40 Under 40: Rose Olson

Rose Olson has always loved nature and the wild places of North Idaho where she grew up.

Now, as executive director of Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, Olson said that love of the outdoors began during summers camping along the Coeur d’Alene River and playing in the woods.

She remembers pulling invasive weeds from alongside the nearby county road with her sisters.

“Caring for our landscape was instilled as a value early on,” she said of what she learned from the experience.

After she moved to Sandpoint in 2016, she dove headfirst into growing deep roots in the community, getting involved with the Pend Oreille Pedalers and grow the group’s youth mountain biking program, as well as helping spearhead the first few women-specific mountain biking programs in the area. A member of the Sandpoint Nordic Club board, Olson has coordinated its cross-country skiing youth program for the last three years. Through her work coaching these outdoor youth programs, she figures she has introduced hundreds of kids to these lifelong sports.

Ties to the region’s outdoor community nonprofits, combined with an environmental science degree from the University of Idaho and a lifelong admiration for the area’s landscape, all led Olson to pursue a career with Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness. Originally hired as the communications and engagement manager in 2023, Olson stepped into the group’s executive director role at the start of this year.

Her professional background is “a little bit of a hodgepodge,” including working as a yoga instructor and professional baker in her 20s and working for a North Idaho company doing a mix of human resources and communications. In addition, Olson has a Professional Mountain Bike Instructors Association Level 1 coaching certificate, extensive yoga teacher training and is a Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce Leadership Sandpoint graduate.

However, Olson said the outdoors and wild places were calling.

“I always knew I wanted to work in the outdoors and contribute to our community in a meaningful way and had been working to get into some kind of conservation role for a long time,” she said. “When a job opened up with Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, it was literally a moment when the stars aligned and things fell into place.”

Olson said she plans to remain in Sandpoint, contributing to the community, stewarding the land and working to make this a great place to live.

If she could give her younger self one piece of advice, Olson said it is one that is, while a bit of a cliché, still holds true.

“It’s not about what you know, but who you know,” she said. “Pay attention to your relationships. People don’t always care if you know the right answer, but they do care about how you make them feel.”