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About MOHF

Learn about us

The best conservation stories start with a single idea. They develop into history with the foresight and drive of passionate individuals.

The idea for a Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame came when longtime Montana conservationist Jim Posewitz was the banquet speaker for a similar entity in Wyoming in October 2012. Posewitz returned to Montana and tested out his idea with people at The Montana Historical Society and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. In 2013, his drive and passion brought conservation nonprofits, foundations, and state agencies together for the purpose of capturing the stories of and educating the public about conservation heroes throughout Montana’s rich history.

OUR VISION

To inspire Montanans to conserve our fish, wildlife, land, waters, and outdoor heritage

OUR MISSION

To honor Montana’s conservation heroes by highlighting their legacies

OUR PROCESS

HOW WE DO WHAT WE DO

Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame (MOHF) was created to honor individuals, both living and deceased, who made significant and lasting contributions to the restoration and conservation of Montana’s wild animals and wild places. The focus of the induction is to recognize Montana’s historical and contemporary conservation leaders and to capture the stories of these individuals in an effort to contribute to public awareness and education.

MOHF’s founding individuals and organizations participating include Bruce Whittenberg and Molly Kruckenberg of the Montana Historical Society; Thomas Baumeister of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; George Bettas, Samantha Lavin and Jane Ratzlaff of Montana’s Outdoor Legacy Foundation; Dave Chadwick and Stan Frasier of the Montana Wildlife Federation; Laura Parr and Brian Sybert of the Montana Wilderness Association; Stan Bradshaw of Montana Trout Unlimited; Germaine White of The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation; and Jim Posewitz of the Cinnabar Foundation.

Their initial enthusiasm for the idea led to the formation of a planning committee, working under a memorandum of understanding signed in December 2013. The founding organizations are pleased to announce MOHF is now a 501c3 nonprofit organization with its own bylaws, a board of directors, and opportunities for advancement. While the structure of the MOHF has changed, the effort will continue to function in close cooperation with the founding organizations.

Are you passionate about Montana’s conservation history? Are you a leader who wants to give back to the community? If so, please consider learning more about serving on the MOHF board of directors. MOHF is looking for energetic and committed board members to help carry out the mission and create a vision for the future. Board members serve two-year terms beginning in January of each year.

For more information, please email mtoutdoorhalloffame@gmail.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thomas Baumeister

Thomas Baumeister has been involved with the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame since the beginning. He founded and currently runs Access WILD, a business devoted to introducing people to the wilds of the West; he worked for Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks for 20 years. Thomas has devoted his life to conserving and connecting with wild places and its inhabitants.

David Brooks

David Brooks serves as the Executive Director of Montana Trout Unlimited. Before joining MTU’s conservation crew, he was trained as an environmental historian who studied Superfund sites and watershed issues. As part of earning his PhD in history at the University of Montana, David wrote the book on Superfund cleanup of the Milltown Dam site on the Clark Fork. Since moving to Missoula in 2000, he has walked, jogged, pedaled, paddled, rowed, hunted, skied and ogled as many wild places and open spaces in the state as possible, most enjoyably when he’s in the company of his wife, daughter, dog, and friends.

Glenn Elison (Treasurer)

Glenn is from PA. He received a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University and a M.S. from Washington State University. Following commissioning in the Navy, Glenn and his wife, Denice, were assigned to Adak, Alaska. Glenn had a 27-year career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife starting in the Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. He managed the Alaska Peninsula NWR and had a ten-year tenure as refuge manager for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge during the contentious debate over oil and gas development on the Refuge. Glenn’s final assignment with the FWS was as the Alaska director for wildlife and land management programs.

Following retirement from the FWS, Glenn spent 12 years as the Alaska State Director for The Conservation Fund, a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to habitat protection. He negotiated and raised funding for numerous fish and wildlife habitat acquisitions, among them a 22,000-acre conservation easement in the Wood-Tikchik State Park, which includes the salmon rich Agulowak River. He and Denice reside in Lewistown, Montana and seasonally return to Alaska. They are avid wilderness and wild river travelers. Glenn continues to indulge his lifelong passions for fishing, hunting, hiking, and river rafting.

Kathy Hadley

Kathy Hadley is a life long hunter and angler. She worked for the National Center for Appropriate Technology for close to thirty years, retiring in 2019 as the Executive Director. She lives in the Clark Fork River valley on a small ranch and spends her time as a community volunteer on river, wildlife and public lands issues.

Bert Lindler (President)

Bert Lindler is a community volunteer in Missoula and Mineral Counties. He is a former outdoor and environmental writer for the Great Falls Tribune and technical editor for the U.S. Forest Service. He currently serves as the North Hills Elk, Bear and Weed Volunteer (self-appointed).

Laura Lundquist (Secretary)

Laura is a freelance reporter who has covered environmental and outdoors issues in Montana and Idaho since 2010. A native Montanan, she cherishes the wildlife, water and wild lands of her home state and appreciates those who work to preserve them.

Laura Parr

Laura has been a proud member of the MOHF committee since 2014. Laura is the Operations Director for Wild Montana is responsible for managing human resources and business operations for the organization. As a native Montanan, she enjoys exploring our great state with her husband, two kids, and two dogs.

Zoe Ann Stotlz

Zoe Ann has retired from the Montana Historical Society Research Center as their Reference Historian. She is proud to be a member of the MOHF Board. Born in Montana, she was raised to love both the prairie as well as the mountains. Helena serves as her home where she volunteers for Lewis and Clark Literacy, advocates for women’s education, and focuses on Montana historical research, contributing to a project on Montana food history.

STAFF

Ariel Rademaker – Executive Director

Ariel is an independent contractor who has worked with Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame since 2016, becoming executive director in 2022. She was a park ranger with the National Park Service and has spent the past two decades in Glacier and Grand Teton. Nothing makes her happier than hiking in the mountains with her husband, two little boys, and dog!

CONTRIBUTORS

Luke Duran

Our award ceremony programs are designed by Luke Duran, former art director for the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks magazine, Montana Outdoors. He now is the designer for the Montana Historical Society’s journal, Montana: The Magazine of Western History. Luke operates a freelance design business (Element L Design), enjoys cooking, landscaping, aquariums, and is an avid music lover and bass guitar player.

Tom Palmer

MOHF extends a special thank you to Tom Palmer, who wrote inductee biographies for the 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 inductees. Palmer was a feature writer for the Helena Independent Record in the mid-1980s before moving on to a nearly 30-year career at Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Palmer served on the MOHF board in 2022 and 2023.

Charlie M. Russell’s “When the Land Belonged to God,” is the signature image of the MOHF and is used with the permission of the Montana Historical Society.