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Mike was a co-founder of BHA and was the first Chairman of the Board, 2004-2010. Mike grew up hunting, fishing and backpacking around rural Eagle Point and the south Cascades of Oregon then attended Southern Oregon State College, where he lettered in football all four years and was a three-time, all-conference defensive back. He received his BS in History in 1985. After college, he graduated from the US Army Officer Candidate School (OCS) and the Airborne Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. Mike served as a field artillery officer in the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington from 1987-89. After leaving military service, he began his teaching career at Tigard HS in 1990. He received his MA in History and Government from the University of Portland in 1993.
Mike has taught high school social studies in Oregon for 15 years, along with 19 years of coaching football and baseball. He founded and led one of the only high school fly fishing and conservation clubs in Oregon (1996-98) while teaching at Silverton HS in the Willamette Valley. He has been active in a variety of wilderness, wildlife and habitat protection issues since he wrote a letter about RARE II at age 14.
With his daughter Riley (18) and son Steen (15), Mike and his family enjoy the western outdoors at every opportunity. The fly tying vise accompanies them on each trip and his daughter Riley has been tying flies since age six. Their favorite destinations are the Lamar River Valley in Yellowstone National Park and the Mt. Thielsen and Sky Lakes Wilderness Areas in Oregon. Mike joined the staff of Trout Unlimited in 2005 and helped pass the 1st sportsmen-led wilderness campaign in Oregon history in 2009, the Copper-Salmon Wilderness. Mike is now the Director of Alumni Relations at his alma mater, Southern Oregon University, right in the heart of the Siskiyou Mountains.
About Caitlin Thompson