geographic area of the UCFWO.  The office also works with a number of other programs, providing funds for restoration projects on private lands (Partners for Fish and Wildlife), providing technical assistance for Habitat Conservation Planss and FERC hydropower relicensing, and assessing the impacts of contamination on fish and wildlife (natural resource damage assessment).

Curt Fransen is a Deputy Attorney General in the Natural Resources Division of the Office of the Attorney General.  He is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.  He joined the Idaho Office of the Attorney General in 1983 and represented the Department of Health and Welfare's Division of Health until 1986.  Since then Curt has been assigned to represent the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) and other natural resource agencies of the state. 

Before abdicating to the greener hills of Coeur d'Alene in 1997, he served as Chief of the Environmental Quality Section.  His current duties focus on mining cleanups and other north Idaho natural resource issues as well as IDEQ personnel matters.  Curt has served as the chair of the Western States Hazardous Waste Project, chair of the Environment and Natural Resource Section of the Idaho State Bar and is a long time member of the Steering Committee of the Idaho Environmental Forum. In addition to representing the Idaho Attorney General on the Lakes Commission, he is Idaho’s alternate commissioner for the Coeur d’Alene Basin Environmental Improvement Commission. Curt also represents the state natural resource agencies in the Avista Spokane River FERC relicensing process.

Caryn Miske has recently joined the Lakes Commission. She was designated by the Montana State Governor's Office to be our "Montana designee" as an ex-officio member. Caryn is an attorney pursuing a doctorate at the University of Montana School of Forestry, and the executive director for the Flathead Basin Commission to boot. The Flathead Basin Commission (FBC) was created in 1983 by the Montana Legislature to monitor and protect water quality in the Flathead Basin, much like our work in the Pend Oreille/Priest Basin.