Investing in our Future

A calling to help preserve healthy water began early in life for Liz Rohde. Now, she is helping the next generation of scientists carry on her passion.

Liz recently included a gift in her estate plan that will ultimately establish two enduring funds at the Flathead Lake Biological Station. The Liz Rohde Endowed Scholarship will provide financial resources to students pursuing hands-on education at FLBS. The Liz Rohde Endowed Lake Monitoring Fund will sustain critical long-term lake science. Together, these funds will kindle curiosity in ecology and safeguard freshwater health for generations.

Liz moved from Seattle to Montana in 1977 with a boundless desire to be outside and soon became one of the first women to graduate from the Forestry program at Flathead Valley Community College. She later earned a bachelor’s degree in forest conservation with a focus on hydrology at the University of Montana.

For Liz, being near water has always felt like home. The expansive shores of Puget Sound sparked her curiosity as a child, a sense of wonder mirrored now by Flathead Lake. Her adopted motto became, “Preserve the best, restore the rest.”

During her 30+ year career with the Flathead National Forest, Liz surveyed alpine lakes for acid rain impacts and streams nationwide for impacts of land management. Along the way, she delivered hundreds of field samples to the labs at FLBS, building an enduring connection to its mission and place in the scientific community.

We thank Liz for her generosity, which reflects her lifetime devoted to healthy, accessible water.