By Kaleen Deatherage, Mazama Interim Executive Director
On January 31, 2023 I became a member of the Mazamas.
This wouldn’t be noteworthy, except that while I’ve come close—the chicken ledge on Mt. Thielsen—I’ve never summited a glaciated peak. Until the results of our special election were tallied and our new restated bylaws were passed, my failure to achieve that last 80 feet left me ineligible to become a Mazama.
And yet, for the past 14 months I’ve led the Mazamas as your Interim Executive Director. I’m a native Oregonian who grew up camping, hiking, and recreating in the amazing outdoor spaces of the Pacific Northwest.
I am PASSIONATE about protecting our forests, rivers, lakes, and mountains. I spend countless hours of my free time teaching young people to love and respect the outdoors through my volunteer service to the Boy Scouts of America. Every summer you’ll find me at Scout Camp teaching merit badges like orienteering, wilderness survival, and emergency preparedness.
I’ve completed three 50+ mile backpacking trips on the Pacific Crest Trail. In 2014, I was one of four adults who took eight teens on an 11-day backpacking trip at the Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico that included summiting Mt. Phillips and then spending the night at an elevation of 11,742 feet. Last summer, I was back at Philmont where we made the summit of the highest peak on the ranch, Mt. Baldy at 12,441 feet.
I’ve lost count of the number of trail tending teams and conservation projects I’ve participated in, because I want to be a role model for what stewarding our natural resources can look like. All of these passions and interests make me very similar to most of you who have been Mazama members for many years.
And now, I can join you, as a member and together we can continue our legacy of teaching people to love, safely use, and protect our forests and mountains. This is an exciting time for the Mazamas. There are lots of people in our community who, like me, haven’t summited a glaciated peak–yet, or maybe ever.. People who care about recreating responsibly and who want to be of service and steward our precious outdoor environments.
As of January 31st, these similarly mission-oriented people can now be added to our ranks. So let’s shout it from the rooftops, COME BE A MAZAMA.
I’ll be sharing our new membership standards with the entire Scouting community in Oregon and SW Washington. I’m going to share it with my peers at Page Two Partners, great people who similarly love to be active in the outdoors. Many of them even said to me when I began working with the Mazamas, “Oh, I’d love to join the Mazamas, I just haven’t had time in my life to learn how to and then summit a glaciated peak.”
Becoming a larger organization with a growing membership doesn’t diminish us, it enhances us. So, I leave you with this question. Who are you going to invite to become a member of the Mazamas?