Who we are
Executive Director Doug Bishop
Doug Bishop is a native of Colorado, born in La Junta in 1950. He moved to the San Luis Valley, Saguache County and was caretaker for property at Major Creek, three miles south of Valley View Hot Springs, from 1973 to 1980. His children, Kestrel and Alan, were born there. He first visited Valley View Hot Springs in March of 1973. In 1980, he moved to ten acres, originally part of the homestead that became Valley View Hot Springs, and built a house. For the past four years he’s been building a new house on the property. He conducted recreational horseback rides in the area around the hot springs from 1984 to 2002. In 1984, he started working as a part-time ski instructor at Monarch Ski Area. He attained PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors of America) Level II certification in 1991, PSIA Children’s Accreditation in 1992, and PSIA Level III certification in 1993. He was selected Colorado Ski Country USA’s Ski Instructor of the Year for the 1992-93 ski season. His seasonal full-time employment for Monarch began in 1988, and in 2001, he completed his eighth and final season as manager of the Monarch Children’s Center. In 2003 Doug received a BA degree in Elementary Education from Adams State College. He taught second grade at Jewell Elementary in Aurora for the 2003-04 school year. For the 2004-05 school year, he worked as a teacher’s aide for the Title I program in Saguache, Colorado at Mountain Valley Schools. For the 2005-06 school year, he worked as the classroom teacher for a combined classroom of third and fourth graders in Saguache at Mountain Valley Elementary.
Board Chair Jon Florey
Jon was born in South Dakota. He moved away from that state in the early 1990’s to begin his professional career in sales and marketing and lived in Chicago, Dallas, Tampa, and few other places during this time. After the terror attacks of 9-11-2001 he joined the United States Air Force (USAF). During his 4-year tenure in the USAF he was based at Croughton Royal Air Force Base in the United Kingdom, England. He served 3 years overseas and, for his last year, he served at Hanscom, Air Force Base near Boston, MA. He left the USAF as a Captain and moved to Steamboat, CO eventually ending up living in the burbs of Denver. Jon has a Master’s degree in Information Systems and started a towing company in Denver in 2011. He met his husband, Aaron, in 2007 and whom introduced him to Valley View Hot springs in 2009 and they have been members ever since. Aaron and Jon now live in Golden, CO where they own a small business. They enjoy snowboarding in the beautiful Rocky Mountains that surround them and, of course, visiting Valley View as much as possible. When asked, “What do you love about Valley View and why are you on the Board of Directors?”, Jon says, “Let’s just say this, if more people were like the people that are members of Valley View Hot Springs and Orient Land Trust, out in the real world, we could fix everything…outside of the magic of the land and water…the people are what make this place special. I’m honored and blessed to be able to be a small part of it.”
Vice Chair Susan Hicks
Contributing to society was a quest that began, for myself, in high school and continued after college. I enrolled in the Peace Corps in 1976 and was off to change the world. My first stop was Central America and Spanish language classes in El Salvador. I was then moved to Guatemala. This was quite an education indeed. Following culture shock and enrollment in graduate school, education became my calling. I had completed a degree in Biology and decided to continue my studies with a Master’s in Science Education. This led to a successful 30-year career in public education and numerous opportunities to support environmental causes. My career in teaching allowed me to develop leadership skills through curriculum development, union negotiations, department leadership, and training other teachers. My passion for the environment and for our human connection to the environment was inspired by the likes of Jane Goodall and Rachel Carson. My many visits to Valley View Hot Springs and the surroundings prompted me to continue to meditate about our place on the planet. I initiated a 2nd career in the public libraries where I was exposed to many tremendous authors and became a fanatic for an individual’s right to access information. Libraries promote so many causes and welcome all. I feel this is a guiding premise to OLT’s mission. To preserve an individual’s right to knowledge, to recreate in a birthday suit, to connect with others in a safe and open environment, and to appreciate our place in the universe propelled me to serve on the OLT Board of Directors.
Treasurer Patrick Comiskey
Bio coming soon
Secretary Scott Hamilton
Scott Hamilton’s first experience with Valley View Hot Springs was in the early 80’s, before the first bathhouse was built, when his girlfriend (now wife) Rachel suggested a visit to this cool place in the northern San Luis Valley “where you don’t wear any clothes – anywhere”. Always a naturist at heart, he was intrigued and then charmed by the magic of Valley View. He visited sporadically during the 80’s, but after the first boy was born in the early 90’s, visits accelerated. Soon two more boys were added to the roster (identical twins) and all three learned to swim in the Valley View swimming pool. Camping and swimming and diving for baubles in the party pool – ahem – “soaking pond” — what’s not to like? Scott and Rachel and kids loved the family-friendly atmosphere, rustic setting and clothing-optional environment found nowhere else.
