JESSIE BENTON FRÉMONT

Yosemite National Park, indeed the entire National Park System, might not exist today were it not for the influence of Jessie Benton Frémont. 

Married to John C. Frémont and the daughter of the most influential Democratic senator of the mid 1800s, Thomas Hart Benton, she influenced such luminaries as Horace Greeley, Thomas Starr King, Richard Henry Dana Jr. and U.S. Sen. Edward Baker to join Galen Clark and Sen. John Conness in urging Congress to set aside Yosemite and its Giant Sequoias in what comprises the heart of Yosemite National Park, today. 

In 1864 at the height of the Civil War, she traveled to Washington, D.C. with photographs of Yosemite Valley that she’d commissioned Carleton Watkins to take and personally entreated President Abraham Lincoln (they knew each other well), to save Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees by signing The Yosemite Grant, the first instance of land being set aside specifically for its preservation and public use by a national government. It was an extraordinary idea, proposed in extraordinary times, in part by an extraordinary woman. 

Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and historian Craig MacDonald asked, "If not for what she did behind the scene (during an age when women did not have the vote or any voice in public life), would there be a Yosemite National Park today, would John Muir have been drawn to the Valley because of the attention given it by its protection, would there have even been the foundation necessary to lead to establishing national parks?"

The Yosemite Grant set the foundation not only for the national parks, but for the California State Parks, as well. Still today, the words "Since 1864" are inscribed on the California State Parks symbol, a reminder of what this California heroine helped set in motion.

Before her work to protect Yosemite, Jessie Benton Frémont grew up on the frontier in Missouri and was the pen behind John C Frémont's widely read reports of his western expeditions. She followed that up with best-selling stories of his adventures that made her and her husband mega stars in their day. Her words inspired hundreds of thousands to venture west. No female writer in American history had a greater formative influence on America's view of California. She was prolific throughout her life, writing A Year of American Travel about her 1849 trek to California and regularly contributing to national magazines. Through her writings, she added an early  feminine voice to the history of California's outdoors. Jessie Benton Frémont is buried in Los Angeles, her adopted home. 

HEATHER ANDERSON

National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, Heather Anderson is the only woman who has completed the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide National Scenic Trails each three times. This includes her historic Calendar Year Triple Crown hike in 2018 when she hiked all three of those trails in one March-November season, making her the first female to do so.

She holds the overall self-supported Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Pacific Crest Trail (2013). She also holds the female self-supported FKT on the Appalachian Trail (2015), and the Arizona Trail (2016). She has logged over 40,000 foot-miles since 2003 including 15 thru-hikes and many ultramarathons. She is also an avid mountaineer and peakbagger working on several ascent lists in the US and abroad. 

As a professional speaker, Heather speaks regularly about her adventures and the lessons learned on trail. She is the author of Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home (2019) chronicling her Pacific Crest Trail record and Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail (2021) about her 2015 AT record. She also co-authored a guide to long-distance hiking preparation with Katie Gerber called Adventure Ready: A Hiker’s Guide to Training, Planning, and Resiliency (2022). You can find her online at wordsfromthewild.net or follow her on Instagram @ _wordsfromthewild_

BILL JENNINGS

Arriving in California in the early 1980s, Bill Jennings founded the Delta Angler and quickly became involved in protecting fisheries.  

He has labored in the trenches of state and federal water rights, water quality, and fishery permitting processes for nearly four decades.  Bill has authored myriad comment letters, protests, and petitions and frequently testifies in evidentiary proceedings.  He manages an aggressive enforcement campaign that has generated millions of dollars for restoration projects.

Following a massive fish kill, Jennings co-founded Committee to Save the Mokelumne and served as its Chairman.  He has Chaired the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance since 1988 and been its Executive Director since 2005.  Between 1995 and 2005 he served as Delta Keeper.  He is a Board Member of the California Water Impact Network and was one of the original founders and Board Member Emeritus of Restore the Delta.

