While he may not have been able to articulate it at the time, Clifford Kipp grew up with an appreciation for land stewardship.

The son of Southern Colorado cattle ranchers, Kipp spent a lot of time in wide open spaces, becoming intimately familiar with the landscape, garnering a sense of appreciation for each individual nook and cranny.

“There is nothing better than getting up on a peak, looking around, and realizing that there isn’t a road for hundreds of miles,” Kipp said.

It never crossed his mind, even after he graduated from college, that a career in land conservation and stewardship was possible. Now, entering a new position as the executive director of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, Kipp reflects on a nearly 25-year-long career doing exactly that — helping people become stewards of the land.

Kipp grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While he appreciated the outdoors through his time at summer camp or volunteering on the Colorado Trail, he did not yet have a sense that natural resources could become a career.

Kipp graduated from Denison University in Ohio, where he played NCAA Division III soccer, with a degree in philosophy, focusing on art history and French. After graduation, he returned to Colorado Springs and worked for a small defense contractor. Kipp quickly learned that he wasn’t incredibly passionate about defense contracts, but appreciated the exposure and managing experience the job gave him.

He studied abroad in France during college, so after working with the contractor for two years, he decided to move back to France and became a bike tour guide. At the time, Kipp’s plan was to do seasonal work in the country — bike tours in the summer and mountain jobs in the winter.

When the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, happened, however, Kipp’s perspective changed — he was inspired to return home and find a way to better his own community and country.

Back in Colorado, Kipp joined AmeriCorps becoming a volunteer member in Great Falls, Montana with the Montana Conservation Corps. Kipp had only been to Montana once before on a family trip to visit the national parks.

Kipp worked there until he ran out of AmeriCorps hours — through 2002 and 2003. He first learned of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation that second year when a friend of his became a crew leader with the foundation.

At the same time as his AmeriCorps journey came to a close, a regional position with the Montana Conservation Corps opened up in Kalispell. According to Kipp, that is when ideas started truly churning.

“I thought, maybe I could make a lifestyle out of this,” Kipp said. He got the job, and his first season on official staff with the conservation group was 2004.

Kipp fell in love with the Flathead Valley. Four seasons of recreation, an abundance of natural resources, blue ribbon rivers, incredible state parks, Glacier National Park and more left him “enamored.”

“There is so much ‘capitol W wilderness’ out here,” Kipp said.

Kipp worked with the conservation corps for two decades, watching the staff grow from just him into a team and the number of AmeriCorps volunteers nearly quadrupled. With each step, Kipp kept an eye on the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation – where colleagues and friends worked. Kipp himself served on the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation board of directors from 2005 to 2010.

The executive director position with the Bob Marshall Wilderness previously opened twice while he worked for the Montana Conservation Corps, but it wasn’t until this past January that Kipp felt a pull to apply for the position himself.

“This go around, the timing was right,” Kipp said, regarding his decision to leave the Montana Conservation Corps.

Kipp said he is settling into the new role for now, but looks forward to building relationships, encouraging future stewardship of the land, and spending more time in “The Bob.”

“The Bob is the kind of place where, yes there are boundaries, but they are so far apart that all there is is just a huge landscape with so much going on,” Kipp said. “Besides, certain wildlife and flora don’t recognize jurisdictional boundaries like humans do.”

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.