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Ann Christensen has been a resident of the Wood River Valley since 1983. As a teacher and educator, she shares her love for the area’s natural world, helping others to fall in love with it and to preserve and restore it. Ann is well known by generations of children and adults who have been introduced to the wonders of nature in her Science Time classes at the Community Library, her Ants and Plants summer classes for the College of Southern Idaho, and her animal tracking workshops in the winter for the Environmental Resource Center. She has a long history of teaching in schools and volunteering for environmental and educational groups in Idaho and California, including working tirelessly for Idaho’s salmon and wolves. She has served on numerous boards of directors, including the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Community Library, Light on the Mountains Spiritual Center, Community School parents’ association, and was a founding board member of the Environmental Resource Center.
Ann and her late husband Doug founded the Christensen Family Foundation to protect the environmental and increase social justice. Ann and Doug have been honored with recognition for their dedication, including: the Idaho Conservation League’s Keith and Pat Axline Award for Environmental Activism, the Fund for Idaho’s Nelle Tobias Award for Philanthropy, the Idaho Rivers Legacy Award, and a life membership in the Marin Environmental Forum for their contributions to protecting the environment of Marin County, California, before their move to the Wood River Valley in 1983. She is a practitioner with Light on the Mountains Spiritual Center, has a very active hiking group in the summer, cross-country skis in the winter, and spends a great deal of time directly learning from and studying nature. Originally from Louisville, Ky., Ann received her B.A. in history from Smith College and began her career as a market researcher with Procter & Gamble. She has elementary and secondary teaching credentials from Dominican College in San Rafael, Calif. She has two daughters, who are very active in protecting, healing and revitalizing our human relationship with the natural world.