Bill has received numerous acknowledgments including the International Conservation Award from the Federation of Fly Fishers, the Director's Achievement Award from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Conservation Achievement Award from the California-Nevada Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, the Quality of Life Award from the Land Utilization Alliance, and the Delta Advocate Award from Restore the Delta. The Outdoor Writers Association of California recognized him as Outdoor Californian of the Year and the Delta Fly Fishers selected him as Fly Fisherman of the Year. His efforts in obtaining an historic cleanup of Penn Mine on the Banks of the Mokelumne River led to awards by California Water Policy IX Conference.

GREG LEMOND

Greg LeMond was the first American to win the Tour de France. He won it thrice.

Born in Lakewood, Calif., he grew up on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Hiking, hunting, skiing and flyfishing were boyhood pastimes. "I was a boy who just could not sit still." he said. 

Afflicted with ADHD, he was unable to get help from his parents and educators who did not have the knowledge to diagnose and cope with his affliction, but when he got into cycling it changed his life. He rode his bike everywhere, often to school by riding over Mt. Rose pass. 

At 17, he finished second in the Tour of Fresno, catching the attention of the US Cycling Federation. He was then selected as the youngest member of the US Olympic Cycling Team and began winning amateur races. 

His debut as a pro was to win a stage of the Tour de France in 1981. He continued to place highly and was the first American to win a medal at the world championships. In the '84 Tour de France, he won the Young Rider jersey and placed second overall. In '86 LeMond became the first American to win the Tour. 

Following a near-fatal hunting accident in '87, he could not ride until '89 where he won another Tour, then again in '90. LeMond's success profoundly influenced American cycling, encouraging generations of Americans to compete and it stimulated broad interest in the sport. 

When his team recommended that he dope his blood, LeMond refused. He became an outspoken critic of performance-enhancing drugs in cycling. LeMond admitted that the prevalence of doping among other athletes shortened his career. Following his retirement from cycling in '94, he was inducted into the US Bicycling Hall of Fame.

Thereafter, LeMond established LeMond Cycles that innovated carbon frames, LeMond Fitness to help individuals train more effectively and LeMond Composites to manufacture high-volume, low-cost carbon fiber composites, among other ventures.

No American has had a more positive impact upon cycling than Greg LeMond.

BOB SIMMS

Considered to be a legend by those in Northern California who have listened to his information-packed radio program, Bob Simms speaks for the sportsman in one of the most important markets in California ... Sacramento. As, that's where public lands policy is made.

Bob Simms has been reporting about the outdoors on radio, television and in print for over 50 years. The Bob Simms Outdoors Show on KFBK-1530AM (5 - 8 a.m., Sat.) has been on the air for 32 years and is the top-rated radio program in its time slot in Northern California, exclusive of the Bay Area.  

Simms is an advocate for the sportsman and woman, keeping public lands agencies accountable for their practices. He is a voice for wildlife politics, defending hunting and fishing as a revenue-producing, environmentally friendly resource management tool to policy makers and lands agency managers based in Sacramento.

His show is a forum in outdoor sports and recreation with sportfishing skippers, guides, outfitters, marina operators, hunters, retailers, public lands managers and sportsmen able to voice what's happening and, more importantly, what should be happening. 

He advocates for them and for the resource, speaking a lot about wildlife, conservation and stewardship and he looks out for sportsmen. When Simms learned that the soldiers guarding Saddam Hussein's palaces and their many lakes and ponds had no fishing gear, he arranged for loads of rods, reels and tackle to be shipped to them. 

Bob not only speaks outdoor sports, he lives it. Simms travels the breadth of California when he's not on the air, to experience the outdoors and meet the people who support it. An accomplished outdoorsman who is self-taught, he's mastered every type of fishing and hunting and knows every corner of California. Simms is so familiar with the backwoods that he's often able to recite who owned a given ranch and the history of the location.

It's no coincidence that the International Sportsmans Exposition in Sacramento is attended by tens of thousands of enthusiastic outdoorsmen and women, each year. Bob Simms' positive voice for outdoor sport and recreation has generated strong regional public support.

