A family floating/camping trip down the Smith River when she was 5 hooked Wendy Weaver on river recreation.
“It’s still burned into my mind,” she said. “It was an incredible experience.”
Growing up in Missoula — running whitewater in the Alberton Gorge, North Fork Flathead and Blackfoot rivers with her father, along with tubing the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers — further cemented her love of water-based recreation as she grew older.
“My dad was a big whitewater guy,” Weaver said. “So rivers are very ingrained into my upbringing.”
Weaver is now a Livingston resident who lives only five minutes from the Yellowstone River. As executive director of the nonprofit Montana Freshwater Partners, she has taken it upon herself to pilot the Yellowstone River Ambassadors program.