Teton Conservation District is proud to announce Dr. Mike Merigliano and Linda Merigliano as the recipients of the 2026 Teton Conservation Vision Award. Together and individually, the Meriglianos have spent careers deepening our community’s relationship with the lands and waters of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. This award recognizes those whose work advances our vision of a forward-looking community practicing natural resource stewardship, and few have embodied that vision more fully, and irrespective of recognition, than Mike and Linda.
From left to right: Robb Sgroi (Land Resources Specialist), Dr. Mike Merigliano, Linda Merigliano.
“Despite Mike and Linda’s aversion to the spotlight,” says Carlin Girard, Executive Director at Teton Conservation District, “our Board of Supervisors wanted to express our appreciation for their tireless commitment. As a symbol of their combined efforts, we are presenting them with a Giant Red Paintbrush and Fringed Sage companion kit that they can plant on their property in Teton Valley, Idaho.”
Dr. Mike merigliano
Dr. Merigliano is a lifelong conservationist in the Tetons who has made a lasting impact on people, resources, and the institutions that care for them.
Mike draws from many fields — ecology, botany, geology, hydrology, soils, and photography — with a fluency that is hard to overstate. He might call himself a plant ecologist; his resume might lead you to think he is a forester; a conversation will quickly demonstrate the detailed catalogue of the natural world contained with in his head. His personal observations from decades traversing the region’s wild places, combined with his educational background, have contributed to his remarkable wealth of knowledge.
Mike has supported Teton Conservation District in numerous ways, including vegetation data collection on Bridger-Teton National Forest grazing allotments and developing Ecological Site Descriptions for tall forb communities. He has also led dozens of expeditions into the remote corners of our public lands to retake historical photographs to compare vegetation community changes. A strong mountaineer, he doesn't cut corners, carrying heavy reference books and large format cameras into remote locations, keying out species or perfectly recreating a still image from 1921 with patience and rigor that few can match.
Mike is driven by his passion for the work and his commitment to quality resource management, and he practices conservation in his personal life with the same consistency he brings to the field: living simply, limiting his footprint, and caring deeply for this place.
Linda Merigliano
Linda spent 34 years as a recreation and wilderness manager with the Bridger-Teton National Forest, becoming one of the most trusted and respected public lands managers in the region. Her career is defined by a rare combination of deep technical expertise and skill at working with people, navigating a host of recreation conflicts throughout this region with patience, transparency, and a persistent belief that engaged communities make good decisions.
Linda’s contributions to this landscape are extensive. Among them, she was instrumental in establishing organizations that added lasting resources to the forest, led wilderness planning for the Jedediah Smith Wilderness, and helped shape the trail and recreation systems that locals and visitors rely on today.
Beyond her formal roles, Linda is warm, principled, and unflappable. She is someone who genuinely loves this land and the community built around it. Her dedication to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is not only through her 45-year career at the Forest Service; she embodies it in so many ways, including recently, by becoming a Board Member at the Friends of the Bridger Teton.
“Sharing an office with Linda for four years, I witnessed her skill-sets firsthand. Linda is highly organized with a strong work ethic that permeates everything she does. Accompanying her on site visits, you quickly see that ‘she hikes like she has somewhere to be!’ Linda also invested heavily into her employees, to empower them to become effective stewards of natural resources,” said Robb Sgroi.
We are proud to celebrate them both, and even prouder to call them partners in stewardship.
Thank you, Mike and Linda, for a lifetime of caring for this remarkable place.