Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Welcomes Four New Members to Its Board of Directors

posted in: General

January 9, 2026

Experts in conservation, policy, and business join the leadership team

(Washington D.C.) – The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is pleased to announce the appointment of four new directors to its leadership team. Meredith Baker, Lindsey Davis, Jack Hazel, and Tony Wasley join the 29-member board that oversees TRCP.

Additionally, longtime TRCP Board Member, Matt Cook, has been elected as the new TRCP Board Chair following the tenure of Alston Watt. Cook is the CEO of SquareTop Capital Partners LLC and has decades of executive and investment experience leading and advising growth-oriented companies, along with a proven track record of strategic leadership and organizational stewardship.

“TRCP is privileged to welcome these four new members to our Board of Directors,” said Matt Cook, TRCP board chair. “Their diverse experience and perspectives will strengthen our organization and help advance our work to conserve hunting, fishing, and the wild places that matter to future generations.”

TRCP continues to rise to the challenge originally set forth by our founder, Jim Range – to unite and amplify our partners’ voices to advance America’s legacy of conservation, habitat, and access. Since our inception almost 25 years ago, TRCP has become the most effective coalition of conservation organizations in the country, all united around Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy.

“We’re pleased to welcome these accomplished leaders and dedicated conservation advocates to the TRCP family,” said Joel Pedersen, president and CEO of the TRCP. “Our Board of Directors strengthens and guides our work, helping us unite partners and advance conservation, habitat, and access across the country. I appreciate Alston’s leadership over the last 2 years and look forward to the passion that Matt will bring as Chair. With Meredith, Lindsey, Jack, and Tony joining the Board, TRCP is well positioned to continue delivering on our mission to guarantee all Americans quality places to hunt and fish.”

Bios for the incoming board members can be found below. To read more about TRCP’s full Board of Directors and leadership team, click HERE.

Meredith Baker

Meredith Attwell Baker was President and CEO of CTIA, the Wireless Association, for 11 years. Prior to that, she was appointed by President Barack Obama as a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to joining the FCC, Meredith served in the Bush Administration as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information as well as the Acting Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Meredith serves on multiple boards, including the Economic Club of Washington, the National Alliance to End Homelessness and St. Christopher’s by the Sea. She has received multiple honors and awards including: Washingtonian’s Most Powerful Women in Washington, Tech Titans and Most Influential People; Washington Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business, Fierce Wireless’ Most Powerful People in Wireless, The Hill’s Top Lobbyist and Washington & Lee University’s Distinguished Alumni. In 2023, she was inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame.

Meredith holds a B.A. from Washington & Lee University and a law degree from the University of Houston. She is a member of the Texas State Bar.

Lindsey Davis

Lindsey Davis is an outdoor recreation and conservation leader based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her career in the outdoor industry began when she founded Wylder Goods. For five years, she served as CEO, leading the only women-specific online retailer in the outdoor industry and the first female-founded benefit corporation in the state of Utah. During this time, she also graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. Following Wylder, Lindsey served as Senior Vice President of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, where she helped establish the organization as the nation’s leading coalition of outdoor recreation trade associations and businesses.

Lindsey is the Director of Conservation at SITKA Gear and serves on several national conservation boards. An avid outdoorswoman, she spends as much time outside as possible—whether bowhunting, gravel biking, or sharing the joys of nature with her toddler.

Jack Hazel

Jack has built a distinguished career in construction, environmental services, and land stewardship. He spent 25 years with William A. Hazel, Inc., working in site construction, including 10 years as President, where he led an organization of more than 1,000 employees. He later founded Angler Environmental, a firm specializing in wetland construction and stream restoration projects, as well as Angler Construction, a site development company he led for a decade. Jack is currently the owner of Angler Development, which he has successfully operated for more than 25 years.

In addition to his professional leadership, Jack has held numerous civic and nonprofit leadership roles. He has served as President of the Heavy Construction Contractors Association, President of the Young Presidents’ Organization, Chairman of Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia, and as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Meadows Outdoor Foundation in The Plains, Virginia. He has also served on the Board of Directors for Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run in McLean, Virginia.

Jack graduated from St. Stephen’s School in Alexandria, Virginia, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1979.

