Steff is a former wilderness instructor who has worked on conservation issues in Wyoming and Alaska for more than 20 years. She officially began working with The Wilderness Society in 2007 and focuses on Western Wyoming landscape protection, particularly in the Upper Green River Valley and the Wyoming Range.

Steff has been the executive director of two conservation organizations, the Alaska Center for the Environment and the Wyoming Outdoor Council, and was also an environmental consultant for many years, providing strategic, campaign, lobby and research support for many conservation groups in the region.

She was chief coordinator of a multi-faceted campaign that successfully passed the Wyoming Wildlife Trust in the state legislature, creating one of the largest state funds in the country for wildlife habitat protection and restoration.

She co-founded Wind River Alliance, a Native-American based conservation group on the Wind River Reservation, and has also worked for the Joint Tribes on conservation topics.

Steff served on the Board of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition for 7 years and was chair for two years. Currently she sits on the University of Wyoming Ruckelshaus Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources Board and is an elected trustee of the Lander Wyoming school board.

Steff has an BA in Environmental Education from Earlham College and an M. Ed from Harvard University Graduate School of Education in Administration, Planning and Policy.