Jim Spaanstra joined us in May as our new Executive Director after serving on our board for the last seven years. Get to know our new fearless leader in this edition of Faces of GOCO!

What did you do before you came to GOCO?

I practiced environmental law at private law firms since (gasp) 1978.  My first professional job was as a staff lawyer at the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in President Carter’s White House

What brought you to GOCO?

I served on the GOCO Board for the last seven years, and was honored when that Board asked me to fill in for a year or so when our fabulously talented prior Executive Director- Lise Aangeenbrug- left us for a bigger stage at the National Parks Service Foundation in DC.

What has been your favorite part of working here so far?

Getting to know the amazing GOCO staff on day-to-basis.  I always knew that these folks do great work, but watching them do their thing masterfully week in/week out from my new vantage is a rare and wonderful experience.

What is your typical day like?

Lise just laughed (and otherwise refused to answer) when I asked this very question of her before I took the job. There is no “typical” day. One day I am touring Bill Trampe’s gorgeous ranch on the back side of Mount Crested Butte, the next I am riding bikes with Governor Hickenlooper and his “four bucks a year” bike czar Ken Gart, and the next working with our GOCO Inspire Initiative program team developing national cutting edge strategies for getting underserved urban kids into our great outdoors.  Lise did say this is the best job in Colorado, and she was spot on.

What are some of your favorite things to do outdoors? 

Hike, mountain and road bike, and watch the Michigan Wolverines play football.

Where is your favorite place to get outdoors in Colorado? 

Hard to choose, but riding the Summit County RecPath around Lake Dillon, then up from Frisco to Copper, and continuing on up and over Vail Pass is tough to beat.  Now if we can just figure out the narrows on Fremont Pass….

What is your most memorable outdoors mishap? 

Well, actually, what I don’t remember about a mishap is what my friends and family remember most. About 11 years ago, I crashed on my road bike headed north from Breck on the aforementioned RecPath towards Frisco.  I remember nothing from that Sunday afternoon until the next Thursday morning, but my friends and family tell me that I was an energetic and colorful conversationalist during my time in the ICU at Swedish in Denver.  Apparently I insisted to the medical staff that, among other tasks, I must be released by that Friday to travel to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin to watch Michigan trounce Bucky Badger.  While those two nice size frontal lobe brain contusions grounded me for a couple of months actually, they provide a good excuse when the GOCO staff thinks that I am getting a little, well, goofy toward the end of a busy  week.

What is the coolest wildlife you have spotted in Colorado?

[GOCO staffers] Emily Orbanek and Jake Houston on the Fremont Pass narrows hike mentioned above.