Don was awarded the 2024 North Idaho ITA Crew Leader of the Year! He has been leading crews for many years and is always willing to take on the longer weekend and weeklong projects. When changes to the locations of trail projects inevitably arise, his ability to roll with the punches is much appreciated. “Don is an overall great guy and leader! I always enjoy partnering with him on the crosscut. As an engineer by trade, he’s able to figure out how to remove some complex log problems blocking the trail. It’s great to see him at work!”- Tom Dabrowski, ITA Board Member and Crew Leader.

What is your background in?
I spent my whole career managing large ($30 to $200 million) commercial construction projects even though my degree is in Civil Engineering
which I earned at the University of Wyoming.

What are some of the things you enjoy doing for fun?
Some of my other hobbies are flying my own plane, primarily in the backcountry, skiing 20 to 30 days a year, scuba diving with my wife in warmer waters than we have here, RVing and some kayaking around the area.

How and why did you first get involved with ITA?
I first got involved with ITA when Tom Dabrowski and I were out scouting for traces of the Idaho Centennial Trail up north of Sandpoint and who comes walking up the trail but Clay Jacobson! Tom got interested in the ITA at that point and he got me involved working on a few trail projects with just him and a few other people. A few more projects kind of co-leading with Tom and he asked me if I would be a Crew Leader. Since there are several other people capable of doing the daylong projects, I have mostly led some of the longer backpack trips, both supported and unsupported.

What are the different ways you’ve volunteered for ITA over the years?
In addition to what I mentioned above, I have been on several of the Crew Leader Projects down in the Frank Church Wilderness of No Return.
I also helped with a portion of the reroute of a trail up beside the Kootenai River. I enjoy most projects whether they are clearing trees, reworking tread, building tread, or just clearing brush back.

What do you like about volunteering with ITA?
Besides just being out in the Great Outdoors, I enjoy meeting and working with people, especially those that haven’t done this type of volunteering work before.
You get to meet a lot of really great people. I think that the people that show up tend to be fairly motivated and don’t mind getting dirty, sweaty and tired by the end of the day, and/or the end of the project.

Most memorable backcountry or ITA experience? (Looking for a funny/scary/interesting story here!)
I think it is a good thing that I can’t really remember anything scary on a trail project – we are supposed to be avoiding scary circumstances aren’t we? One of the most memorable things was on a six-day backpacking trip and we were supposed to move our camp the morning of the 4th day. Well it poured rain all night and it was still pouring in the morning, and I couldn’t even get anyone to come out of their tents, much less pack up to move the camp up the trail about three miles! It did let up enough for a bit so that everyone got up and I was able to connect with the packers that were on their way to move our stuff, and a begrudging crew actually got moved that day even though it rained all day! We did take the morning off to dry out the next day and everyone agreed it was better to hike in the rain than work in the rain.

Why are trails worth protecting?
Everyone that has worked on trails knows how much work it is just to maintain the short stretches that we do, and it makes me realize how much work and hours it took to build them in the first place. If we don’t maintain them, I am sure they will disappear – and that means, rebuilding them from scratch! I just can’t imagine having to do that! There are so many people now looking to get of of the big city and enjoy the peace and solitude of the forest, and the trails are so vital a resource for this. Hiking is one of those activities that really doesn’t take a huge investment in gear to get out and do, and so anyone can do it fairly simply (backpacking does require some investment in gear admittedly).

What does receiving the Crew Leader of the Year award mean to you?
Receiving Crew Leader of the Year means a lot to me because I know how many great people are in this organization that deserve this award as much as I do, because I have worked with many of them and I know how good they are!