New Community Members Join the PROST Board

Last month, the Parks & Recreation department was happy to announce three new members of their now seven-member Board. The PROST Board works to serve as a link between the City Council, city staff, and the community. The Board meets with Parks & Recreation staff leaders at least once a month, where they collaborate to evaluate and prioritize parks, trails, recreation, and open space projects.

A new member of the PROST Board, Jon Terbush, is the executive director of Salida Mountain Trails. He brings to the PROST board nearly 20 years of experience in and around government as a journalist, PR professional, and nonprofit administrator. Jon joined PROST because he likes trails (surprise!) and to support community programming and services that promote active, healthy lifestyles.

Jess Smith and her husband, Josh, are local business owners raising two sons in Salida. Jess is thrilled to join the PROST Board, as she and her family enjoy Salida’s recreation opportunities every week, from organized events to outdoor spaces. As someone who’s benefitted from the work of Salida’s Rec Department, Jess hopes to use her time as a board member to support their work and be a resource for the community.

The third new member, Stacy Falk, feels strongly that the City of Salida is at the crux of creating even more incredible places to recreate. She applauds the completion of major projects such as the new skate park and the Scout Hut Wave, both of which will attract users from around the world, but feels there is still a lot of work to be done. Stacy wants to help be a positive voice in the success of this process because she loves combining her passions for the outdoors and recreation with purpose.

The Parks & Recreation department are pleased to have the remaining 4 Board members who have been with the organization for the last few years. Rob White joined PROST after having retired as a Park Manager of AHRA, with the desire to utilize his professional training and experience, along with his personal interest. His goals are to help the City of Salida develop and maintain the best parks, recreation programs, open space areas and trails that are both accessible and affordable to all of our residents and visitors.

Connor Maher works for Colorado Mountain Club doing public land conservation across the state, and contributes to many local trail projects. Initially hoping to bring his experience with conservation to the Parks & Rec department, he is now interested in the nitty gritty details. Connor continues to volunteer on the PROST Board to improve our recreation assets and experiences that we are so well known for.

Jessica Downing joined the PROST Board initially as the liaison with SPOT (Salida-area Parks Open space & Trails) to focus on connectivity and in-town trails. While connectivity is still a priority for Jessica, she also wants to see a diversity of recreation opportunities for all members of the community. Jessica recreates in Salida on the trails as a mountain biker and bike coach, she SUPs and surfs in the River Park, ice skates when the water is frozen, and sometimes she even gets to be a soccer mom!

Not pictured here is Kristy Falcon. Kristy moved to Salida a little over 13 years ago to work with the Salida Recreation Department, and has been involved in recreation in the community ever since. She really appreciates the many different recreational options in this area, and by serving on the PROST Board, Kristy hopes to help create opportunities for everyone in our community to be active, be social, and maybe try something new.

The Salida Parks and Recreation department is delighted to have such qualified, dedicated, and motivated community members working with them towards achieving their goals!