DAVE HURLEY

Dave Hurley, Stockton, is a lifelong northern California angler with deep roots in the California Delta.

His love of the Delta was enhanced by his close relationship with the late Jay Sorensen, founder of the California Striped Bass Association and member of the California Outdoors Hall of Fame.

A lifelong educator, he started the Young Anglers of Morada Middle School to provide opportunities for underserved youth in the outdoors. He has testified as an expert witness before the State Water Board on Delta issues and has presented to the California Fish and Game Commission on numerous occasions. He is a strong advocate of catch-and-release of striped bass in excess of 10 pounds, and he additionally has written articles on the peril of excessive take of white sturgeon. Hurley has been writing stories on outdoor adventures for the past twenty years for a variety of publications including his own Hurley Chronicles, and he is a strong advocate for water issues as a board member of the California Sportfishing Protection Association, Water4Fish, and the California Inland Fisheries Foundation, Inc. 

As a native of Stockton, he covers his beloved California Delta along many other locations as northern California editor for Western Outdoor News. His great grandfather, Guiseppe Busalacchi was a commercial striped bass, salmon, and sturgeon fisherman in the Delta and a partner in the P. Busalacchi and Sons Fish Market in Stockton. He grew up at the right hand of his grandfather, Frank Busalacchi, who instilled the love of fishing, the outdoors, and the California Delta. In turn, Hurley is a master angler with world-class command of the 1,000-mile waterways of the Bay-Delta, and with additional travels across California and beyond.

ALEX HONNOLD

He gained world renown for the rescue of COHOF Class of 2021 member Emily Harrington on El Capitan and the featured climber and starring role in the Oscar-winning documentary feature “Free Solo.” In the world of big wall climbing at Yosemite Valley and elsewhere, Honnold has long been held as one of the world’s best for free solo ascents (without ropes).

He is the only person to free solo El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. In 2012, Honnold and Hans Florine (COHOF Class of 2016) set the record time on the Nose route on Yosemite‘s El Capitan, which he later broke in 2018 with Tommy Caldwell. Honnold’s first free solo ascent of El Capitan in 2017 has been described as “one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever,” and became the foundation for “Free Solo.”

He has appeared in many other films and television shows, including “60 Minutes,” and broke the barrier to bring the world of climbing into the homes of millions. His achievements include all the big walls of Yosemite, at Zion National Park in Utah, the Horseshoe Wall in Arkansas, and far beyond in Patagonia and the Czech Republic.

CLARENCE KING

Posthumorous

The travels and science of King — with his range of adventures and scope of public impact — was in the league of William Brewer (Class of 2005) and Josiah Whitney (Class of 2007). Along with Brewer and Whitney, he was one of four leading team members to make the first historic geologic survey of California over a four-year period by foot, horseback and boat. In September 1864, President Abraham Lincoln appointed King to make the first boundary survey of Yosemite Valley. Whitney then arranged for King to make the first survey of the Mojave Desert. In 1879, Congress chose King as the first director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

As an academic, King published “Systematic Geology,” where he is credited as “defining the geologic history of the Western U.S.” The work was called “one of the great scientific works of the late nineteenth century.” As an author, he wrote “Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada” (1872), which made him a public figure recognized across America, and for those who can find a copy, a cult classic. Mount Clarence King in Kings Canyon National Park is named for him.

JIM BROWN

After he developed the program that opened nine long-closed San Diego city lakes to the public, he set rules that helped create the best trophy bass fishing in America. His advocacy for public access elsewhere includes helping open the Owens River Gorge and the Haiwee reservoirs.

Brown is an avid, accomplished angler who has fished lakes across Southern California and an expert turkey hunter who has ventured throughout Southern California and beyond. He has used that expertise to also create a series of youth fishing programs, including one in which off-duty police officers served as fishing guides for at-risk youth, and creation of Chollas Lake as a “kids only” fishing hole. He pioneered the first catch-and-release warm water fishery in America to protect northern strain largemouth bass, expanded a waterfowl hunting program and a hunting program for turkeys that included a blind for hunters confined to wheelchairs. He is the co-founder of San Diego Trout. As co-founder and co-host of the “All Outdoors Radio Network,” many have followed Brown’s travels and adventures throughout his career.

