Ron Regan Executive Director Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Q: How did you get into hunting and fishing?

I grewup in a small town in Vermont near Lake Champlain, and outdoor opportunities beckoned constantly. I had an uncle who was an avid sportsman, and he was my gateway to hunting and fishing. My uncle helped me buy my first firearm, a .410-caliber shotgun, and took me bird, squirrel, rabbit and deer hunting whenever possible. He loved ice fishing, and we did that together as well.

Q: What led you to your career in conservation?

That’s easy to answer – my time outdoors led to a passion for nature, wildlife and conservation. When I learned it was possible to go to college to study such things, my career path was clear. After I graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in wildlife biology, I began what would become a 26-year career with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. I have never regretted this career choice.

Q: How did you get involved with the TRCP?

I moved to Washington, D.C., three years ago to begin work with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. A large portion of my job duties focused on fisheries management. At some point, [TRCP Director of Policy and Government Relations] Tom Franklin asked me if I would chair TRCP’s Marine Fisheries Working Group, and I said yes.

Q: What do you think the most important conservation issues facing sportsmen are today?

Three issues immediately come to mind. The first one is habitat loss – development, energy transmission and climate change impacts are stressors of great magnitude on habitat quality. This in turn impacts the health, abundance and distribution of fish and wildlife resources. The second issue is access to hunting and fishing; habitat fragmentation, posted land and even competition for access on public land are making it difficult for hunters and anglers to get afield. Finally, state fish and wildlife agencies are the stewards of all fish and wildlife resources. The challenges facing these agencies are huge, and funding is stable at best. Sportsmen need to support new and broader funding for state agencies so our treasured resources remain sustainable and accessible in the future.

Q: What are your hopes for the future of the TRCP?

This is an important time for TRCP’s future, with the search for a new president and CEO. I look forward to serving on the TRCP board of directors to help shape that future and to define a conservation policy niche on behalf of hunters and anglers.

Tom Trotter holds a rooster fish he caught while fishing in Costa Rica. Photo courtesy of Tom Trotter. Send your photos to cduxbury@trcp.org.

Theodore Roosevelt, the energetic, perpetual-motion machine, once was characterized as “pure act” and was described by his daughter Alice as “always wanting to be the bride at every wedding and corpse at every funeral.” There’s no doubt the man craved attention but not so much so that he was loathe to ask for help, especially when it came to the conservation agenda he set for himself. Luckily for Roosevelt, he had Iowa Congressman John F. Lacey at his side.

T.R.’s association with Lacey began years before his rise to the presidency. Lacey was a member of the Boone & Crockett Club, founded by T.R. and George Bird Grinnell in 1887. In 1894, after years of working to protect Yellowstone National Park’s wildlife, a bison poaching incident in the park created a public outcry. Within a week, Lacey introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to give the Department of the Interior authority to arrest and prosecute lawbreakers in the park and protect Yellowstone’s wildlife. In matter of days, the legislation passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Cleveland.

In 1900 after much consideration, debate and delay, the Lacey Act was passed. The act outlawed market hunting and the interstate shipments of plants, wildlife and wildlife parts, particularly those that were illegally taken, possessed, transported or sold. If the Lacey Act and corresponding state laws had not been enacted, numerous fish and wildlife species would have faced extinction.

Not until 1906, when Roosevelt was president and busy establishing America’s great public lands, was he met with heavy resistance from special interest groups and Congress itself. Lacey and Edgar Lee Hewett stepped up to the plate and authored what would become known as the Antiquities Act. Essentially, the act gave Roosevelt the power to conserve lands without congressional approval. Roosevelt relished that authority and, thankfully for future generations, set aside iconic landscapes such as the Grand Canyon, which at the time was being eyed by mining and other natural resource extraction interests that hoped to exploit the “Big Ditch.”

Lacey lost his congressional seat in the fall elections that year after serving eight terms. Following Lacey’s loss, T.R. offered him a seat in his cabinet or an ambassadorship. Lacey passed on Roosevelt’s offer and returned to Iowa to practice law, a path he pursued until his death in 1913.

Unlike Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Lacey never seemed to care about the limelight. As a result, he probably would have ended up in the dust bin of history, were it not for his connection to the Lacey Act.

Q. How many acres of public lands – forests, parks, monuments and refuges – did T.R. conserve during his presidency?

Send your answer to cduxbury@trcp.org for your chance to win a navy blue T.R. Sesquicentennial hat.

Congratulations to Lex Morgan for answering last month’s TR i.v.i.a. question correctly. Morgan, a 63-year-old electronic field service engineer from Bryan, Texas, first learned about the TRCP while watching an episode of “Escape to the Wild” and joined right away.

“I believe in the principles of conservation promoted by the Partnership and the ‘Square Deal’ espoused by T.R.,” said Morgan. “Since joining I have made somewhat of a hobby of studying T.R.’s life, and the more I learn, the more I am amazed that the man packed such a robust life into 60 short years.”