SHERIDAN — A lifelong outdoorsman and trail enthusiast, Jared Koenig has fulfilled the long vacant recreational program manager position at Sheridan Community Land Trust. Fueled by his love of the outdoors and community involvement, Koenig looks forward to building relationships with volunteers to strengthen Sheridan’s outdoor recreation scene for everyone.
Koenig grew up working on his family’s ranch near Aladdin. Koenig moved to Sheridan and completed high school at Big Horn High School before moving back to work on the ranch but said he felt himself going down a different path in life. Koenig had already fallen in love with the Sheridan area and the recreational opportunities provided by trails and the close proximity of the mountains.
“Everybody loves home… it’s always great to go back, but this is my home now,” Koenig said. “I really love the mountains. There’s no mountains like these over there. I really enjoy having [the Bighorn Mountains] so close to my house.”
Growing up, and well into his adulthood, Koenig said he has always enjoyed the outdoors, partaking in several outdoor recreation activities like hiking, camping, mountain biking, kayaking, rafting and more. It was his love of trails and spending time outdoors that drew him to SCLT in the first place, beginning when he worked as a volunteer on the Red Grade Trail five years ago. After continually volunteering to help upkeep the trails, Koenig applied for and was accepted to fulfill a trail management position at SCLT.
On May 1, Koenig was hired to fulfill the recreational program manager position, allowing him to do what he loves every day, Koenig said — spend time on local trails and bolster Sheridan’s outdoor recreation with the help of community involvement.
“I love being able to work on the trails. It’s kind of a selfish thing because I like to get out and use the trails for my own recreation and I get to work on the trails that I get out and enjoy,” Koenig said. “Even better, I get to make sure that it’s done right.”
As for the future of his position, Koenig said he looks forward to building relationships with the community through volunteer work and a shared love of the trails.
“I’d love to see a bigger role played by the community in stewarding the trails and I know that there is a desire from the community for an ability to get out and work on the trails that people love so much,” Koenig said, citing the Soldier Ridge, Hidden Hoot and Red Grade Trails as examples. “I’m really excited about that because that will allow the land trust to do so much more… If we want more trails and we don’t want to have to spend a lot of money to keep them in good condition or even to get them built, if the community can pull together and do that on their own or take charge of a good chunk of it on their own, then we can have an even bigger set of trail systems that the land trust doesn’t have to put in so much effort to maintain.
“It’s a selfish desire. I want more trails around here, I think that would be great,” Koenig continued. “I’d love to be able to get on my bike and ride out on a single track trail all day, take my lunch with me and ride around and never get back to where I need to be until the end of the day. I’d love to never hit the same spot twice and ride all day. As a community, we could do that by working together.”
SCLT Executive Director Brad Bauer said he’s excited for the future of working alongside Koenig and seeing him grow community engagement.
“We’re excited about his existing engagement with the community already… We’ve had a couple volunteer days that he’s already led or helped co-lead,” Bauer said. “He has a team of summer [trail] technicians that he’s doing a good job of guiding. Most of them are interns so there’s learning within their position and he’s able to help them experience through the summer work with us.”
Koenig said those who are interested in volunteering in any way can stay up to date with upcoming volunteer opportunities and events on the land trust’s website, sheridanclt.org.
Shelby Kruse started as the public safety reporter in November 2022.
