The San Juan Mountains Association has appointed Ashley Carruth, a longtime Durango educator and outdoorswoman, as its next executive director.
Last fall, outgoing director Stephanie Weber announced she would step down from the helm of the nonprofit dedicated to conservation, stewardship and protection of the San Juan Mountains. She will transition into a development position focused on fundraising when Carruth starts in July.
Carruth has lived in Durango since 2011, when she joined Mountain Middle School as a founding teacher. She later worked at Animas High School as a humanities teacher and dean of experiential education. She is also a co-founder of San Juan Mountain Soles, a local trail-running group.
Weber said Carruth stood out from the strong pool of applicants on several key fronts.
She not only has longtime connections in the area and a strong passion for caring for the San Juan Mountains, but a wealth of leadership experience that Weber believes is what SJMA needs going into the future.
Carruth’s career has centered on education, stewardship and outdoor leadership. She has coached with DEVO, is a backcountry skier and teaches avalanche education courses.
“I’m an avid outdoor person,” she said.
Carruth said she will leave her position at AHSl to take on the new role.
“I love SJMA. I am really drawn to their mission,” she said. “It feels incredibly aligned with everything I’ve been doing personally and professionally for the past 15 years.”
She said she is especially excited to help connect people to public lands while promoting responsible recreation and hands-on stewardship.
“I really love the mission, and I’m excited to lead this organization at a time when there’s a real need,” she said.
The first step in her work will be sitting and listening. Nonprofit organizations must have strong scaffolding, she said, so before she starts thinking up new programs, her main goal is to look at SJMA’s capacity and existing programs.
A through-line in Carruth’s career, she said, has been finding ways to meet organizational needs with limited resources – a challenge she expects will continue.
“I think with some of the limited capacity and staffing and funding that we’re seeing to our federal partners – the Forest Service – there’s even more of a need to step in and support them,” she said. “I’m excited about leading SJMA through that transition.”
Get to know Ashley Carruth
Favorite meal to eat outside?
“Backcountry pizzas. As a SOULS instructor, when I take kids out on backpacking trips, we teach them how to make pizzas in the backcountry – using yeast and everything. We’ll harvest bluebells and sometimes dandelion leaves, sauté those up with some wild onions. It’s just so good.”
Where would she take someone new to the San Juan Mountains?
The Pass Creek Trail up to Colby Pass, near the base of Engineer Mountain.
“It’s not that long, and there’s not a ton of elevation gain, but right away you’re up in the most amazing mountains. You see all the wildflowers, and you’re right at the base of Engineer overlooking the Weminuche,” she said. “That’s a pretty phenomenal bang for your buck.”
What music do you listen to outdoors?
“I kind of grew up before earbuds. I had a Walkman, then a CD player, then an iPod – but there just wasn’t as much of a culture of always having something in your ears. … I’ve always felt really vulnerable running or hiking with music. I want all my senses activated. I want to hear a bear or a mountain biker coming up behind me. … I want to fully connect with the environment, so I never do.”
What are you reading right now?
“I’m always reading at least a dozen books – I have one on every surface, all half-open. Right now I’m reading ‘Deadpool’ by Zak Podmore about the Colorado River. … I always have a fiction book going too, something a little more fun – right now it’s ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land.’”
Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Weber said that shifting landscape is also driving Weber’s move into fundraising.
“We are watching their budget shrink, and we have watched the funding that they send our way for the services that we provide on their behalf really shrink as well,” Weber said. “And the need is still there. They still need us.”
Weber said focusing on development will help the organization sustain its partnerships with federal land managers.
She said she is looking forward to the transition.
“It’s not like I’m going anywhere,” she said. “I get to focus on an area that I find really meaningful and relatively easy to do. Not everybody loves fundraising.”
She added that she hopes the shift will allow her to spend more time outdoors.
Looking back on her tenure, Weber said she is most proud of strengthening the organization’s internal systems and operations.
“The fact that we’ve really strengthened our foundation and grown in the midst of all kinds of external challenges really is the highlight,” she said.
She also pointed to the organization’s public-facing work promoting responsible recreation.
Her hope is to get outside more when she steps down in July.
The advice she would give Carruth: capitalize on the fun moments and always get outside to remind herself why SJMA does what it does.
“I don’t think she’ll have a problem with that,” Weber said.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