Scott is an electrical engineer by training, co-founding, running, and selling two high-tech companies in the Boulder entrepreneurial tradition. Retired in 2001, he and his wife enjoy backpacking, back-country skiing, bike touring and traveling, including visiting other hot springs world-wide – the latest at the bottom of a fabulous marble gorge in Taiwan. Scott and Rachel live in Boulder.
Roger Courtemanche
Roger is originally from New Hampshire. He moved to Colorado in 2000. Roger has been coming to Valley view for over 10 years now. His first time he was actually turned away because we were at capacity. He returned the next day with friends and fell in love with the place and decided to get involved. Roger attended board meetings and when he didn’t leave when the discussion about the financials started they decided he might be a good fit for the board and asked him to join. He remained on the board almost 3 years when he decided to retire and move to Florida. Not long after he decided Florida wasn’t for himself he moved back to Colorado and requested to re-join the board which the members elected him back on when there was an opening. He served as vice chair of the board for three years before becoming chairman of the board in 2022. Roger loves to travel and exploring new Hot Springs, but he always finds his way back to his favorite valley view. Roger lives in Aurora Colorado.
Bill Moench
Bill grew up in Iowa with a family that vacationed in Colorado and the west nearly every year.After attending music school at UNC in Greeley, he became a public school band director for six years. He then went to law school in St. Louis, and became a trial lawyer over the next thirty-five years, specializing in employment discrimination and other civil rights cases on behalf of employees. He first discovered the peace and freedom of Valley View on a solo vacation from St. Louis during a rough patch in his personal life, and was hooked. After moving to Denver to work for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2009, he was able to visit Valley View more often. He retired from trial work in 2015, and started volunteering as a camp host. He has continued hosting every year, and became a board member in 2022 in hopes of contributing to the legacy and positive direction of the Orient Land Trust.
Terry Seitz
Terry, cofounder of Orient Land Trust, has resided in the San Luis Valley since 1976. Terry was a long time employee of OLT who retired in 2012.Before joining the staff of OLT she, along with her husband Neil, owned and operated Valley View Hot Springs. She served for many years on the Supervisory Committee of the Saguache County Credit Union, and received the Colorado Credit Union League’s Volunteer of the Year Award in 1997. She has also been active in the Villa Grove Area Merchants Association since its founding in 1987. Terry was appointed to the OLT Board in January 2024 for the remainder of the term of retired board member Sarah Halliday.
Aleia Schaum
Aleia retired from a 30 -year career in public education. As an educator she specialized in environmental education and creating community within the classroom. She made the mountains of Colorado her home during college. Valley View became her home away from home since 1983. Aleia has supported and celebrated the transformation from just a hot springs to a nonprofit organization that promotes conservation, preservation, research and education. Her commitment to being a steward of Earth motivated her to join the OLT board. She is dedicated to supporting the management to makes decisions balancing economic and environmental issues. She is delighted to give back by volunteering in the office, serving on committees, and being on the board. Aleia served previous terms on the OLT Board and her most recent appointment to the board is to serve the remaining term of retiring board member Mike Allen.
Tricia Huth
Having grown up in multiple places, Tricia claims Wisconsin as her home state. That’s where she camped and swam and ventured into the boundary waters of northern Minnesota for her first wilderness experience. All this was the backdrop to finding OLT as her happy place when she relocated to Denver in the 70’s. Tricia has marked many milestones at Valley View, including her honeymoon and family vacations with their three children. Her work life in Denver was mostly focused on youth – education and counseling.
Now retired, volunteer efforts include time at OLT as a camp host, supporting refugees in Denver, and keeping the books for her neighborhood organization. When she’s not playing with her granddaughters, Tricia enjoys everything outdoors – hiking, camping, x-country skiing, swimming, walking her dog. On the home front she enjoys gardening, reading, and visiting with friends.
Executive Director Select Crystal England
Crystal was born and raised in a small town in Iowa and always dreamed of living in the mountains. In 2015, she and her family moved to Crestone, and she began working at the front desk at Valley View in May 2016. She immediately fell in love with the magic of Valley View Hot Springs.
In 2017, she discovered the Everson Ranch, where she continues to create memories by working in the garden and kitchen and hosting events. Her dedication to protecting the water, land, and community, along with continuing the legacy of the Orient Land Trust, shapes her future.
Crystal loves to feed people and, when she’s not at work, can often be found in the kitchen or tending to her large collection of houseplants. She is passionate about clean food and water and loves spreading joy.