Staff & Board

Biographies

Geoffrey Orth  - Fairbanks
President

Geoff currently works as a freelance photographer in Interior Alaska.  He has resided in Alaska for over 30 years and throughout this time has enjoyed Alaska’s backcountry.   He has a graduate degree in anthropology and has worked as a biologist, anthropologist and commercial fisherman; he was an early member of the Alaska Wilderness Guides Association and has a Vessel Master’s License (100 ton).   Geoff has participated in trail construction and maintenance projects, is very interested in efforts to educate users in trail etiquette, and in promoting the expansion of trails in the state for all user groups.   His favorite pursuits are trail running, mountain biking, x-c skiing and surfing (though not in Alaska).  Geoff is also a member of the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s Trail Advisory Commission and the chair of the Ester Trail Group.

Jack Mosby  - Anchorage
Vice President

Jack was an Outdoor Recreation Planner with a 32-year experience with recreation planning and natural resource management experience (retired 2002). In Alaska since 1977, he was responsible for and/or completed several natural resource studies and National Trail studies, Wild and Scenic River studies, National Park General Management Plans, and National Park Service (NPS) Wilderness Recommendations. From 1988 to 2002, he was the Alaska NPS program manager for the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program providing recreation, open space, trail, river, and conservation planning and project assistance to state and local governments and non-profit organizations. He helped establish eight trail, recreation, and land conservation non-profits organizations around the state that are still functioning. He was a founding member of the Alaska Wildlands Section (within the Alaska Recreation and Parks Association) which is dedicated to advance natural resource and wildlands recreation management professionalism. He is co-author of the 1981 "Alaska Paddling Guide," a book providing float trip information to 110+ streams and lakes throughout Alaska (4th edition in progress). He is currently active with several trail, paddling, and recreation non-profit organizations in Alaska and and was a member of the Trails and Recreation Access for Alaskans (TRAAK) citizen advisory board from 2002-04

Jillian Morrissey   - Palmer
Secretary

Jillian Morrissey has a M.S. in Environmental Education from Lesley University and a B.A. in Spanish for Antioch College.  From 1999 to 2005 she served as a trail crew leader and work skills instructor for Student Conservation Association.  From 2006 to 2007 she led SAGA’s Alaska Service Corps and Serve Alaska Youth Corps as their Northern Program Manager and then, Director.  She has also worked as adjunct faculty for Alaska Pacific University’s Graduate Program in Outdoor and Environmental Education.

Malcolm McEwen   - Fairbanks
Treasurer

Malcolm McEwen has lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, for 22 years. He is married, has two dogs, and is an avid outdoors person. Malcolm enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking, bicycling, and photography. He cycles year round, both road biking and mountain biking. He has been hiking in interior, southcentral and southeast Alaska on day hikes and on multiple overnight trips.

Malcolm has been involved in various aspects of the Fairbanks Cycle Club for the past 10 years. He has helped organize mountain bike races, group rides, the club’s 'Bike Swap' fundraiser, and he served on the board as president and vice president for four years.

He received his bachelor degree in biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1991, and worked for the Institute of Marine Science at UAF throughout the 1990s on various projects (invertebrates and herring) related to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. He currently works for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as a fishery biologist managing two chum salmon sonar projects in southwest Alaska.

George Schaaf  - Juneau
Board Member

George Schaaf is the executive director of Trail Mix, a nonprofit partnership of local volunteers and government agencies dedicated to improving and expanding Juneau’s world-class trail system. 

Schaaf brought to Trail Mix a diverse background in law, journalism, and outdoor recreation.  As a trail crew leader for the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, he supervised the construction and rehabilitation of alpine trails throughout the state.  More recently, Schaaf worked for the Tongass National Forest as a wilderness ranger at Admiralty Island National Monument. 

Schaaf also has extensive land use law experience, and served as the executive director of a nonprofit organization serving more than 1,200 families on the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island.   Schaaf earned two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Florida before attending Lewis & Clark School of Law in Portland, Oregon.