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Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Announces $30 Million Endowment, Largest Ever

March 1, 2013

Ever daydream about what you might do with a cool $1 million? The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is about to find out, times 30.At its annual convention, “Elk Camp,” in Reno, Nev., last night, RMEF CEO David Allen announced the creation of what is likely the largest endowment in the history of an American hunting-conservation organization. It’s the $30 million Torstenson Family Endowment, a fund earmarked to help the RMEF achieve its core missions of habitat enhancement, hunting heritage, permanent land protection, and elk restoration.Outdoor Life sat down with Allen shortly before he announced the endowment. Here’s the backstory of this remarkable gift, and ways the RMEF intends to pay it forward.

2 | Read the full entry

Guide to America's Public Land

Click on your state in the map below.

Find the top public-land destinations in your state, including:

  • Wildlife Refuges
  • State WMAs
  • National Forests
  • Fishing Access Sites

About Open Country

Hunters and anglers across the nation consistently list one challenge as their primary obstacle to spending more time in the field: Access.

Outdoor Life’s Open Country program aims to tackle that issue head on and with boots on the ground. The program highlights volunteer-driven efforts to improve access along with habitat improvements to make existing public lands even better places to hunt and fish. The program's goal is to substantially increase sportsman's access across the country by promoting events that make a difference.

The Open Country program culminates in an awards system with top projects and participants being honored during a gala at the 2014 SHOT Show in January.

Submit a project for the Open Country Award.
Nominate an individual for the Open Country Award.

Open Country

Event Calendar

  • August 17, 2013 - Harsen's Island Hunter Access & Invasive Species Removal
  • Sept. 14, 2013 - Rifle River Fish Habitat

Recent News

  • March 1, 2013

    How Sequestration Could Impact Your Hunting and Fishing: National Wildlife Refuge Closures-6

    by

    With the sequestration (an $85 billion across-the-board cut from the federal budget) set to take place by at least 11:59 p.m. tonight, a lot of people are wondering exactly what the impacts will be. If the White House and Congress can't come to an agreement, and it doesn't look they will, there will be a forced 8.2 percent budget cut to all non-exempt federal programs including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. National Park Services, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

    What it could mean for you, is less access to hunting, hiking, and fishing opportunities at national wildlife refuges.

    [ Read Full Post ]
  • January 11, 2013

    Conservation Funding Could Become Casualty of Gun-Control Battle-1

    by

    Ten bills were introduced on the first day of the 113th Congressional session that deal with firearms. Most of those seek to ban certain modern sporting rifles and restrict magazine capacity. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings it shouldn’t be a surprise to see gun bans and other anti-gun legislation being brought forward. It’s also no surprise that Second Amendment advocacy groups are fighting hard to stop this new legislation.

    But there’s another facet to this story we all must consider: how all of these severely restrictive guns laws, if passed, would influence our public land access and conservation funding. Most folks don’t seem to realize that banning AR-15s would severely erode funding for popular access programs paid for by Pittman-Robertson funds.

    [ Read Full Post ]
  • September 6, 2012

    Are Wolves Big Game Animals or Varmints?-33

    by

    It is the year of wolf. Or so it seems.

    Earlier this year, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota saw their wolf populations delisted.

    That those states would have a wolf hunting and/or trapping season has never been in question for many residents. It’s simply been a matter of when. Idaho and Montana adopted wolf seasons soon after the animals were delisted there. Minnesota added a wolf hunt just weeks after its population was delisted in January.

    Wyoming, however, is at the head of the delisted-to-hunted train.  Wyoming’s wolf population is expected to be delisted on Sept. 30. Wyoming’s new wolf season would open the next day.

    [ Read Full Post ]
  • May 23, 2012

    Why We Should Overturn Sunday Hunting Bans-13

    by

    Norman McLean said, in “A River Runs through It,” that we’re never late for two things in Montana, church and fishing. I’m a bit of a hedonist at heart, so I’m late for church by a couple of decades. What I’m never late for on Sunday in season is a pre-dawn trek to my favorite cathedral to look for the good lord’s finest creation: A big old bull elk.

    From a Westerner’s perspective, there’s not much stranger than banning hunting on Sunday. That old-time tradition, still in force in a half a dozen states, is a relic of a different age, like wearing tweeds when fishing, or dressing up for a driven pheasant shoot. I sometimes enjoy those disconnects from the modern world, as I myself am half Luddite myself.

    But no hunting on Sunday! C’mon. That’s just, well, puritanical.

    [ Read Full Post ]
  • May 3, 2012

    TRCP Program Gives Outdoorsmen the Opportunity to Pick Locations for Conservation-0

    by

    A press release just popped into my e-mail that caught my attention: TRCP Donates $10K to Sportsmen's Access.

    The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) giving $10,000 to help bolster public hunting and fishing access is definitely something of interest. As I read through the release, I learned that TRCP had donated the cash to support the Wyoming Game & Fish Department’s Private Lands Public Wildlife Access Program, which provides hunters and anglers with access to private lands.

    As you’ve likely figured out by now, I’m a big fan of such programs and kudos are in order to TRCP for providing that support. But what really caught my attention was a link to a fairly new effort by TRCP dubbed the Sportsmen Values Mapping Project.

    [ Read Full Post ]
  • February 22, 2012

    MT Wildlife Commission Allows Hunters to Shoot Bison That Wander Outside Yellowstone Area-4

    by

    Montana's wildlife commission voted 4-1 Thursday to authorize hunters to shoot bison that stray beyond extended "tolerance areas" north of Yellowstone National Park and areas outside the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Indian reservations.

    The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department says the move is designed to ease public resistance to bison roaming freely outside of the designated areas. The move is also designed to complement other bison management efforts implemented by officials such as driving or guiding bison back into the parks, or capturing them for relocation or slaughter.

    [ Read Full Post ]
  • February 10, 2012

    Should Landowners Be Allowed to Sell Their Game Tags?-6

    by

    There are two bills being hashed out in the Idaho state Legislature that would allow landowners to sell their hunting tags to the highest bidders.

    The current law allows landowners to transfer tags to other hunters, but they cannot charge for them. There's an appreciation program that designates deer, elk and pronghorn tags in a separate pool for people who own at least 640 acres in lottery units. However, if Senate Bill 1282 or Senate Bill 1283 are passed, landowners in these areas would be allowed to cash in on their tags.

    [ Read Full Post ]