ICL has worked to protect and restore Idaho’s air, water, lands, and wildlife for over 50 years. In each and every of those years, we’ve relied on our members to make this work possible. Our accomplishments do not just fall on the shoulders of our staff—but on our entire conservation community. Our members are at the core of our conservation community, and are the heartbeat of our organization. Our blog series “Faces of ICL” tells the stories of ICL members, the people who make this work possible.
As Executive Director of the Environmental Resource Center, an education- and action-based environmental nonprofit in the Wood River Valley, Ashton wakes up every day looking for ways to connect people with nature and help preserve it. As an educator at heart, Ashton believes that we can all have an impact through building bridges, asking questions, and learning about the past. “Talk to your neighbors, enter a room with curiosity and empathy and learn about the history of the environment around you. History tells us a lot about what’s needed moving forward.”
He’d argue that that’s not too difficult in this state, which feels more like a small town. “My neighbors are always looking out for me,” he says, and he hopes that can help us work toward a cohesive and collaborative future in our state, where we all work together to ensure access to clean drinking water, public lands, and information and resources about the environment.
Ashton and his wife, Alaina, came to ICL in their twenties, when Alaina participated in ICL’s Emerging Leaders for Idaho’s Environment (ELIE) program. Their connection with our work deepened when they purchased a property near the Triumph Mine—an inactive lead, zinc, and silver mine that continues to leach heavy metals near the East Fork of the Big Wood River due to improper cleanup actions to date. They attended a public information session about the water quality issues and saw the value of ICL’s work keeping residents informed about this issue, as well as their broader work paying attention to these concerns, pushing for further cleanup and pollution prevention, and caring about water quality and environmental integrity for residents in the East Fork drainage and the Wood River Valley as a whole.
It’s programs like these that Ashton sees as valuable all across our state, and he’s grateful for the advocacy role that ICL plays and our willingness to have hard conversations with state-wide entities who play an outsized role in keeping our public lands safe, protected, and accessible. “We need people having conversations with politicians and key players like the Forest Service so that we can understand where the issues are on larger systems levels,” he says. “You all are the voice that helps ensure that good decisions are being made or at least that there’s accountability in our state. I appreciate how you bring together research to inform your work and then have conversations with the people who can make a difference.”
And with two small children, Ashton is looking toward the future. He feels fortunate to raise his kids in Idaho’s healthy environment, and every day, he sees the world and connects with nature through their eyes… His four year-old’s current favorite thing in Idaho: ROCKS! His current favorite place in Idaho: EVERYWHERE!
As for his monthly contribution to ICL, Ashton says it’s just easier, and it makes more financial sense for them. “We are really comfortable paying subscription fees for everything else in our lives, and paying a monthly subscription fee for conservation and for the environment is way more logical than Netflix in my mind. My contribution to ICL means I’m helping ensure that there’s a voice for conservation at the state level. We can watch a movie and then it’s done, but the planet is forever.”
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Interested in sharing your ICL story? Contact Development & Communications Associate, Kayla Wilcox by email at [email protected]