JACKSON HOLE, WYO – After a nationwide search, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance founds its new executive director right at home.
Skye Schell was tapped to lead the organization. He has led the Alliance’s civic engagement program and Conservation Leadership Institute for three years.
“We are all obviously delighted to have Skye become the new executive director,” Alliance chair David Hardie said. “The combination of his engaging personality and strategic thinking will benefit all of Jackson Hole—especially the wildlife around us—for years to come.”
Over the last three years, Schell taught four rounds of the Conservation Leadership Institute, organized a campaign for Safe Wildlife Crossings, and led a grassroots campaign advocating for downtown zoning that prioritized our middle class over more hotels.
“I’m incredibly honored and excited to lead the Alliance in our next stage. I love Jackson Hole, I love being out on our wild lands with our wildlife, and I love coming home to this community of amazing people,” Schell said. “I’m proud of our history as the organization that has stood up for Jackson for 38 years, stopping an endless line-up of bad ideas—everything from oil and gas drilling up Cache Creek to outlet malls in town. And I’ve seen the threats we face—from expanded highways causing ever-more wildlife collisions, to special interests who want to privatize or exploit our public lands—and know how important it is to have a strong Alliance.”
Schell’s love for wildlife and wild places began as a child learning about nature, fishing, and hunting from his parents and grandparents and in the Boy Scouts. He attended college at Rice University in Houston and worked as a backpacking guide at the Boy Scouts’ Philmont high adventure base in northern New Mexico where he fell in love with the Rockies. He then worked in human services and housing back East: refugee resettlement in Virginia, advocacy in a soup kitchen, and finding permanent homes for people living on the streets of New York City.
Schell served on the board of the Teton County Housing Authority and is a board member of housing advocacy group ShelterJH. When he isn’t at the Alliance, Schell can be found hiking, hunting, running, skiing, climbing, fishing, and enjoying our wild places with his dog Luna.
