What begins with learning the name of a tree can grow into something much larger.
Bigfoot Trail Alliance Executive Director Michael Kauffmann recently joined host Mike Green on Jefferson Public Radio’s The Jefferson Exchange for a conversation about the Klamath Mountains—and how a lifelong fascination with this remarkable landscape has evolved from studying conifers to building opportunities for young people to work and thrive here.
Michael’s journey began more than 15 years ago with the extraordinary botanical diversity of the Klamath Mountains. The region holds roughly 5% of the world’s conifer species, and learning those trees became a doorway into understanding the geology, ecology, and deep complexity of the landscape.
That same idea remains at the heart of the Bigfoot Trail Alliance: people protect the places they know and love.
From Youth Stewardship to a Regional Workforce
The conversation also explores how that philosophy has grown beyond hiking and natural-history education.
In 2020, the Bigfoot Trail Alliance helped launch the Youth Stewardship Project, bringing young people into the mountains for hands-on experiences in ecology and public-land stewardship. That work has now evolved into the Klamath Mountains Workforce Training Network, a regional collaboration connecting young people ages 15–24 with paid training, mentorship, and potential careers in conservation and ecological restoration.
Participants are gaining experience in everything from GIS and digital mapping to wilderness first aid, watershed restoration, trail stewardship, and other skills needed to care for these landscapes. Just as importantly, they are meeting the people and organizations already doing this work across the region.
The goal is bigger than workforce training. It is about helping young people imagine a future for themselves here—living, working, and caring for the Klamath Mountains.
As Michael says in the interview:
“I really want the love to come out — love for each other, love for place and love for a future in the Klamath Mountains.”
That feels like a pretty good description of what we’re working toward.
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