Barb
Cestero

Barb serves as our Montana State Director in the Northern Rockies office based in Bozeman, MT.  Prior to joining the Wilderness Society, Barb worked for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition as the Montana Program Director specializing in collaborative approaches to public land management, community outreach and grassroots organizing.

She also spent seven years as the Northern Rockies Program Director for the Sonoran Institute, helping rapidly growing, rural western communities plan for their future. Here she honed her skills in community visioning, citizen leadership development, capacity building, and land use planning. While at the Sonoran Institute, she authored Beyond the Hundredth Meeting: a Field Guide to Collaborative Conservation on the West's Public Lands and Landscapes, Wildlife and People: A Community Workbook for Habitat Conservation.

Barb’s passion for public lands and wilderness grew during her ten years leading wilderness education courses for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) from Alaska to Arizona.

She holds a BA in Religion from Princeton University and a Masters in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. Barb lives in Bozeman, MT and when not working, enjoys exploring the northern Rockies on foot or ski with her dog Pepper.