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.
