Jenkins receives IBR recognition

SAGLE — A Bonner County woman is among those named by the Idaho Business Review to its list of the 2010 Idaho Business Women of the Year.

Carol Jenkins of Sagle was selected for the honor, which was announced when IBR released its list of honorees Feb. 2.

Jenkins’ well-deserved nomination reflects her prominent role in not one, but two businesses based in and around Sandpoint, both non-profits, Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness and Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society.

Jenkins has been the chief grant writer and is currently Idaho vice-chair of FSPW, a wilderness advocacy group seeking designation of 88,000 acres of roadless area on the Montana-Idaho border. In those capacities, she has helped with critical expansion in the organizational capacity of the group.

“Carol’s ability to adapt and serve in various roles within our organization has been a tremendous asset,” FSPW chair Phil Hough says. “Her steady hand and can-do attitude have been critical to our efforts at developing public support in Sandpoint and the surrounding communities in Bonner County.

Jenkins also served as president of the KNPS for years 2008 and 2009, presiding over transformation from being a chapter of Idaho Native Plant Society to being a completely independent organization.

Jenkins also was instrumental in firmly establishing the group’s “Grow Native” campaign.

Both of these positions are voluntary, and Jenkins admits, labors of love.

“The folks I like best and admire most are those involved with their communities in varied and interesting ways, giving of themselves,” Jenkins said. “They just seem more alive!”

“Sometimes I have chosen areas to pursue; sometimes I have stumbled into opportunities which have opened new and unexpected doors,” she added.

“FSPW is certainly one of those. It was a terrific opportunity to give back to the area my husband and I chose for our retirement: to obtain federal protection for the Scotchmans through wilderness designation, the first for the five northern counties of the “wilderness state.”

Jenkins and the other 49 women selected will be honored in a special edition, glossy magazine published in the Idaho Business Review on March 22 and honored at an awards dinner in Boise on March 18.