Tony Wasley

Tony Wasley currently serves as the President and CEO of the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), a non-profit conservation organization founded in 1911 and dedicated to science-based, professional wildlife management. WMI continues to serve as the think tank for conservation in exploring topics like conservation relevancy and compiling a comprehensive set of foundational elements for conservation’s future. Tony is actively involved with the American Wildlife Conservation Partners, sits on the board for the Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports, chairs the Executive Committee for Conservation without Conflict, and has previously served as a member of Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s Policy Committee. He is a professional member of the Boone and Crockett Club and The Wildlife Society.

Three members also concluded their time with the TRCP Board of Directors in December: Chris Metz, KC Walsh, and Terry Hamby. Their dedication to the TRCP mission and efforts to help advance America’s legacy of conservation, habitat, and access are to be applauded.

The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.

by: Noah Davis

posted in: General

December 29, 2025

In the Arena: Zack Williams

TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.

Zack Williams

Hometown: Missoula, MT
Occupation: Editorial and Brand Manager for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
Conservation credentials: A lifelong angler and hunter, Williams has been a steelhead guide in the Pacific Northwest and is the founding editor of Swing the Fly. Williams used this expertise and passion for conservation to find a job working in the hunt-fish nonprofit space.

Zack Williams garnered his maniacal angling mindset from a childhood in the water-logged state of Michigan. This fanatic pursuit received a steroid shot to the arm when he found the steelhead rivers of the Pacific Northwest and took a foray down the Andes chasing trout. Now Williams has settled in Montana and scrambles through hellholes looking for elk and mule deer when he’s not standing up for public lands and hunter and angler access in his role at Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

Here is his story.

TRCP: How were you introduced to hunting, fishing, and the outdoors? Who introduced you?

Zack Williams: I was fortunate. My dad had me waiving around a fly rod at the age of two. By the time I was five he was taking me smallmouth fishing on our local Michigan river upwards of five nights a week. When I wanted to start bowhunting at 12, he picked it up with me. I owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude – and my mom as well for allowing us to disappear at will to fish and hunt.

Williams happy before a long, dark packout.

TRCP: Tell us about one of your most memorable outdoor adventures.

Zack Williams: Being a weekend warrior these days, I cherish the memories of extended periods spent detached from the hustle of modern life. A few cherry examples are four months in Argentina chasing trout down the length of the Andes in my 20s; two summers spent living out of a tiny camper from Oregon’s North Umpqua River to Michigan up to Jasper, Canada, and across the West with my wife, two large dogs and a cat; a fall and winter spent living in a tiny backpacking tent with my dog chasing steelhead across the Northwest. I look forward to future opportunities to detach like that again, hopefully with my wife and daughter if they’re interested.

TRCP: If you could hunt or fish anywhere, where would it be and why?

Zack Williams: I’m always curious about what lies over the next ridge. Rather than dream of faraway lands, I think I’d choose somewhere I’ve never explored here in Montana, free of roads and with lots of downed trees, nasty November weather and minimal people, to chase elk or mule deer.

TRCP: How does conservation help enhance your outdoor life?

Zack Williams: Everything I value, outside of family, can be directly traced to wild public lands and clean, cold water. Conserving those is everything to me.

TRCP: What are the major conservation challenges where you live?

Zack Williams: There are a lot of important issues at the forefront right now, but for me, number one is saving the Roadless Rule. So many of the quality experiences – and so much of the quality wildlife habitat – we have are dependent on having roadless tracts of public land. Beyond that, fiscally, it just doesn’t make sense to build more roads when we don’t have the funding to maintain the ones we have. There’s a lot of misunderstanding concerning the Roadless Rule – what it does and what it doesn’t do. I hope hunters, anglers and policymakers will take the time to understand the facts about it before the next comment period in the spring of 2026.

Williams and his daughter, Cora, with a Westslope cutthroat.

TRCP: Why is it important to you to be involved in conservation?

Zack Williams: I have a young daughter and would like her to have the chance to experience wild public lands and waters like I have. Beyond that, it just feels like the right thing to do.

TRCP: Why should conservation matter to the next generation of hunters and anglers?

Zack Williams: Once these places are gone, they aren’t coming back. As the man TR himself said in my favorite part from the Man in the Arena speech: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

Apathy is not an option these days when it comes to conservation – and a whole lot of other things it seems. I don’t think we have a choice unless we’re OK with seeing it all go away. Maybe it’s always been that way, but to me it feels like we’re at a very critical moment for public lands and waters. We need a new generation of leaders to stand up like those before us did.

