Linda Merigliano recently retired from 45 years of working for the U.S. Forest Service and didn’t hesitate when asked to join the Friends of the Bridger-Teton Board. Since she was one of the small group of BTNF employees responsible for launching FBT in 2019, this isn’t surprising. “I’m obviously thrilled at how the organization has grown and look forward to contributing my knowledge of the land, communities, and workings of the BTNF as a Friends board member,” she says.
Merigliano, who grew up near Schenectady, New York exploring public lands in and around the Adirondacks, did trail work in these mountains while on summer break from Cornell University. After graduation, she migrated to Idaho, following Mike, a forester and plant ecologist, who later became her husband. In 1979 she got her first job as a volunteer student conservation associate on the west slope of the Tetons in the Targhee National Forest. Over the next 11 years, she spent summers as a wilderness ranger in the Tetons, while attending grad school at the University of Idaho and working at Grand Targhee Resort. She studied wildland recreation management and planning.
In 1988, her on-the-ground experience as a ranger led to the opportunity to testify at a Congressional Committee hearing about wilderness management. In 1991, she transferred to the Bridger-Teton to coordinate the development of wilderness and river plans. In 2000, she became the forest’s north zone recreation program manager. For the two years prior to her retirement in September 2025, she also assisted with the forest plan revision.
“There are so many things I am proud of that we did together as a team,” Merigliano says of her 34 years on the BTNF. Examples include the development of trail systems in the Greater Snow King area and on Teton Pass. I am also proud of work to build bridges between conservation and recreation interests. In the early 2000s, Linda helped launch the first ambassador program. (Jay Pistono helped manage and educate backcountry skiers on Teton Pass and, eventually, trained additional ambassadors until his retirement after the winter of 24/25; Jay died in September 2025. The success of Jay’s position helped inspire today’s Ambassadors for Responsible Recreation program.
“The Bridger-Teton is an incredibly unique forest. Ecologically it is intact and the large expanse of wild country without roads that support clean water, diverse recreation, and wildlife habitat are very rare in the today’s world” she says. “I look forward to continuing to work on its behalf.”
