Skip to Content
View Our Backcountry Responsibly film (A TGR production) Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center's Current Forecasts
Donate

Our Mission & Vision

Friends of the Bridger-Teton works to ensure everyone can enjoy the diversity and wealth of resources on the fifth largest national forest in the U.S. now and into the future.

Our Mission & Vision

Our History

The idea for a nonprofit organization that existed to support the Bridger-Teton National Forest was talked about as early as the 1980s. There were locals who wanted to help their favorite national forest by making donations. But it’s not possible to donate money to the U.S. federal government. Friends of the Bridger-Teton was officially founded in 2018. Since then, we’ve used grants and donations—both monetary and in-kind like bear-proof trash cans—to support the BTNF and help promote responsible recreation on it so that we can all enjoy the forest’s diversity and wealth of resources now and into the future.

 

Infinite Opportunities for Exploration

The 3.4 million acres of the BTNF cross five counties and are managed by six ranger districts. The BTNF is the single largest mass of public land within the 15-million acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, itself the largest intact ecosystem in the Lower 48.

Videos de habilidades del senderismo

Estos videos explicá ¿cómo prevenir accidentes? ¿Cómo dejar un lugar mejor de como lo encontraste? ¿Qué encargar para una caminata? ¿Y cómo protegerse de y cohabitar con osos?

Videos de habilidades del senderismo

Happenings with Friends

BFFs of the BTNF

BFFs of the BTNF print campaign launches in local publications

Learn More

FBT’s new radio station: 1710 AM

  In July, FBT launched a new radio station with tips on how to recreate responsibly on the BTNF, and it’s getting a boost from Indiana Jones. Turn the AM...

Learn More

August 2023 Newsletter

  There’s a lot going on during the busiest month on the BTNF. Trailheads and campgrounds are crowded and our Ambassadors are busy educating forest users about responsible recreation and...

Learn More

Early Summer 2023

Hello Friends, Summer has finally arrived in Wyoming and I could not be happier! So much has happened over the last few months in the life of Friends of the...

Learn More

Blackrock Field Camp

Since its founding in 2016, Blackrock Field Camp has helped several hundred campers from the Wind River Reservation develop and deepen their awareness of their ancestral and/or public lands; connect...

Learn More

The Wyoming Range National Recreation Trail

The Wyoming Range National Recreation Trail (WRNRT) is a 75-mile-long trail spanning the crest of the Wyoming Range and connecting several of the BTNF’s six districts. It passes through the...

Learn More

Wildlife Ambassador Spotlight

“The dedication and hours put in by our Wildlife Ambassadors is a demonstration of the caliber of help we are fortunate to receive. Our ambassadors are able to maintain their...

Learn More

Friends of the Bridger-Teton Awarded Major Grants

In 2022, the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board (JHTTB) awarded its largest amount of funding to a single project to date to Friends of the Bridger-Teton. The $1 million...

Learn More

Joy of Exploring

Finding your own beautiful places—rather than rely on social media—benefits your brain, the landscape and local wildlife.   “My thinking changes when I step off the trail. I become more...

Learn More

When You Have to Eat All Day – Hyperphagia

Fall is the season when bears enter hyperphagia, a state in which they’re constantly in search of food and are more likely to come into human-occupied areas. You can help...

Learn More

Our Staff

Margo Feingold

Programs Manager

Jennifer Ricupero

Partnership Manager

Madison Rose Ostergren

Content Creator & BFF of the BTNF Athlete Ambassador

Dina Mishev

Communications Manager

Scott Kosiba

Executive Director

Our Board

Ian MacLeod

Gracy Carpenter

Sharon Smitherman

Cyndi Bardman

Steve Markason

Karen Daubert

Ellen Fales

Susan Marsh

Partners

It takes a community to protect an ecosystem.

Friends couldn’t do the work it does without the help and support of dozens of partner organizations and businesses. Each of these partners has committed to stewarding our public lands.

A huge thank you to all of our partners.

Interested in being a partner of Friends?

Become a Partner
@bridgertetonfriends April is national native plant month. Musk thistle, shown here being attacked by one of our summer Ambassadors for Responsible Recreation, is an invasive species that makes it harder for our amazing native plants. Musk thistle, which is native to Eurasia and was first reported in the U.S. in 1852, colonizes in disturbed areas, such as pastures, roadside ditches, ditch banks, hayfields, and disturbed prairies. Its seeds detach quickly and don’t fall far from parent plant, creating monoculture carpet. Also, livestock do not eat it, giving it a competitive edge against native species. @tetonweedpest #nationalnativeplantmonth #bridgertetonnationalforest #bridgertetonfriends #bffofthebtnf #invasivespecies #muskthistle #ambassadorsforresponsiblerecreation #stopthespread #playcleango “Bears are coming out of their dens and looking for easy food now,” says Jolene Mohr, support service specialist on the BTNF’s Blackrock District. “Easy food” can be anything from wildlife/big game carcasses that are beginning to thaw out to bird feeders. A few tips on how to help bears this time of year: * Put bird feeders away. “They’re an easy target for bears,” Mohr says. * When recreating, be aware of carcasses and the smell of carcasses. “Bears are scavengers at this point and looking for winter kill,” Mohr says. “If you see a carcass, bears will probably be nearby.” * Carry bear spray. “Any backcountry user in the spring, even snowmobiler recreationalists, should have bear spray, and know how to use it, in the spring when bears are emerging,” Mohr says. * If you see a bear while driving, do not park on the highway or shoulder for viewing. Appreciate that you got a glimpse of a bear and continue on. *Never approach a bear and always remain at least 100 yards (300 feet) away. (100 yards is about the length of a football field.) #bearaware #bridgertetonnationalforest #bridgertetonfriends #beabffofthebtnf #bearwise #respectwildlife #recreateresponsibly #publiclands #nationalforests #nationalforest #publicland Kevin Krasnow, the conservation director @jhalliance is a Best Friend of the BTNF by giving wildlife the space they need. Read more in this week's issue of @jhnewsandguide #bridgertetonnationalforest #bridgertetonfriends #bffofthebtnf #btnfbff #beabffofthebtnf #jhalliance #wyomingwildlife #publiclands #nationalforests #nationalforest #responsiblerecreation #btnf Have you been to the Sublette County Library yet to see the 19 historical paintings of Smokey the Bear by Rudy Wendelin? The paintings are up through April 19 and are part of the BTNF's celebration of Smokey the Bear's 80th birthday! Beginning in 1944, Wendelin became the full-time artist for the Smokey Bear campaign and was considered Smokey's "caretaker" until his retirement in 1973. Tomorrow night, April 16, from 5 to 7 pm there's a ’Read with Smokey’ event at the Sublette County Library. Smokey Bear himself will be in attendance and fans young and old are encouraged to read selections from some of his favorite story books. Also—hot cocoa and s’mores will be provided! #bridgertetonnationalforest #btnfpinedaledistrict #smokeybear #rudywendelin #sublettecountylibrary @sublettecountylibrary #bridgertetonfriends Did you know the BTNF is home to 7 of the 10 largest glaciers in the U.S. outside of Alaska? #bridgertetonnationalforest #bridgertetonfriends #nationalforests #nationalforest #publiclands #wyomingwilderness #wildplaces #glaciers #wyomingisamazing #btnf #funfacts

We acknowledge with respect that our facilities are situated on the aboriginal land of the Shoshone Bannock. Eastern Shoshone. Northern Arapaho. Crow. Assiniboine. Sioux. Gros Ventre. Nez Perce.

Let's be friends; sign up for our newsletter

Name