The retired manager of the San Diego City Lakes Program fought for public recreational access

by Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune

To understand why Jim Brown will be inducted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame on Saturday in Sacramento, imagine the fancy footwork of Fred Astaire mixed with the determination of marathoner Meb Keflezighi.

Brown, the retired manager of the San Diego City Lakes Program, championed public access to recreational opportunities. Where he found walls, he patiently and persistently built doors. When he encountered tired or outdated resistance, he partnered rather than pound fists.

Bureaucrats responded more effectively to bridge-building than bellowing, he reasoned — so he shook hands instead of shoulders.

“I found ways to build relationships with people who might have been opposed to ideas initially,” said Brown, a Tierrasanta resident who turns 73 on Sunday. “If someone said Fish and Game wouldn’t allow me to do something, I’d make them a partner.

“That’s how we started the turkey-hunting program at Lake Sutherland, which might be the only program of its kind on city-owned land.”

This Astaire figured out when to lead … and when to follow. This Keflezighi understood some races required sustained focus and effort, not sprints. That unique combination inspired friends Bruce Bochy, the former Padres and Giants manager, and Poway’s Kevin McNamara to nominate Brown for the hall.

Brown will enter with a class that includes fearless climber Alex Honnold, the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo.” Although Brown’s contributions lack Honnold’s cinematic splash, the commitment to ensuring the public shared in San Diego County’s outdoor riches became a dogged climb of its own.

In eighth grade at an outdoors career conference, the Roosevelt Junior High student joined others asked about what job path they might consider. Some said wardens. Others said rangers. Brown pointed to county lakes manager Orville P. Ball.

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“I said, ‘I want Mr. Ball’s job,’ ” he said. “It was greeted with laughter, but 14 years later I had it.”

At age 15, Brown faced off with the city’s water department about decisions that damaged spawning fish and the false denials that followed. He later forced the hand of that same department, opening Lake Hodges to the public after two decades of closure.

Openings at Barrett Lake and Upper Otay followed.

While shepherding the city’s lakes from 1974 to 2003, Brown launched a program that began in Barrio Logan, collaborating with police to introduce kids in the city to fishing. He wrote a longtime outdoors column in the San Diego Tribune and connected with others by co-hosting a radio show on KCBQ called “The All-Outdoors Radio Network.”

Brown also taught outdoors-related courses as an adjunct professor at San Diego State and the former United States International University.

There’s no one in San Diego I know better than Brown, to be fully transparent. He befriended me without reservation or conditions upon my Union-Tribune arrival. Those same traits and tools, I discovered, helped him to navigate tangled red tape to the recreational benefit of thousands upon thousands across the county.

The number of people Brown has taught fly-fishing techniques to alone staggers. Trust me, there’s no more patient pursuit.

“I really appreciate the recognition,” Brown said of the hall induction. “It’s more like something given to a utility player, who can do quite a bit rather than the guy who hits the most home runs or something.

“The reality is, I feel that I’m in there because there’s a whole bunch of different things on different platforms that I’ve done.”

Humble framing from someone entrusted to oversee and foster, at its zenith, the largest municipally operated reservoir recreation program in the country.

At boat ramps across San Diego County, fishing guides and others lament how the program has wilted without Brown’s visionary, sleeves-rolled leadership. Some talk about the fisherman and game-bird hunter with reverence, like a celebrity dressed in camo.

The road Brown followed seemed somewhat inevitable for a kid who claims he learned to read by thumbing through Field & Stream, Outdoor Life and Sports Afield. A few days a week, he would wander to the National History Museum in Balboa Park to soak up information on every animal he could.

An unquenchable fascination with the outdoors fueled advocacy as an adult. Countless scores benefited.

“My approach was, if it’s a public resource, I should find a way to give the public access to it,” Brown said.

