RMEF Programmatic Partners Help Move Mission Forward

Posted on: Feb 21, 2023

MISSOULA, Mont. — There are a lot of spokes in the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s ever-advancing wheel of conservation. Among them are RMEF members and volunteers, state wildlife agencies, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, conservation and sportsmen groups, and many outdoor industry partners, including those in RMEF’s Elk Country Legacy and Access Elk Country programs.

“We’re grateful for all of our conservation partners for the leadership they show while collaborating with us,” said Riza Lesser, RMEF managing director of marketing. “Specific to our programmatic outdoor industry partners, they are examples by word and deed thanks to their valued support of our programmatic approach of land conservation and access, habitat stewardship, wildlife management and hunting heritage.”

RMEF’s Elk Country Legacy program reflects all aspects of RMEF’s mission. Its sponsors are Benelli, Browning, Fiocchi, Grand View Outdoors, SCHEELS and Winchester.

RMEF’s Access Elk Country program looks to open or improve public access to elk habitat. Sponsors include ALPS OutdoorZ, Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s, Kimber, Warne Scope Mounts and Yamaha.

Below are a few examples of RMEF’s 2022 conservation successes.

Wyoming – conserved and opened access to 6,659 acres of wildlife habitat

Montana – conserved and opened access to 5,668 acres of habitat

Oregon – continued to raise funds for a two-phase project to conserve and open public access to more than 15,000 acres

Kentucky – helped expand the state’s elk range

Virginia – witnessed the state’s first managed elk hunt and helped raised conservation funding from it

Colorado – conserved 11,752 acres of elk habitat and a key mule deer migration corridor

Nevada – conserved 12,122 acres of habitat

Southern Appalachians – allotted more than $1.45 million to benefit elk and elk habitat in five states

Western States – committed more than $1 million for wildfire restoration

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:

Founded more than 38 years ago and fueled by hunters, RMEF maintains more than 225,000 members and has conserved more than 8.6 million acres for elk and other wildlife. RMEF also works to open and improve public access, fund and advocate for science-based resource management, and ensure the future of America’s hunting heritage. Discover why “Hunting Is Conservation™” at rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.