Mike Wight
Associate Director
Mike brings his experience as a conservation and restoration practitioner, trainer, and project manager to SJMA. His immersion in collaborative conservation initiatives, new program development, familiarity with a multitude of grants and agreements, and a passion for outdoor stewardship, puts him in a strong position to sustain and grow SJMA’s conservation programs in partnership with agencies, communities, and initiatives in Southwest Colorado.
Mike began his conservation career in the late 90‘s on a seasonal wilderness trail crew in Eastern Arizona while he finished up his degree in Ecology and Natural History at Prescott College. His early experiences slinging crosscut saws, horsepacking, learning wildland firefighting techniques, leading the crew, and as wilderness ranger, cemented a future trajectory. Following 5 seasons with USFS, Mike worked with a number of programs across the Colorado Plateau including Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, Outward Bound, and Chinook West Alternative High School. In 2010, Mike moved to Durango for a unique position as River Restoration Director with Southwest Conservation Corps where he played a lead role in coordinating, fundraising, and implementing collaborative watershed-length habitat restoration initiatives with the Dolores River Restoration Partnership, Escalante River Watershed Partnership, and Verde Watershed Restoration Collaborative. He later became the inaugural Director of the emerging Ancestral Lands program at Conservation Legacy- developing partnerships with Tribes and agencies to initiate in-community conservation corps programs on Zuni Pueblo, Hopi, and in Albuquerque, alongside the existing Acoma Pueblo and Navajo offices. These programs promoted much needed equity, economic development, and job training, to engage the next generation of land, water, and cultural site stewards. In 2019, Mike transitioned to the Catena Foundation as their Restoration and Trails Program Officer where he expanded grant making through community, nonprofit, and tribal partnerships. This work facilitated equity in recreation opportunity, fostered new trail development, and promoted sovereign decision making and cultural values in natural resources management.
Between work, Mike can (not) be found in the mountains or on the rivers with his wife Julie, and daughter Summer.
