Browns Canyon
National Monument
About Friends of Browns Canyon
Friends of Browns Canyon was formed in 2003 when local residents came together to advocate for protecting the Browns Canyon landscape.
Friends of Browns Canyon is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to protecting, conserving and enhancing the natural and cultural resources of the Browns Canyon area. Friends of Browns Canyon serves its members, the local community and national constituents by providing educational opportunities about the benefits of the diverse natural features and ecosystems of Browns Canyon.
Acting as the voice of the Browns Canyon area, including the national monument, we inventory and study the ecological needs of the area and represent those needs to local community members, government agencies and conservation organizations. We believe the Browns Canyon area holds treasures and values for ages to come. We believe providing education about these treasures and values to be a key element in the preservation of Browns Canyon.
Michael Kunkel and Jerry Mallett formed Friends of Browns Canyon in 2002 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the unique, unspoiled landscape in and around Browns Canyon. Since then, Friends of Browns Canyon has supported legislative efforts to protect Browns Canyon as wilderness, the highest level of protection available for public lands. After congressional politics and gridlock prevented a wilderness designation, President Barack Obama designated Browns Canyon National Monument on February 19, 2015.
Following the national monument designation, Friends of Browns Canyon led a broad coalition of local and regional stakeholders in working with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to create a management plan that ensures adequate protection for the unique landscape and natural resources of Browns Canyon. To learn more about our history, click here.
Our Mission
Friends of Browns Canyon works to preserve and support conservation of Browns Canyon National Monument and the surrounding areas. We work to provide and facilitate a unified voice for those concerned about protection and conservation of Browns Canyon and to provide educational opportunities for and to engage the public in conservation efforts. We are committed to working with federal and state agencies on management and development issues affecting the area and to actively seek those opportunities and means that will improve the abilities and effectiveness of the Friends of Browns Canyon.
Activities
Friends of Browns Canyon’s volunteer efforts include monitoring the natural and cultural resources in Browns Canyon National Monument and the condition of those resources. This in turn facilitates and nurtures awareness.
We worked with Browns Canyon National Monument management agencies and other interest groups in the development of the Browns Canyon National Monument Resource Management Plan.
We seek to develop new partnership opportunities and add new members to enhance the effectiveness of our conservation and stewardship efforts.
Our activities include outings, events and presentations that inform and provide educational opportunities for the public and increase public involvement with the national monument.
We are committed to the long-term stewardship and conservation of the national monument, which includes formal partnership agreements with the managing agencies and a commitment to engaged involvement in future management planning efforts.
We hosts hikes and work projects to provide opportunities for recreation in the national monument and protection of its resources. We often partner with other organizations for these projects, creating a diverse, grassroots-based coalition.
Board of Directors
Michael Kunkel
President, Founder
A 1971 Boy Scout camping trip to Chaffee County left an indelible impression on Scout Michael Kunkel. He fell completely in love with the Colorado Rockies’ outdoor majesty. It informed his choice of college, leaving Oklahoma for Colorado College. It later inspired his Sierra Club activism in the mid 1980s, serving as an Executive Committee member in the Norman, Oklahoma, chapter. Protecting public lands, supporting wilderness designations, sustainable energy use and community recycling programs became an integral part of Michael’s life. Since moving to Salida in 1999, Michael co-founded Friends of Browns Canyon in 2002. He served as president of Chaffee County Citizens for Recycling, organizing and spearheading the addition of cardboard, paper and plastic collection throughout the county. He has also served as a Chaffee County Mentor. As an EnergyNow board member, he worked to promote sustainable energy use throughout the county. Internationally, Michael has worked as a volunteer on water and sanitation projects in Bolivia, Mexico and Nepal. Currently, he is helping to build and sustain schools for young girls in Nepal. Michael holds a B.A. in economics from Colorado College and operates Lifestream Water Systems in Salida. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, fishing, climbing and exploring off-the-beaten-track places in Chaffee and Fremont counties.
David Beaulieu
Vice President
While growing up on a pond in rural New Hampshire was a formative experience for David, he always looked to the Rockies, and Colorado in particular, as the realm of the mythical mountain man and hardcore outdoors people. After backpacking to all the highest peaks in New England and canoeing most of the whitewater rivers there, he felt he’d gathered enough outdoor experience to make the move to adventure in Colorado in 2004. David settled into an off-grid cabin above the San Luis Valley and since then has worked as a sales executive at Salida’s KVRH radio and as the manager at Orient Land Trust’s Valley View Hot Springs. Soon after installing solar at his cabin, David decided to start a solar installation business. Today, he is the Sales Manager at SolarSet, a manufacturer of pre-assembled solar units in Center. He volunteers as a trail steward for Salida Mountain Trails and spends most weekends mountain biking the trails around Salida, running the Arkansas River on his raft, backpacking and camping in the local forests and taking long walks with his dog, Uki.
Linda Bebell
Treasurer
Linda grew up in Denver but always had the mountains in her blood. As a young girl, she would often ask her parents to move to the mountains and get a horse. For college, she moved to the Glenwood Springs area, and it was at Colorado Mountain College that an interest in photography was sparked. She would spend her time photographing, hiking, camping and skiing on our public lands, as they are refuge for Linda and dear to her heart. During her younger years she also became environmentally conscious of the need to take care of our land, water and air and has since been committed to that. After graduating from college, Linda married and had 3 children. After briefly relocating out of state, she returned to Colorado and settled in Salida in the late 1990s. A good friend took Linda horseback riding in Browns Canyon shortly after moving to the area, and she was enthralled with its beauty and wildness. Linda has volunteered with Salida Sertoma Club, Upper Arkansas Service Club, KHEN public radio station and her church. She currently serves on two nonprofit boards of directors, inclding Friends of Browns Canyon. Linda feels honored to be on the forefront of protecting such a unique area as Browns Canyon National Monument for current and future generations to enjoy.
