Hello all! My name is Josh Johnson, and I would like to introduce myself as ICL’s newest conservation associate, working out of our Central Idaho office in Ketchum.
Unlike many of my coworkers, I am not originally from the West. I was born and raised in Washington, DC, and found the city streets to be much more comforting while growing up than the great outdoors-funny how things change! I attended Middlebury College in Vermont, where I fell in love with rocks and the outdoors and majored in geology. I went on to get a master’s degree in geology from the University of Colorado while becoming enamored with the rugged mountains around me. Following my graduate degree, I worked for two summers as an interpretive ranger at Grand Teton National Park before continuing my work in the environmental education field at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies in Colorado.
I was motivated to shift gears and work for ICL out of a desire to more directly impact environmental issues that I care about while returning to a more technical role. As a conservation associate, I work on water and air quality issues in Central and Eastern Idaho through the public commenting process, water quantity issues in the Snake River and Wood River basins, and the development of sustainable communities, with more projects to come in the future! I am very excited to join the fantastic team here at ICL, and help protect Idaho’s water, air and land for years to come.
I look forward to meeting more ICL members and getting to know the communities of Central and Eastern Idaho. And of course, I can’t wait to explore all of the amazing wild places that the state has to offer! My biggest passion is skiing-I am obsessed to the point of skiing every month of the year, even in the summers (four years in a row and counting!). I also enjoy hiking, backpacking, and rooting for my perennially disappointing hometown sports teams.