IFRP Board of Directors
Tera King
President
Tera is a fifth generation Idahoan that received her Bachelor’s degree in Forest Resources from the University of Idaho and an MBA in corporate finance from Norwich University in Vermont. In her college years, she worked summers for the U.S. Forest Service as a backcountry ranger, trail crew boss, and wildland firefighter. After graduation, she spent 17 years working as a consulting forester doing everything from private and tribal forestry, industrial cruising and burning, NEPA planning, wildfire risk reduction, SFI auditing, and everything in between.
Tera is Idaho Forest Group’s Director of Forest Resources and Policy and manages the Company’s timberland portfolio. She is a certified forester with the Society of American Foresters and holds licenses as a designated broker in both Idaho and Washington. Like many Idahoans, Tera enjoys spending time hunting, fishing, and camping with her family and riding horses in the backcountry.
John Robison
Vice President
John is the Public Lands and Wildlife Director for the Idaho Conservation League. He has been working on public lands restoration issues for ICL for the last 24 years. He's had a leadership role in several collaborative efforts, including the Owyhee Initiative, the Payette Forest Coalition, the Boise Forest Coalition, and the Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership.
John earned a BA in biology from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME. John started his graduate studies at the Teton Science School's Professional Residency in Environmental Education and completed his master’s degree from the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Program.
Matthew Ward
Secretary
Matthew is the Forest and Fire Program Manager for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Idaho. In this role he oversees, coordinates and implements a comprehensive program, including the use of prescribed fire, to increase the resilience of Idaho’s forests.
His forestry experience began with the University of Montana’s Forest Ecology Lab, the University of Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and the U.S. Forest Service.
In 2010, he started working for The Nature Conservancy as a Land Steward in Western Montana and moved over to The Nature Conservancy in Idaho in 2012.
John Roberts
Treasurer
John is a retired forester, having managed trust land forests throughout the state of Idaho over his 35-year career with the Idaho Department of Lands. In 2010 he and a few others became aware of the collaboratives springing up around the state and saw that they needed support.
Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership (IFRP) sprang from that realization and has been supporting collaborative decision-making on US Forest Service projects throughout the state, at the Statehouse and in Washington D.C. ever since.
A life-long Idahoan and a graduate of the University of Idaho, John lives in Idaho City. He served as Boise County’s Emergency Manager for 7 years after his retirement from the Department of Lands. John is a Planning Section Chief and Liaison Officer in the National Wildfire Coordinating Group wildfire management qualification system.
He's an active member of the Society of American Foresters and represents that organization on the steering committee of the Boise Forest Coalition and on the Board of Directors of IFRP.
Rob Thornberry
Director
Rob is the Idaho Field Representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a founder of the Targhee Forest Collaborative and a board member of the Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership.
Rob joined the board in 2022 to advocate for the needs for wildlife in forest restoration projects. He is working with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Forest Service to help facilitate logging projects that benefit deer and elk habitat. In his free time he enjoys hunting, fishing, friends, and spending time with his grandchildren.
IFRP Staff
David Nichols
Lead Facilitator
As IFRP's Lead Facilitator, David utilizes his distinct ability to unite individuals under a shared mission to help people and organizations do their best work. With 30 years in teaching, training, and human resources, his expertise encompasses leadership development, change management, communication skills, talent management, and organizational culture.
He specializes in improving team productivity by facilitating conflict resolution and fostering communication and strategic planning.
His diverse professional background includes engagements with Fortune 500 corporations, small business start-ups, nonprofit educational programs, and state government. He has designed and delivered national training programs and serves as an adjunct faculty member for Boise State University.
David holds a B.A. in Psychology from Rutgers University and a Master’s degree in Counseling from Idaho State University.
Katie Russ
Graduate Fellow
Katie works as the Graduate Fellow for the Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership and is a Master of Natural Resources candidate at the University of Idaho, specializing in Environmental Education and Science Communication.
Katie’s role at IFRP includes logistics and planning for the annual Forest Collaborative Conference, stakeholder facilitations, outreach & communications, and channel marketing.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Katie transitioned from a career in corporate communications to natural resource management, while living abroad and working as a Biodiversity Ranger in New Zealand and a backcountry guide in Australia.
Katie has also served as a Fire Lookout for the U.S. Forest Service in Region 5.
Her current work focuses on the intersection of strategic communication and collaborative land management, utilizing her background in both business and ecology to facilitate effective public land stewardship.