Shane O’Brien began his journey with Friends of the Bridger-Teton as a contract employee and quickly jumped at the opportunity to join the team full-time. “I was excited by the chance to help Friends grow and build,” he says. “And I loved that the organization’s mission aligns so closely with what I enjoy doing in my free time.”
An avid outdoorsman, Shane does many mountain sports, from rock climbing to backpacking, hiking, trail running, camping, snowmobiling, dirt biking, and fishing. Away from the mountains, but still in the outdoors, he’s recently taking up sailing.
Shane was 14 before he saw his first “real” mountain. After spending his early childhood in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, his family moved to 244 acres in northwest Wisconsin when he was 11. “As much as I loved having all that space to roam, there still weren’t mountains,” he recalls. That changed when he and his father joined a group on a multi-day backpacking trip that ended with summiting one of Colorado’s 14ers. The experience—the challenge, the height, the ruggedness of the terrain—was transformative. “I can pinpoint my love of the mountains to that trip,” Shane says.
In the decades since, Shane has only deepened his connection to wild places and public lands. A formative experience with his now-wife, was the two of them backpacking the Wonderland Trail—a 93-mile loop around Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park. These days, the couple are enjoying introducing their 18-month-old to the outdoors. On their last family hike, their little one said the words “mountain” and “lake” for the first time. “These weren’t words we taught him,” Shane says. “He just picked up on us saying them frequently.” Though still too young to hike on his own, their son already shows great excitement for rocks and trees—he loves pointing at them and reaching for branches from his spot in the backpack.
As FBT’s Project Manager, Shane is excited to help the organization grow and strengthen its support for the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Whether developing new programs, improving processes, or collaborating with partners, his goal is to make it easier for people to care for the public lands they love. For Shane, the work is deeply personal—it’s about protecting the same mountains, rivers, and trails that shaped his own connection to the outdoors.