It is once again time to vote for MEIC’s newest board members. Only MEIC members can vote in the MEIC board election. MEIC members are those who have contributed financially or with volunteerism within the last year. If you have questions or concerns about your ballot or the process of voting, contact Julie at jwintersteen[at]meic.org.
Please cast up to 6 votes at this link: https://tinyurl.com/MEICBoard2022
Skye Borden
(she/her) Missoula
The price of a clean and healthful environment is, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, “eternal vigilance.” In my advocacy work here in Montana, I have found that there is simply no better watchdog than MEIC when it comes to safeguarding our water, air and climate. Throughout the years, I have been fortunate to partner with MEIC on a wide range of issues from lead in school drinking water to local 100% renewable electricity resolutions. My love of wild places brought me to Montana. Today, I continue to advocate for wildlife and wildlands as the co-director of the Great Burn Conservation Alliance, and I spend most of my free time exploring the region’s trails and rivers with my partner and two young children. I believe that climate change is one of the greatest threats to our wild heritage, and I am grateful that groups like MEIC are working tirelessly to find commonsense, made-in-Montana solutions for our climate crisis. It has been an honor to serve on MEIC’s board for the past two years. (171)
Diana Hammer
(she/her) Helena
I am a Life Scientist and an avid user of public lands and waters and enjoy exploring nature. I studied environmental science at Macalester College (B.A.) and also in India. I served as an Agroforestry volunteer in Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa, and then worked as a consultant for WWF/IUCN. I hold a Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins and a Master’s of Science degree in Biomimicry from Arizona State University. I worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency for nearly 30 years (e.g., projects included the Milltown Dam Removal and Clark Fork River Restoration and other environmental programs) and also partnered with several Tribal Nations to address various environmental challenges. Through my community volunteer efforts and my work with ReGenerous Cities, LLC, I am committed to creating healthy and more resilient communities in a changing climate. I am keenly aware of MEIC’s critical role in protecting our right to a ‘clean and healthful’ environment and the places where we live, work, and, of course, where we play! I have been on the MEIC Board since 2020 and would be honored to continue to serve. (190)
Kathy Juedeman
(she/her) Helena
I watch and admire the work that the talented and experienced MEIC team does to preserve and advance Montanans’ right to a clean and healthful environment. I spend time with my husband on our family ranch, which gives me the opportunity to see the extravagant wildlife, the natural spaces, and rivers as we work. I am inspired by the richness and diversity of Montana’s land, water, and air, and keenly aware of the need to protect Montana. I have served on MEIC’s Board for several years, and I am currently serving as MEIC Board President. It would be a privilege to continue to serve on the MEIC Board. (108)
Roger Sullivan
(he/him) Kalispell
Amidst the seemingly endless challenges wrought by an ascendant cultural paradigm that thoughtlessly takes its toll across Montana, the most hopeful thing I can think of doing is to continue working with MEIC in the ongoing effort to vindicate the right of this and future generations of Montanans to a clean and healthful environment. In this effort I have joined with others in advocating on behalf of MEIC on a number of occasions, including against oil and gas exploration adjacent to Glacier National Park, against the Highwood coal-fired generating station near Great Falls, in helping to achieve closure of Colstrip generating units 1 and 2, and expansion of the massive Rosebud coal mine. It has been my great honor to presently serve on the board of MEIC, and if elected to serve again I would hope to continue to contribute to MEIC through participating in the thoughtful analysis of requests for MEIC’s involvement in new matters, in the effective management of litigation, and in envisioning a sustainable future for all Montanans. (171)
Beth Taylor Wilson
(she/her) Missoula
I grew up in Missoula. Post high-school, I took a break from studies at the University of Montana and took a “summer job” in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, moving away from Montana just as our fair state was drafting and adopting our extraordinarily prescient, forward-facing Montana Constitution. Montanans became constitutionally assured of the “fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment.” When I left, Missoula had some of the worst temperature-induced winter “inversion” air pollution in the country. But thanks to activists like the Gals Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), who numbered my mother as a member, Missoulians forced the then Hoerner-Waldorf pulp and paper mill to start cleaning up its corporate act. Missoula’s air became far cleaner and healthier thanks to environmental mitigation and citizen activism. Environmental activism and stewardship is in my family DNA, and I’m excited and honored to have the opportunity to work with MEIC, our state’s premier environmental watch-dog. (153)
