Jessica Karjala

Executive Director

Email: jessica.karjala@footloosemontana.org
Phone: 406.880.9594

Growing up in Montana Jessica was excited when wolves and grizzly bear populations were recovering after gaining protection under the Endangered Species Act. She worked in Glacier Park waiting tables for the chance to see wolves and grizzly bears. She understood the rarity of such an opportunity and relished every minute of her time in the park. She is incredibly saddened to now see bounties on wolves, increased killing quotas on wolves, the way trophy hunters want to use Yellowstone National Park and Glacier Park as hunting farms and angry about the state of Montana joining the trophy hunting industry to sue the USFWS to delist grizzly bears. She remembers how rare it was to see a grizzly bear and how slow their population is recovering due to their low rates of reproduction. Jessica served in the Montana legislature from 2015 – 2021 until she termed out the House of Representatives. She was stunned to see the group of outsiders working on behalf of the trophy hunting industry who legislated the increasing slaughter and brutalization of wolves and other wildlife. As someone who has lived in Montana the majority of her life, Jessica felt as if the Montana she grew up in and loved was becoming unrecognizable when it came to the treatment of our wildlife. Wildlife is part of the public trust and the profit-driven legislation destroying our wildlife in the Montana legislature infuriated her. It felt like monied interests were taking away one of the most precious things that make Montana special – wolves, grizzly bears and all of our wildlife. Jessica has aways been an animal lover and a lover of the outdoors hiking and camping in many of Montana’s mountain ranges. It’s no wonder she is now serving as the Executive Director of Footloose Montana where she can put her passion to protect Montana’s wildlife into action. She relishes the opportunity to ban the cruel “recreation” of trapping and fight against the legislature and commission trying to slaughter our wildlife and profit from them. Jessica continues to enjoy the wild places of Montana and will fight to ensure our wildlife remain the most spectacular part of our wild lands.