BILL ABLES

After family, service to community is Bill Ables’ next driving thought and motivation. He was raised in Pendleton, OR and graduated from Oregon State University as a Wildlife Biologist in 1973. He always loved the idea of flying, and earned his pilot license in 1975; but was drawn to a career in public service in the wild lands and waters of his native state.



Bill obtained training at the state police academy. This landed him a job as a backcountry game warden in the desert country of southeast Oregon. He made friends with the Basque sheepherders, and they developed mutual respect for him, as well. But he longed for the forests he grew up in, and in 1976 was assigned to Wallowa County, headquartered in Enterprise, in northeast Oregon. 


“There wasn’t a stoplight in the whole county,” he says. But it wasn’t a sleepy region. The job exposed him to homicides, car wrecks, all kinds of police work and fish and wildlife enforcement. The remote Hells Canyon National Recreation Area was his “office”, including the Snake River Canyon, the deepest canyon in North America – yes, deeper than Grand Canyon. “There were times we had to depend on a rancher’s radio phone, since we had no other way to communicate,” he said. His job required the use of horses, drift boats, kayaks, and a jet boat to patrol 102 miles of the Snake River in Hells Canyon. Referring to the end of his professional career, he said, “that last ride on the river was as exciting as my first in 1976.”


For twelve years, Bill served on the school board. He and his wife Judy are now retired; she taught elementary grades.


In the early 1990s, Bill became aware of the need to protect airstrips, saying, “we lost a couple of airstrips, and I got involved.” He is the Oregon Pilots’ Association Backcountry Committee Chairman, and Idaho Aviation Association, (IAA) District II Director. He is a frequent volunteer at work parties in eastern Oregon and western Idaho, most recently working on horse-drawn mowing operations, flying in Sakcrete and digging holes for windsocks.


It was a natural fit for Bill to join the RAF. He became aware that airstrips were overlooked in the Wallowa-Whitman Forest Revision Plan, and reached out to RAF Public Agency Consultant Ron Normandeau for some mentoring. He received an RAF orange shirt in the mail, and attended a hearing. The USFS delegate from Washington, DC saw him and exclaimed to Bill, “I recognize that shirt!”

Since then, Bill has become an RAF ambassador. He gives the Idaho Aviation Association and Oregon Pilots Association high marks for leadership on projects in cooperation with the RAF and its grant program.


Submitted on May 13, 2021.

Recent Posts

IF WE COULD . . .

By Kodi Myhre • December 11, 2025
At about this time, every year, we have this conversation at the RAF about what our year end letter (code for asking for your financial support) should say to you, and about the RAF and the accomplishments of the past year.

RAF ADDS MICHIGAN LIAISON SCOTT ANTTILA

By Taylin Trafton • December 11, 2025
A Christmas gift of flight lessons from his parents started Scott Anttila’s aviation journey in 1985. “I learned at Johnson Field, a small grass strip tucked into the woods in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and that early exposure to simple backcountry flying stuck with me,” Scott says. Growing up in the U.P., he spent a lot of time outdoors and found that flying was another way to get to the places he liked to explore—especially the ones most people never saw. As he earned more ratings and eventually moved to the Detroit area for work, Scott realized he needed a way to stay connected to northern Michigan. He bought an airplane and used it to get back to the smaller airstrips and lake country he enjoyed. Along the way, he also flew gliders out of Frankfort, soaring along the Sleeping Bear Dunes and towing sailplanes over the Great Lakes. “Those flights gave me a different appreciation for the landscape and made me even more interested in the small, out-of-the-way airports scattered around the state,” he says. Visiting those kinds of places, Scott first came across the Recreational Aviation Foundation. He started using RAF-supported airstrips both inside and outside Michigan. “I noticed how well-kept they were and how much access they opened up,” he says, adding, ”Over the years, I’ve watched a number of grass strips close, which made the RAF’s mission feel especially important to me. Maintaining these airstrips keeps aviation connected to the outdoors and makes it possible for more people to reach the quiet, remote areas that inspired me to fly in the first place.” Scott joins the other two RAF Michigan Liaisons, General Grant and Tanmoy Ganguly. He can be reached at santtila@theraf.org . Submitted December 11, 2025.

