Ben launched his career in natural resources right here at Sitka Trail Works as a crew member in 2006. The vocation suited him and he spent college summers working for the local US Forest Service, before joining the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to build trail in the Cascades. Ben traded the Pulaski for the pen at the Greenway Trust, supporting regional land management planning and public lands advocacy at the local, state, and federal level for six years. A post-Master’s degree environmental policy fellowship took Ben to the other Washington in 2019, where he served as legislative staff for Senator Cory Booker. In 2020, Ben returned home to Sitka and directed the Sitka Conservation Society’s CARES Act funded transitional employment program, leading out-of-work Sitkans on recreation and restoration projects with lasting community benefit.
Ben joined Sitka Trail Works as staff in December of 2020 and was hired as the Executive Director in November 2021.
