Bart Mihailovich, a talented young writer and passionate environmentalist has been selected to be the new point person for the Spokane Riverkeeper project. Mihailovich is best known in Spokane for his pioneering work, along with his colleague Paul Dillon, for the “Down to Earth” blog hosted on-line by the Spokesman-Review. In the period of a few years, Mihailovich and Dillon, made Down to Earth one of the most successful blogs in American journalism, as they’ve written prolifically about a range of local, national and international environmental issues.
Mihailovich, who starts his new job in early August, was chosen from among several well-qualified candidates. A journalism graduate of Eastern Washington University, he is 27 and was just married earlier this month. Mihailovich grew up and went to high school in Butte, Montana. He is an experienced and committed outdoorsman who credits his parents–his mom is a dental hygienist and his father an environmental engineer–for his love of nature.
“They always tell you not to show your emotions too much,” Mihailovich says about his job interview with the Spokane Riverkeeper’s selection committee earlier this year. “But I sort of bucked that conventional wisdom. I wore it on my sleeve, about how much I really wanted this job, and how much I really wanted to do this.”
Mihailovich will be replacing Center for Justice attorney Rick Eichstaedt as the face of the Spokane Riverkeeper program. Eichstaedt became the first Spokane Riverkeeper in April 2009, when the International Waterkeepers Alliance approved the Center’s application to host the then-new program. He will continue to work for the Riverkeeper program in a support and legal capacity. Eichstaedt sees Mihailovich’s hiring as an important step in expanding the 15-month old project.
–CFJ
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