VOLUNTEERS ENJOY MAGICAL VIEWS WHILE PREPARING WALKER RIDGE

By Taylin Trafton • December 11, 2025
“The word that comes to mind when I think of our second Walker Ridge work party is magical,” RAF California Liaison Doug Lumgair said, "even though it started off again with a truck stuck in the mud.” Volunteers began arriving Friday afternoon in a tailwheel Rans, a Super Cub, and Lumgair in his Cessna 170. A pickup with a big dump trailer brought the Polaris Ranger, and more pickups arrived. The runway surface posed major problems with boulders protruding from the surface. Everyone was eager to get started with pry bars and remove them. Once they fired up the generators to power the hammer drills, they discovered that this was the best method for attacking the rocks below the surface and breaking them up into pieces that they loaded into the trailer for removal. “At times, it felt like we had taken on an impossible task. But with steady work and persistence, by afternoon, we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Lumgair said.  In the Friday evening fire circle, they made new friends while sitting around a propane fire pit that had been cleverly transformed into a radiant heater by placing a washing-machine drum over it. Walker Ridge lies in a dark-sky area. Before the full supermoon rose, Lumgair said they could see the Milky Way with the naked eye. The campsite at the south end of Walker Ridge has a gorgeous view of the valley, and the view became “even more breathtaking as Central Valley tule fog filled the valley and the supermoon lit the fog, creating a shimmering white lake.” Lumgair said. Saturday morning, two crews quickly organized with hammer drills, and others began cutting brush along the runway edges. Volunteers had already removed what Lumgair called an incredible amount of brush during their first work party, but Saturday, they hauled out twelve more trailer loads. Late on Saturday, they had enough time to work on the rock outcroppings in the south turnaround area as well. "It was amazing that we were able to cut and haul so much brush and break down rocks and fill the resulting holes—all in one steady, hard-working day. Thank you very much to everyone for supporting the RAF in so many ways,” he said. Some stayed Saturday night to enjoy another beautiful evening. Work remains, and Lumgair is planning more work parties in the coming year to complete further improvements, some of which will require additional approval from the BLM. “Please let me know if you get up there this winter. I’d love to hear your thoughts and see any photos of your experience, Lumgair added. Doug Lumgair can be reached at dlumgair@theraf.org . Submitted December 11, 2025.

RAF FEATURED SUPPORTER: CHRIS NUGENT

By Taylin Trafton • December 9, 2025
Chris at TacAero in Fredericksburg, Texas to fly what he calls, "the mighty XCub. It's an awesome airplane,” he added.

IT WON'T HAPPEN AT ALL

By Taylin Trafton • December 9, 2025
That is the end of a quote that goes a bit like this: “It may not be easy, but if you don’t start, it won’t happen at all.” When I read that, I thought back 23 holiday seasons ago, about when the RAF got underway. We likely were a bit naïve about the road, or lack thereof, that was out front of the RAF, but we were wise enough to grasp that if the RAF were to become a successful contributor to our country’s recreational and backcountry aviation, the path would not be easy. What we did know was – and some of you have heard this before – “If not us, who? And if not now, when?” That simple realization got us started, or it wouldn’t have happened at all. The RAF works much that way today. We are a “jump in and figure it out” organization. We sense a need, and bypass the tendency to spend lots of time getting ready to get ready. As RAF Director Bill Brine of Massachusetts says, “The RAF has a bias towards action.” And we attract folks who have that same get-it-done attitude. What I try to do in this piece is relate these words to other parts of my life, and those who spend a few minutes reading them. With it being the giving season, I suggest that one of the best gifts you can perhaps give is one that says, “It might not be easy, but now is a good time to get going or (you guessed it), it won’t happen at all.” In this digital consumption world we live in, I urge you to be your best authentic you. We’re all bombarded with algorithms and social media. If you’re reading this, you are that authentic person the RAF seeks, who pitches in on the team that the RAF thrives on. You can be the wrapping paper around the gift of getting started, of helping others to take meaningful action, and accepting responsibility as opposed to taking credit, all while embracing the learning that comes from the occasional setback. If success had been a requirement ahead of passion, the RAF would not be where it is today. The RAF has proven that people with passion get things done. So, at this time of year, give that gift of passion and leadership, the kind the RAF works hard to exemplify. - John McKenna, RAF Chairman  Submitted December 9th, 2025.