Luke Urbine
Secretary
Living in the Great Smoky Mountains as a teenager in North Carolina led Luke Urbine down a road and he would never look back. With his first raft trip as a youth and taking the literal plunge, the river flowed in his veins. Not knowing what the future held, Luke worked as a Llama trek guide, river guide, tree canopy guide, mountain trekker and anything else that would put the beans and rice on the table. After years of traveling in Latin America and the Southwestern U.S., Luke heard the call to the mountains near Browns Canyon, Colorado. Sticking his thumb out on the road with a kayak in tow he found himself in the drivers seat of a boat and it seemed the most likely fit for the young adrenaline junky. Luke soon settled at the base of the Continental Divide in Buena Vista, Colo. Working on the river and making a living as a photographer, Luke works to document lifestyles of the local folks. His real dedication is to helping advocate for places that don’t have the spoken words and trying to defend them. Luke’s passion for keeping public land public and working as the secretary of Friends of Browns Canyon are just of few of the things that keep him busy during the week. You will also find him leading the Boy Scouts, working for the Buena Vista Recreation Board, capturing landscape photos, chasing his kids to soccer games or working at his photography studio. When not working at these projects you might just find him by a campfire howling at the moon.
Reed Dils
Director
Reed Dils grew up in Ohio and always enjoyed the outdoors. He started fishing and canoeing at a young age. After graduating from Ohio State University in wildlife management and biological sciences education, he taught school in Rochester, N.Y., before doing graduate work in environmental education at the University of Northern Colorado. After teaching and starting 4-Corners Rafting with his wife, Karen, in southwest Colorado, Reed moved to Buena Vista in 1976. After 25 years of operations they sold the company in 2001. Reed co-founded the Colorado Rivers Outfitters Association and the Arkansas River Outfitters association and served on both boards. He was instrumental in the creation of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area in the late ’80s and served as a Citizens Task Force member from 1989 until 1997. Reed was a founding member and board member of the Collegiate Peaks Chapter of Trout Unlimited and served on the board as vice president, treasurer and advocacy chair. Reed served one term on the Colorado Water Conservation Board, two terms on the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservation Board and 11 years as the Recreation Representative on the Arkansas Basin Roundtable. In 1982 Reed initiated the beginnings of what has become the Arkansas River Voluntary Flow program which provides whitewater flows from July 1 through August 15 and fishing flows year-round on the upper Arkansas River. In 2008 Reed received the Bob Appel Friend of the Arkansas Award for outstanding contributions to preserving and protecting the Arkansas River basin. He and wife Karen have also received the Colorado and Arkansas River Outfitters Lifetime Achievement Award and the Outstanding Volunteers Award from Colorado Trout Unlimited.
John Sztukowski
Director
John Sztukowski is the conservation director for the science-based conservation nonprofit Wild Connections and has been with the organization since 2013. John oversees Wild Connections’ public lands work; wilderness lands inventories; educational events; and outreach to the public, agency staff and government offices on local conservation issues. John serves on BLM’s Rocky Mountain Resource Advisory Council as a Category 2 representative (environmental organization). He was appointed to the advisory council in 2021. His background ranges from climate change to sustainable agriculture to habitat restoration and wilderness conservation. John is also the president and co-founder of the nonprofit Heart of the Rockies Disc Golf Club, founded in 2021.
Hope DeLarue
Director
Hope grew up between Oregon and New Mexico and settled into Colorado after she was grown with a family to raise. She has spent much time learning about, teaching about and studying the history of the people and the land of the American West. Hope has lived in Chaffee County for eight years and has enjoyed working as a business owner both in Salida and in Buena Vista. She started working with Friends of Browns Canyon in 2017, helping with various fundraisers in the area and has truly enjoyed supporting the continued efforts of FOBC to ensure Browns Canyon is protected. In addition to FOBC, Hope works with High Country Fine Arts Association, is a full time home-school mom and helps with her family-owned auto shop, Reliance Motorworks. Hope loves being in the natural world and learning how to best navigate the local wilderness with such experienced people as her fellow board members with Friends of Browns Canyon.
Wendy Gordon, Ph.D.
Director
Wendy grew up in New York City and first found her way to Colorado while in college in the mid ’80s, spending the summer working as a research assistant at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, near Crested Butte. It was love at first sight. After hoisting a backpack and climbing her first mountains, she spent decades scheming her return, even sending her kids to summer camp in Florissant and her son to the Colorado School of Mines. The opportunity to live in Buena Vista presented itself in 2020. Wendy is an ecologist with expertise in water, biodiversity and climate. She holds a Ph.D., M.S. and B.A. in those disciplines. She has long been a champion of non-game species, including managing Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Non-game and Rare Species Program. Most of her career has been devoted to public service, including working as Chaffee County’s first Natural Resources Planner. She joined the FOBC Board in 2024. She serves on other area boards, including the Central Colorado Conservancy and advisory boards for the Town of Buena Vista. She recently founded the Arkansas Valley Chapter of the Colorado Native Plant Society. As a lifelong conservationist loving life in the Arkansas Valley, she has been actively working on issues of dark-sky protection, native plant awareness, and open space preservation. You will find her and her husband Steve Kostelnik on the slopes at Monarch or on any one of the region’s peaks and rivers.
