Karen Knudsen grew up playing in Colorado, and that gleeful love of nature led her to her position running Clark Fork Coalition. Founded in 1985, the Clark Fork Coalition is dedicated to protecting and restoring the Clark Fork River basin, a 22,000-square-mile area draining western Montana and northern Idaho. We have a 23-year-long record of substantial achievements improving the health of the watershed. Side by side with citizens, scientists, landowners, business leaders, and public officials, we have spearheaded initiatives that have delivered important gains. Karen is a great example of someone who is using her natural passions to make the world a better place for all of us.  

1. How does your career / business relate to your core "values" in how you approach life and what you want to share with others?

I'm a person who needs to be near nature's pulse, with all the unexpected gifts offered up by snowy peaks and big rivers, rocks and rainbows. It makes me feel alert, awake, and alive-inspired to be the best I can be and driven to give something back. I've never wanted just a job, I needed a "mission"-a larger purpose that stirs the soul. And that's what landed me in Missoula, Montana working for a river protection group where I could apply a service ethic to protecting and restoring the Clark Fork River at the headwaters of the mighty Columbia River basin. It's a perfect match, philosophically, intellectually, physically.

2. When you look at the impact your career has had on people around you, what makes you the most proud?

There is nothing more vibrant and exciting than being part of a group of individuals coming together behind a common purpose, and nothing more powerful when that purpose is committed to the common good. When my group, the Clark Fork Coalition, launched a campaign to remove a dam on the Clark Fork River, it was dismissed as crazy talk. Still, we persevered. We put forward a new vision of a healthy, free-flowing river, and we tied it to a vision of revitalized communities. We helped people to re-imagine their future. This vision eventually became bigger than the challenges that dam removal posed. And now the dam is coming down, and the river is about to flow free.

3. Was there a "defining moment" when you knew that this was what you wanted to focus your professional energy on?

Growing up in Colorado-rambling around the rooftop of the Rockies-I think I had daily "defining moments" that propelled me toward a career working on behalf of environmental causes. But if I had to pick an "a-ha" moment, it would be a field trip I took during my senior year at Colorado College. We went to Telluride for a week to study the highly controversial aspen clear-cutting issue through the lens of economics. All the ingredients for epiphany were there: a place of stunning natural beauty and abundance, a threat to environment and community, a fix that would require creativity and citizen engagement. I was hooked.

4. In your personal life, what is the "cause" to which you dedicate the most time / energy / money?

Protecting and restoring the Clark Fork watershed, which forms the headwaters of the Columbia River basin. At 22,000 square miles, it's a big sandbox, spanning western Montana and northern Idaho. The main artery-the Clark Fork River-drains waters from legendary rock-star rivers, like the Blackfoot (of A River Runs Through It fame), as well as dozens and dozens of quiet, but important, backyard streams. All of them are our ribbons of life. Historically, the Clark Fork has been a workhorse of a river, particularly for the state's mining economy that had a century-long boom. Because of that, this river suffers from some gigantic metals contamination problems. We're turning that around, though, and transitioning from a century of mis-use and neglect to a century of restoration. In fact, this next decade is going to be one for the history books-two dams are coming down, the Clark Fork-Blackfoot confluence will again flow free, the first fish in over 100 years will swim upstream to native spawning grounds, and a massive cleanup of metals-contaminated streambanks and floodplain is all set to launch in the upper reaches of the watershed. It's a hugely exciting time and could be a helpful model for others who care about clean rivers and vibrant communities.

5. Why? Has it touched your life somehow?

I'm drawn to rivers because they're central to everything we care about in Montana and the West: clean drinking water, healthy fisheries, corridors for wildlife, water for crops, swimming holes for our kids. These rivers link our communities and are the engines of our economies. If there's any other environmental issue that connects more dots, it's hard to imagine what that might be.

6. What do you do - personally or professionally - to support that cause?

I speak up for the river. Day-to-day at the Clark Fork Coalition that has me coordinating the energies and expertise of a small, talented team of professionals and board volunteers, working to engage citizens in science-driven solutions to a wide range of threats to the river. Our front burner campaigns include: figuring out ways to leverage the cleanup of mining waste and the removal of two dams into broader ecological and community revitalization; promoting land-use tools and policies that protect our waterways; healing our backyard streams through on-the-ground restoration with local stakeholders; sparking basin-wide discussion about the impacts of climate change on the watershed; stopping a mine permitted for beneath a wilderness area; and-most importantly-expanding the circle of care and celebration for the river. Oh, and did I mention we own a working cattle ranch? It sits smack-dab in the heart of the metals-contaminated upper Clark Fork. We bought it in 2005-with the generous help of two supporters-to provide a living classroom for figuring out how best to heal the land and restore our 3.5-mile stretch of river while running an agricultural operation. Are we busy? Yup, and it's all good.

7. What do you wish people understood about your cause?

Rivers give us so much-they touch our lives in countless ways. And as we know from the story of the Clark Fork, it can be all too easy to ask our rivers to do too much, because they always seem to deliver. Lucky for us, rivers are also incredibly resilient. And that's an important fact to remember. Maybe you live along a river that is hammered or ailing. Maybe it's been written off. Know that all it takes is a big bold vision, and a concrete timeframe to turn the dream of a healthy river into reality. So even if it seems hopeless-even if your hometown river runs red (which the Clark Fork did just 30 years ago!)-hold fast to the audacious, long-term, big-picture vision. It's almost always well within reach.

8. If you had a magic wand, what would you do?

I'd do the triple-spell: the upswing would suck a bunch of carbon dioxide out of the Earth's atmosphere. The downswing would deliver the political will to keep it out. And the little flourish at the end would give every watershed an active, effective citizen-based organization devoted to its long-term care and protection.

9. What organizations support your cause that we should all know about?  Our work on behalf of a healthy Clark Fork watershed enjoys generous support from numerous foundations and the Clark Fork Coalition cross-pollinates with dozens of other non-profits. But what you should really all know regarding what makes us successful is that it's our members-the local citizens, scientists, business people, recreationists, teachers, students, politicians, and families-speaking up on behalf of their river and its special places who carry the day.

10. Can you think of an example of a really innovative approach to solving this problem - either one that someone else did or that you would like to see someone do?

It's really old, but still really innovative-namely John Wesley Powell's proposal back in 1878 that watersheds should be the basic land-use planning unit and that political boundaries should match the contours of the American landscape. This way, the political function of a waterway would be in sync with its ecological function. Obviously, county borders and state lines aren't going to be re-drawn any time soon, but-in the face of explosive growth and water supply and water quality issues in the West-Powell's watershed-wide planning concept could deliver a more sustainable way to live in and with the landscape.