Photo credit: Zack Williams

by: Guest Author Bjorn Dihle

posted in: General

December 23, 2025

The Tongass Assessment Report Balances the Needs of Hunters, Anglers, and Other Users

TRCP commends the Forest Service for its emphasis on assuring healthy fish and wildlife habitat and ensuring continued access and recreation opportunities for local and visiting hunters and anglers

The Forest Service recently released the Tongass National Forest Plan Assessment Report, which highlights the agency’s focus on strong watershed conservation for salmon, deer habitat restoration through science-based forestry, reliable access for traditional and recreational use, and continued collaboration with Tribes, local communities, and conservation partners. TRCP commends the Forest Service for its emphasis on assuring healthy fish and wildlife habitat and ensuring continued access and recreation opportunities for local and visiting hunters and anglers.

“The overarching vision for the Tongass, as shown by the public feedback results, is that it remains a healthy ecosystem,” the Forest Service writes. “When viewed as an entire 17-million-acre region, the Tongass National Forest has retained natural ecosystem processes to a degree far greater than most National Forests in the Lower 48 states. There have not been wholesale changes in natural processes in Southeast Alaska, and it is one of the last places where natural salmon runs thrive.”

The report is one of the first steps in revising the Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan (also called the Forest Management Plan). The plan highlights priorities to guide the next chapter in managing America’s largest and wildest national forest.

Big, Wet, and Wild

The Tongass National Forest, encompassing most of Southeast Alaska, is what locals call a working forest. Roughly 72,000 people live in 32 communities within the Forest’s boundaries. Salmon are the backbone of the region’s ecosystem. All five species of Pacific salmon spawn in the Tongass’s 3,000 plus streams, and these fish provide the foundation for many of the region’s economic opportunities, supporting commercial fishing, tourism, and the hunting and fishing lifestyle. Around 2.3 million visitors come to the Tongass each year to experience the scenery and outdoor opportunities, which are all tied to a well-functioning ecosystem.

Locals live alongside some of the wildest and most intact lands in America. The forest supports a robust population of Sitka blacktail deer, mountain goats, and brown and black bears. Southeast Alaska’s remaining old growth forests are key to the health of salmon streams and winter habitat for deer and goats that support hunting and fishing.

In this assessment, the Forest Service is focused on adaptive management to meet the challenges of a variety of environmental changes, like expected increases in temperature, rainfall, flooding, and landslides that will affect fish habitat, deer populations, and access routes.

Exciting Changes

The Tongass has reached a pivotal moment of its management where millions of acres of young growth forest are now ready for commercial harvest that could also restore wildlife habitat. The Forest Service’s report makes it clear that Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations have requested this approach to forest management. Other public input has also supported young growth timber harvests that improve browse habitat and support local sawmills. While salmon stream restoration work has been conducted for the last few decades with positive results, the focus on forest restoration to benefit deer and other wildlife is more recent. Restoration is building momentum, creating jobs, and is something locals and visiting outdoorsmen and women are excited to see enacted.

Young growth timber harvests can improve browse habitat for Sitka blacktails and support local sawmills.

Maintain Existing Roads

The Tongass has thousands of miles of existing roads. The budget for road maintenance is underfunded, and many roaded areas lack maintained access. The report highlights the importance of maintaining and repairing roads, trails, docks, and campsites for access to hunting and fishing grounds. The monitoring of road culverts is also important to prevent fish blockages, and surveying aquatic species and habitat restoration is important to sustain the ecosystems that hunters and anglers rely on.

The report notes that road construction, as well as mining and tourism growth, all carry risks for aquatic habitat if not managed carefully. The revised plan could strengthen standards and guidelines to conserve fish-bearing streams and surface resources.

A Path to a Positive Future Depends on All of Us

It’s no easy task to balance different users’ interests, but the Forest Service’s report shows that the agency is invested in a strong, working future for Southeast Alaska. It’ll be an exciting future for America’s largest national forest if the report’s priorities are adopted into the revised Tongass Forest Management Plan. To ensure this result, it is even more important that the hunting and fishing community stay engaged. There will be more public comment periods as revisions continue.

