Meet The Team
AMBASSADORS
Our Ambassador Program brings together motivated, passionate Wilderness users to serve as advocates for the Coalition. Our Ambassadors represent the people who love and rely on the existence of wild places. By connecting with the people who know Wilderness best, our Ambassadors help us to build the broad, diverse Coalition needed in order to preserve the primitive, disconnected experience that makes Wilderness irreplaceable, for this generation and those to come.
Guide Ambassador
Katie Matthews
Hi all! My name is Katie. I have recently taken up roots in Salmon, Idaho. I am a full-time seasonal guide… in the summers, I work for Idaho River Journeys on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. In the winter seasons, I work for Beartooth Powder Guides in Cooke City. I spend my spring/fall teaching wilderness medicine courses, cooking for hunting camps, and picking up additional river trips in Montana and Oregon. In my free time, I enjoy taking walks with my dog, Sage, traveling, knitting, and reading books.
I have been guiding since 2017. My career started in Missoula, Montana day guiding on the Alberton Gorge of the Clark Fork River and teaching avalanche courses in the surrounding mountains on the weekends.
I wanted to become a guide ambassador for ‘Not in Wilderness Coalition’ because I believe in the power of authentic wilderness experiences; the ability to fully disconnect so that we may genuinely connect with our environment, other people, and ourselves. In an ever-evolving world of technology, I not only wanted to help facilitate conversations around the impacts of technology integration in wilderness, but also help educate and mentor the next generation of guides and recreationalists who share the love of spending time in these wild places.
Guide Ambassador
Isabelle Allen
My name is Isabelle Allen, and I am heading into my seventh season guiding on the Salmon River. I work for Idaho River Adventures on the Middle Fork of the Salmon in the Heart of the Frank Church. I have a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies, and when I am not on the river, I work for Idaho Fish and Game as a Fisheries Technician. My biggest passion is the conservation of riparian ecosystems and the preservation of Idaho's native anadromous species. My background in wilderness and wildlife advocacy is what inspired me to become a Guide Advocate for the Not In Wilderness Coalition.
I often feel left behind by the pace at which technology is developing, and I am very okay with that. I seek to maintain wilderness as a sanctuary from modern pressure and our rapidly changing world. Time spent in Wilderness is truly a novel experience. The increasing scarcity of opportunities to disconnect is what makes that experience profound. Being in true wilderness allows us to explore parts of ourselves that distractions of daily life often prohibit. This is important for self-discovery and connection, but as technology has advanced, the Wilderness experience has begun to change. I am passionate about the mission of Not In Wilderness to preserve some part of our raw human connection to nature by keeping wilderness “out of touch” and wild.
Guide Ambassador
Lillian Eckberg
Though originally from the mountains of the East Coast, I found a home on the wild rivers of Idaho. I’ve spent every summer since on the waters of the Lower Salmon and deep between the walls of Hells Canyon. In college, I discovered a passion for both environmental advocacy and the facilitation of wilderness experience. There is something so profound about guiding individuals through wild, unfamiliar places. Working and living on the river further downstream than the Frank, and between the dams of the Upper and Lower Snake, the significance of conservation advocacy and education feels tangible.
True wilderness experience is an increasingly rare thing, especially as the natural spaces around us face ongoing degradation and depletion. I cherish the opportunity to advocate for the safeguarding of our wilderness spaces as a guide - we hold the opportunity to know these mountains and rivers personally, and with that comes a responsibility to advocate for their protection while sharing these places with others. It is a responsibility that I cherish, and why I am excited to work with the Not In Wilderness Coalition in the face of evolving challenges
Guide Ambassador
Alex Torquemada
Hey, I’m Alex. I started guiding in 2016 on the Trinity and Cal Salmon in Northern California, but have recently started guiding on the Middle Fork of the Salmon with Far & Away Adventures.
In the off season I work in creative industries as a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, and marketing manager. I find that any opportunity to get away from screens and technology is a welcomed one.
I am excited to partner with the Not in Wilderness Coalition because I believe it is important to have spaces and experiences that are authentically in line with nature. I also feel that by protecting these practices we are challenging participants to reinvigorate their sense of curiosity and imagination.
As someone who works with a considerable amount of tech in the off-season, I feel my perspective is interesting considering the mission of this group. I’ve found these times away from my devices and inbox are the experiences that reinvigorate my creativity and curiosity.
Getting time to literally “log-off” has been such a great retreat from the daily bombardment of news, and media. I think that by preserving this time is important to one’s mental health and can have deep long term impacts.
I’m excited to work with NIWC in further advocating and building best practices for tech in the backcountry.