About Doug Tims

He held leadership positions in the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association and worked with outfitters around the nation to merge EPRO, The Eastern Professional River Outfitters and WRGA, the Western River Guides Association to create America Outdoors, the national voice of the outfitting industry.

Key Milestones

1983  Formed Northwest River Company buying two existing Middle Fork businesses

1985  Bought Steve Curry’s Selway River outfitting operation

1988 Bought Don Hatch’s Selway operation

1988 Sold the Middle Fork operation to Les and Susan Bechdel, who renamed it Canyons, Inc.

1998 Sold half of the Selway operation to Marty Smith at Three Rivers Rafting

2009 Sold the last of the Selway operation to Ari Kotler, who operates it as S.O.A.R./Northwest River Company

Under Tims’ leadership as CEO, Maravia pioneered revolutionary raft-building technologies: Thermofused™ seam construction (1986), Urethane Seamless Encapsulation (1989), Class VI base fabrics (1995), and Dreamboats (2017). Maravia produces whitewater rafts with customer-designed colors and graphics, unmatched in the industry for style, performance and durability. The company grew to produce hundreds of boats per year for self-guided river runners and professional outfitters— on rivers worldwide including the Grand Canyon, Yangtze, Bio-Bio, Salmon, Selway, New, Kennebec, and Gauley. Maravia rafts were featured in the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and 1995 in the Meryl Streep film The River Wild. Tims championed keeping manufacturing in America, refusing to move production overseas.

In 1997, Maravia purchased Cascade Outfitters from Jack Nelson (founded by Ron Mattson – now Cascade River Gear), running it as a division of Maravia Corporation. Today, Tims serves as Chairman of the Board and CEO (semi-retired) of Maravia Corporation of Idaho. The company is thriving, in the excellent hands of Angela Sherman, Doug’s daughter, serving as COO (Chief OnWater Officer) of Maravia/Cascade today.

In 1990, Doug’s lifelong friend Brad Janoush, fellow river guide and MAI appraiser, told him of an 85-acre 1897 homestead on the Main Salmon River being offered for sale by The Trust for Public Land. The two purchased the primitive property as a wilderness hunting, fishing and camping retreat. In 2006 Doug and Phyllis decided to make restoration and preservation of the homestead their retirement years project.

In 2007 the Tims secured National Historic Register listing for the homestead and initiated a ten-year preservation plan to restore its buildings and preserve it for future generations of wilderness and wild river travelers.
The 1905 log cabin was refurbished with new porch, sill logs, chinking, windows and roof. The interior is now a museum housing artifacts and documentation of the pioneers who lived and died on the property. The orchard, barn, irrigation channels, blacksmith shop, chicken coop and wild game storage buildings were restored. A public interpretive and education program was developed with national park quality signs and live docent tours. The 512sf caretaker cabin has been upgraded to provide environmentally sensitive solar and micro-hydro power and up to code indoor sanitation facilities to sustain future owners in their preservation work. The Ferry is now the most popular historic site on the Wild and Scenic Salmon River.

Tims is the author of two books, both self-published under the name Ferry Media (Tucson, AZ):

• Merciless Eden: A River of No Return (2013, co-authored with Phyllis Tims)

One reviewer described Merciless Eden as “a tale of literary sleuthing.”

While living, caretaking and working to restore and preserve the Campbell’s Ferry homestead, Doug and Phyllis began hearing the voices of the early pioneers, and embarked on a seven-year journey to find and interview the descendants of prior Ferry owners. The effort resulted in the publication of Merciless Eden in 2013. That year marked the 100th birthday of Frances Zaunmiller, the Ferry’s most famous resident who came to the homestead in 1940 and died there in 1986. The Tims’ research for the book revealed the true story of Frances’ life, originally told as escaping a failed marriage in Texas, now known as a flight from the law for her involvement with a 1930s counterfeiter husband.

The title reflects the dual nature of the homestead – both its stunning magical setting deep in the wild Salmon River canyon, and the toll extracted on the early pioneers through death, disease and the challenge of survival. Within that context Merciless Eden chronicles the Tims’ work to preserve and restore the property. Also told are wildfire events and the seventeen-year effort to create a legally sound conservation easement that guarantees future preservation of the homestead with no development or commercialization.

• Selway: The Original Wild and Scenic River

Tims’ writing blends memoir and meticulous historical research, interweaving personal experience from a quarter-century of running Idaho’s rivers with deeply researched pioneer, conservation, and natural history. Reviewers describe his work as “well researched, well organized, well written,” with “little nuggets of explanatory information” that demonstrate exhaustive research. He presents nuanced, balanced treatment of controversial topics like wilderness designation, fire policy, endangered species and the management system limiting river use.

Noted author, historian and Idaho river guide Cort Conley said of Selway: “This book is a remarkable accomplishment and achievement! Stunning. I have 250-300 river books in my library, and there’s not one quite like this. It’s certainly a deserving candidate for the annual Idaho Library Association book of the year.”

Dennis Baird, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho, Co-leader of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness History Project stated, “Although I have a pretty good understanding of the Selway, I learned a lot from the book. It is a remarkable effort at research in difficult to find and use sources. You have made a real contribution to Idaho history.”

Media Appearances

PBS Outdoor Idaho

Featured in multiple episodes including “The Next Chapter” (Season 39, Episode 4), “Faces of Change” (Season 39, Episode 6), and “Salmon River Lodges.”

NPR (2009)

Featured in a major story about the U.S. Postal Service ending the last backcountry airmail service in the lower 48 states. Doug provided photos and quotes: “I hate to see it end. It’s our contact with the outside world.”

IDAHO magazine

Published excerpt titled “Alone” about life in isolation at Campbell’s Ferry.

Idaho County Free Press

Covered a lecture by Doug and Phyllis at the Historical Museum at St. Gertrude (October 2016).

Fox Business

Mentioned in a profile of Maravia as an American-made manufacturer.