Ed Rebman, Co-Chair (Southwest Idaho)
Ed grew up in Michigan hunting, fishing and backpacking from an early age. After discovering the mountains during westerly vacations, Ed and his wife Lisa moved to Idaho in 2014. They picked Idaho specifically because of the available public land opportunities. Ed enjoys hunting for elk, deer and grouse, and backpacking to trout fishing locations. Ed and Lisa spend much of their leisure time hiking and snowshoeing with their dogs on public land.
Don Carpenter, Co-Chair (East Idaho)
Don grew up in central New York State, and migrated to the Teton area in the early nineties. He now lives with his wife and son on the west slope of the Tetons. Don has always had a passion for backcountry travel as a means for exploration of wild places. This exploration has taken him to remote corners of the world, but he especially enjoys spending time outdoors near home in Teton Valley. Through elk hunting, Don found an even stronger connection to wild places in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. He is grateful for the many opportunities to spend time outdoors, locally and afar, with his wife and son.
Melissa Hendrickson, Co-Chair (North Idaho)
Melissa grew up in Northern Maine ice fishing, tagging along with her father grouse hunting, biking, and generally spending a lot of time outdoors. She didn’t start hunting herself until after moving to Idaho for work in 2014. Melissa is a former public lands hydrologist who specialized in large scale watershed restoration for cutthroat trout. She is currently the outdoor coordinator and personal wild game chef for her son. They, along with her husband Jamie and bird dog Rosie, live in Sandpoint and can be found dabbling in pretty much every kind of hunting and fishing. When she isn’t taking her toddler on hunting or fishing adventures, she enjoys skiing, writing, making videos about past exploits, and planning future outings.
Steve Gale, Board Member (Treasurer)
Steve grew up on a dairy farm south of Meridian and has lived in Idaho all his life enjoying fishing and hunting with family and friends, and now relishes the time spent with his grandkids in the great outdoors. His son John (BHA Conservation director) introduced him and his wife Debbie to BHA about 8 years ago and they have been involved since that time. BHA appealed to Steve because of its support of multiple use of our public lands and the desire to increase access and promote conservation. Retired after 42 years working in management at Lactalis Cheese factory in Nampa Idaho, he now finds more enjoyment spending time in the outdoor environments while hunting and fishing than the actual harvest.
Drake Cain, Board Member (Secretary)
Drake is a born and raised Idahoan. His love for public lands and the creatures that inhabit them began at a young age when his dad started towing him up the steep ridgelines overlooking the Salmon River to chase mule deer outside of Challis, where he grew up. Now residing along the Snake River with his amazing wife and lovely daughter, they spend as much time on public land as possible. As a longtime member and volunteer with BHA, Drake is thrilled to serve as Idaho's Board Secretary, contributing to the mission of ensuring a future where his daughter can hunt, fish, and hike on beautiful, wild, and pristine public lands and waters.
Ariel Foster, Board Member (Membership, Events & Fundraising Committee Chair)
Ariel was born and raised in Idaho in a hunting and fishing family, her parents are avid hunters and fisherman who passed their passion onto her and her siblings. She found BHA through a bumper sticker while stuck in Boise traffic and feels like she has truly found her people in BHA. While living in Alaska she reached out to the Alaska chapter to build friendships and network with many people across the state that helped build her confidence in hunting and fishing in Alaska. Ariel now lives in Southwest Idaho with her young daughter and continues to pass on the lessons and passion for the outdoors to her daughter. Ariel works in public health advocacy currently is passionate about bringing healthcare to rural areas of Idaho and Eastern Oregon. On the weekends, Ariel is typically out hiking, rafting, or spending time in the outdoors with her family and their dogs. She is very excited to be a part of a great group of people and can’t wait to meet more members of the Idaho BHA Chapter at events and through our chapter communications.
Nick Fasciano, Board Member (Policy Committee Chair)
Nick lives in Boise and has been actively involved with BHA for a number of years. He was born and raised in Georgia and lived in various places up and down the East Coast, along with a few years in Africa, before migrating to the West. Nick learned to hunt as an adult and found in BHA not only an ardent advocacy organization for the public land opportunities that have become such a central part of his life, but also a thriving community of dedicated conservationists that enables everyone from lifelong outdoors-folk to those just starting out to meet and learn from one another.
A former Vice Chair and Policy Chair of the California Chapter of BHA, Nick is accustomed to wading into the waters of conservation policy and is committed to helping ensure that the public land hunting and fishing opportunities we have here in Idaho are maintained for future generations. He is an avid hunter of elk, deer, turkey, bear, pronghorn, and grouse - though that list does continue to grow.
Joshua Zifzal, Board Member (Stewardship Committee Chair)
Josh hails from Northeast Ohio, where he spent much of his youth fishing on Lake Erie, hunting small game, and chasing deer in neighboring Pennsylvania. After moving to North Dakota in 2017, he and his family had their first experiences with public lands. With a passion for promoting conservation, Josh chartered an Armed Forces Initiative BHA Chapter. Subsequently, he served on the board of the North Dakota BHA Chapter. Josh and his family relocated to Idaho in 2022, where they enjoy spending time exploring public lands.
Matt Bair, Board Member (Communications Committee Chair)
Matt has a love and appreciation for the outdoors. As a young kid, he would go backpacking in the Sierra Nevada mountains with his dad. That is where his strong desire to spend time exploring outside began. Earning the opportunity to camp and fish at high alpine lakes where the sight of another person is rare became a lifelong obsession. Matt got into hunting in his late twenties through friends and working in the outdoor industry. Hunting is now his biggest passion due to the sense of adventure, purpose while hiking in the mountains, and deeper connection to wild places. Matt is married to an amazing wife with two great kids and he is committed to helping protect the wild places he loves for future generations to enjoy.
Regional Reps
Committed BHA members who monitor and report on important BHA-related issues, opportunities and threats in their area of the state.
Region 1 (Panhandle) - Zac Swank
Region 2 (Clearwater) - Paul Arman, Ty Thompson
Region 3 (Southwest) - Mike Lipps, Jeff Abrams, Zach Cuddy
Region 4 (Magic Valley) - Josh Wilson
Region 5 (Southeast) - Vacant
Region 6 (Upper Snake) - Jeff Klausmann
Region 7 (Salmon) - Jessica French
Sean Carriere, Special Advisor
Sean lives in Middleton, Idaho with his wife Lisa and two daughters Maria and Rebecca. Sean works in the high tech industry but spends his free time hunting, fishing, and camping throughout Idaho and the US. He enjoys introducing his daughters to the joys of the outdoor lifestyle. A member of a number of wildlife organizations, and a former Vice President and Board Member of the Idaho Wild Sheep Foundation, Sean has a long history of working for our wildlife, habitat, and land so we can pursue our passions.
Jeff Barney, Special Advisor
Jeff Barney served as the Idaho chapter secretary for the first 9 years of the Idaho chapter's existence. Jeff turned over his official board duties in early 2020 but remains an active contributor to the Idaho BHA chapter. Jeff became involved to help protect public access and to stand against those interests attempting to eliminate public lands.
Jeff enjoys bird hunting (especially for chukars), bow hunting, fly fishing for trout and steelhead, trail running and wildlife photography. He also serves on his local Trout Unlimited chapter board and works as a state park ranger.
Click here to contact the Idaho Chapter Board