Photo Credit: Bjorn Dihle

by: Noah Davis

posted in: General

The Physical Art of Photography: A Conversation with Brian Grossenbacher

The photographer, angler, and conservationist shares stories from an adventure-filled career, tips for budding photographers, and the importance of being involved in conservation

Brian Grossenbacher has become one of the foremost photographers in the hunting and fishing space. Arriving to the art in the midst of a fly-fishing guiding career, Grossenbacher’s singular eye—an eye that he developed from decades of hunting and fishing—offered unique perspectives and angles that editors and companies gravitated to. Over the course of his career, Grossenbacher has shot across America and the world, capturing the moments that pull all of us to the woods and water.

In our exclusive TRCP conversation, Grossenbacher recounts adventures chasing salt-water crocodiles in Myanmar, guiding fly fishing trips down the Yellowstone in the 90s, how and why he first picked up a camera, and the physicality of being an outdoor photographer. This is one you won’t want to miss.

Can you pack more adventure into a single photo?

In our conversation, Grossenbacher provides a few tips to photographers looking to improve their skills.

“Shoot with your subject matter in mind and use the camera to crop for you,” offers Grossenbacher. “When you set up a shot, think about where you want the subject to be. Don’t just shoot everything wide and figure that you can go in and clean it up later. Be intentional with how you’re shooting because if you do just go out and spray and pray…it comes back and it haunts you on the back end when you have to go through and edit all those photos.”

“Be intentional with how you’re shooting…”

Grossenbacher has shot commercial campaigns for Yeti, Orvis, Simms, Costa, and Mossy Oak. He recently surpassed the 300th magazine cover milestone and regularly contributes to publications such as Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Gray’s Sporting Journal, and Covey Rise. Grossenbacher also provided the photographs to the book Trout written by Tom Rosenbauer, as well as The Orvis Guide to Upland Hunting written by Reid Bryant.

But it’s Grossenbacher’s combined skill with a camera and his commitment to conservation that makes him such an invaluable member of the outdoor community.

“If conservation just becomes part of our mindset and we approach life as our responsibility, I think we’re gonna make the world a better place,” said Grossenbacher.

Conservation ensures the future of these places and our outdoor traditions.

Learn about outdoor photography, the importance of conservation, and more in our full conversation with Brian Grossenbacher.

Watch the interview HERE.

Photo Credit: Brian Grossenbacher

by: Madeleine West

posted in: General

BLM Completes Third Round of Planning to Conserve Iconic Greater Sage Grouse

Opportunity to move beyond planning to conserve sagebrush habitat for hunters, anglers, and Western communities

Today, the Bureau of Land Management published approved resource management plans and records of decision for greater sage grouse plan amendments in California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Approved resources management plans for Colorado and Oregon were finalized in January 2025. Together, these plans guide how millions of acres of sagebrush habitat across the West will be managed to conserve wildlife, support Western communities, and ensure quality places for hunters and anglers.

“For almost 15 years, state agencies have worked in an unprecedented collaboration with the BLM to revise management plans to conserve over 67 million acres of sagebrush habitat,” said Madeleine West, vice president of Western conservation for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “We hope the completion of these plans ends the roller coaster cycle of planning so that state and federal agency resources can be spent on what is most important – species and land management to benefit the sagebrush ecosystem and Western communities that rely on it.”  

This concludes the BLM’s third round of land use planning, the first of which began in 2011. Plans originally completed in 2015 were revised in 2020, and those 2020 plans were subsequently challenged in court, necessitating this latest round of revisions. As the largest manager of sage grouse habitat, it is essential that the BLM have robust land use plans that incorporate the best available science to conserve the species. But for over a decade the BLM has needed to prioritize planning over management, which fails to serve the iconic bird, other sagebrush obligate species, and the people who depend on these landscapes.

The TRCP has been on the front lines of sage grouse conservation for years. The decline of this iconic game bird of the American West is the most visible indicator that sagebrush habitat is in trouble. That matters to hunters and anglers because the sagebrush ecosystem is home to more than 350 different species of plants and animals, including such iconic game species as pronghorn and mule deer.  Healthy, intact sagebrush landscapes are essential not only for sage grouse, but for resilient wildlife populations, migration corridors, and quality places to hunt and fish across the West.

For more information about the Greater Sage-grouse Land Use Plan Amendments, click HERE.   