Officers

Douglas Bishop - Executive Director

(email)

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.

Doug has worked off and on for Valley View Hot Springs since 1975. Some of the Valley View projects he has assisted with include: Oak House remodel and upstairs dormitory addition, cabin repair and remodeling projects, Sunset Rooms construction, bath house construction, swimming pool reconstruction, stone retaining wall around swimming pool, soaking pools reconstruction, hydroelectric plant installation and upgrade, pipelines, housing, cleaning, maintenance, and registration/office duties. Doug is interested in maintaining the open space characteristic of the area, enjoying and promoting clothing optional policies, and preserving the existing natural and historical resources of the neighborhood that has been his home since 1973.

Board of Directors

Roger Courtemanche - Board Chairperson (Term expires 2025)

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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.

Jon Florey - Vice Chairperson (Term expires 2024)

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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.”

Patrick Comiskey - Treasurer (Term expires 2025)

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Bio coming soon.

Scott Hamilton - Secretary (Term expires 2024)

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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.

Martin Jolley - (Term expires 2023)

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Martin formally retired from the University of Missouri – Kansas City in 2008. After teaching in the sciences for over 30 years, he and his wife, Jane, moved to Salida. Five years before he fully retired, teaching only 50% of the time, one of their daughters gave him a small box of oil paints to help occupy his time. She knew he liked to doodle and sketch so the addition of some painting, she thought, would help him fill some of the “extra” time he had. Visiting the Valley View Hot Springs since 2004, Martin has seen the photographs by John Lorenz and was impressed by their unique views, their colors and their composition. Attempting to reflect John’s vision in acrylic, water color and oil paint, Martin has worked to remain faithful to John’s concept but to add his own interpretation as well. The Orient Land Trust, which includes the Valley View Hot Springs, is one of the most beautiful places he has ever visited. Honestly, it is the reason he and his wife bought their home in Salida. To be close to the land, the views and the amazing people of the San Luis Valley. Enjoy! You can see more of his art at: www.JolleyArtWorks.com

Sarah Halliday - (Term expires 2024)

(email)

Is a native of Colorado, raised in the mountains along the front range. She first visited VVHS as a teenager with very close family friends in the mid-1990's, and since then has been hooked! Having been a member ever since, she met, and married her husband at VVHS.
Sarah is very passionate about conservation, and community, and keeping as many parts of Colorado as "whole" as possible.

Mike Allen - (Term expires 2023)

(email)

Mike has enjoyed Valley View Hot Springs for over 25 years. It’s a remarkable place in the Northern San Luis Valley. He wants to support all of the OLT mission as a Board member and to keep the spirit of this unique area so visitors can enjoy the land trust because of the many magically features: pleasant hot springs, magnificent sunsets, extraordinary bat flights, amazing heavenly views from the OLT telescope and the friendly people at Valley View Hot Springs. Mike enjoys getting outdoors and participating in mountain biking, cycling and hiking. He has spent 20+ years in the technology industry and over five years volunteering for non-profits, 501(c)3. Mike looks forward to visiting with members at Valley View Hot Springs.

Susan Hicks - (Term expires 2025)

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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.

Bill Moench - (Term expires 2023)

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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.

Vacancy - (Term expires 2026)

Advisory (non-voting) Board

Terry Seitz - Consultant and Cofounder

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Terry, cofounder of Orient Land Trust, has resided in the San Luis Valley since 1976. 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.

Neil Seitz - Cofounder

Neil Seitz, cofounder of Orient Land Trust, was born in Minnesota in 1954. Neil first visited the San Luis Valley in 1972 and studied architectural engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder from January 1973 through December 1974. Before becoming Executive Director of Orient Land Trust, he operated Valley View Hot Springs for twenty-nine years. He lives at Orient Land Trust with his wife Terry. He has experience in designing and constructing buildings and alternative energy projects. Neil has served on the Saguache County Planning Commission and on numerous local boards.

John Eiseman

John first moved to Colorado with his family in the 1950s. He was exposed to the beauty of the state from an early age during innumerable camping, climbing, and skiing trips with his parents, and has been a permanent resident since 1971. He has had a life-long passion for exploration, having worked and traveled extensively in Central and South America and the South Pacific. Among his other interests are history, scuba diving, horseback riding, and good old-fashioned ranch work.

He earned his BA in Economics from Stanford University and his MBA in Finance from the University of Denver. Professionally, he has worked in the area of Finance and Treasury in several different industries over the past 30 years. These include experiences in the securities industry, healthcare, natural gas distribution, and homebuilding. Currently, he serves as Director of Finance for KB Home in Denver.

John's first extensive exposure to the San Luis Valley came in 1979 when his family purchased the old Abeyta Ranch on Major Creek, two miles south of Valley View Hot Springs along the Sangre de Cristo Range. For the past 26 years, John's family has worked tirelessly to maintain the old West charm of the family ranch while preserving the natural beauty and robust wildlife habitat of Major Creek.

Harold Pratt

Kirk Navo, Bat Biologist

Don & Kathy Geddes