The Wood River Women’s Foundation (WRWF) is pleased to announce that the speaker for its annual Winter Education Forum will be Teresa C. Younger, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women. Founded in 1973 by a handful of women including Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas, the Ms. Foundation for Women is the first and oldest women’s foundation in the U.S. and is focused on building women’s collective power.

Ms. Younger is a nationally recognized thought leader, strategist, advocate and amplifier on issues affecting the lives of women. She has been named one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Philanthropy” by Inside Philanthropy, and her contributions and expertise to the nonprofit and social justice arenas are widely recognized. She is a regular presence in the national media including NPR, USA Today, New York Times, MSNBC, Elle Magazine and more.

The WRWF Winter Education Forum is an annual event intended to raise its members collective giving expertise, and to further its work of creating a culture of philanthropy among the membership and throughout the Wood River Valley. 

The Wood River Land Trust and our partners are honored to bring Hannah Sanger, Science and Environment Division Administrator for the City of Pocatello, to the Valley to present her free talk, “What we can Learn from Pocatello’s Portneuf River – Lessons for the Big Wood”.

Hannah will share Pocatello’s history of flood control efforts on the Portneuf River, and how their community is now working to undo some of those past actions. She will give examples of past “best” management practices for flood mitigation that have had unintended consequences for the river and the community. After her presentation, Hannah and Scott Boettger, Executive Director of the Land Trust, will field questions from the audience and discuss what we can learn from Pocatello and how we can apply those lessons to river management here in the Wood River Valley.

Hannah Sanger is the Science and Environment Division Administrator for the City of Pocatello. Since 2008, Hannah has worked for the City developing and implementing programs to comply with the City’s federal stormwater permit, improve water quality, and address other environmental interests of the City.  Most recently she led an effort to reimagine the Portneuf River in Pocatello, culminating in the 2016 Portneuf River Vision Study.  This initial visioning effort has translated into implementation plans and projects, including interpretative signage and plans for setting back a levee and creating river access by Centennial Park, in collaboration with watershed and community groups.

Prior to her work with the City, Hannah served as Executive Director of the Portneuf Greenway Foundation, where she facilitated the funding, design and implementation of separated bike/walking paths in Pocatello.

Hannah holds an MS in Resource Policy & Behavior and an MA in Curriculum Development from the University of Michigan, and a BA in Neuroscience from Colgate University.

Hear author Madhuri Vijay read from and discuss her soon-to-be-released novel, The Far Field, already named an Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Book of 2019 and a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection.

*Pre-order forms will be available courtesy of Iconoclast Books.

Summary of The Far Field: “In the wake of her mother’s death, Shalini, a privileged, naive and restless young woman from Bangalore, sets out for a remote Himalayan village in the troubled northern region of Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to confront him. But upon her arrival, Shalini is brought face to face with Kashmir’s politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. And when life in the village turns volatile and old hatreds threaten to erupt into violence, Shalini finds herself forced to make a series of choices that could hold dangerous repercussions for the very people she has come to love.”

Ring in the new year with local birding expert and artist, Poo Wright-Pulliam with Discovering Winter Birds of Ketchum. Meet at the Community Library (415 Spruce Ave, Ketchum) at 10:30AM where the program will begin with a one-hour presentation on Ketchum’s local winter bird residents, followed by a tour around Ketchum to investigate these species. Participants are encouraged to participate in both portions of the program. Novice and expert birders will learn something from Poo!