Slick, steady footwork indeed.

KENT BROWN

From his seminars, clinics and radio and television shows, he is known across the Western U.S. as one of America’s great ambassadors for the outdoors and fishing. He is a bass tournament champion, and his techniques and public appeal have helped advance the skills for finesse fishing and targeting large fish with swimbaits. In the process, he has fished virtually every bass lake in the Western U.S., a scope of achievement matched by few. Yet, beyond his own accomplishments, Brown has helped organize high school and college angling events, and is master of ceremonies at the largest high school events in California, and several others.

Despite his own accomplishments, his public focus is not on himself, but connecting with each person to help them catch more fish. That success had made him a must-see presenter at the aquarium tank at the International Sportsmen’s Exposition for 30 years, the longest run of thousands of presenters at ISE. He is also the host of ISE’s bass fishing program at all shows across the Western U.S., has been a featured presenter at virtually every sports show in the West beginning with his very first seminar in the early 1980s at the Cow Palace Boat Show. With 77% of the vote, he was this year’s top vote-getter.

TERRY KNIGHT

He is the consummate woodsman, an expert hunter and fisherman in many areas, yet has also reached thousands with his writing, seminars and free skill clinics. As a master outdoorsman, he has guided trips for bass fishing, turkey hunting, deer hunting and pig hunting, as well as nature walks and history tours. The late Rick Copeland (Class of 2008) recognized Knight as the rare talent who was capable of instructing even the most skilled, veteran hunters, and brought him in to teach at seminars hosted by Wilderness Unlimited. Knight is also a historian who has long studied the natural history of California and occasionally gives talks about it, with a specialty of his home water, Clear Lake, Mount Konocti and the surrounding area.

For more than 30 years, Knight has been a staff writer for ESPN Outdoors, Fishing and Hunting News, Western Outdoors, Bay Nature Magazine, Wilderness, Unlimited plus a number of newspapers, and currently writes a twice-weekly column for the Lake County Record Bee and the Ukiah Daily Journal. He has broken the barrier and is able to connect to the nonhunting/nonfishing public by writing about wildlife behavior, the environment, nature and, in turn, how it can affect fish and wildlife.

TOM MATTUSCH

Tom Mattusch, Princeton-by-the-Sea, is a master fisherman, hunter, boat captain, with a lifetime of teaching new anglers on the water, world travels of his own, as a leader with ties to many national fishing, hunting and conservation organizations, and county harbor commissioner.

As an outdoorsman, Tom Mattusch has been passionate about fishing and hunting all his life. As owner/operator of the Huli Cat out of Pillar Point Harbor, he has introduced and mentored thousands to saltwater fishing over thousands of days on the water. He has hunted over 20 states and 9 foreign countries.  Tom joined Safari Club International and has held many positions at the state and national level. Tom was a competition freediver sharing his passion with others. As a bluewater spearfisherman, he spearfished the Channel Islands for yellowtail and white sea bass, and the Revilla Gigedo Islands for tuna and wahoo.

Yet Tom Mattusch has made even bigger marks representing fishermen and hunters, preserving and defending rights to hunt and fish. Participating in the MLPA process, he fought to keep as much open for recreational angling and diving as possible. Coastside Fishing Club, the archetype for an internet-based organization with clout, was formed around his dining room table with the purpose to bring fishermen together and give them political strength and voice in California. For over ten years, he has gone back to Washington DC discussing hunting and conservation issues with elected representatives. Tom is a Life member of Safari Club International, CRPA, NRA, CCA and a member of number single specie organizations.  Tom has spent many days before the Fish & Game Commission speaking up for fishing and hunting opportunities and in Sacramento. He’s also a San Mateo County Harbor Commissioner. With his vessel Huli Cat, Tom also participates in a number of scientific research trips. Having seen anglers get steamrolled by ‘best available science’, he dedicated time to filling gaps in fishery information working towards better opportunities off California.

SHAUN WHITE

Shaun White, San Diego, “The Flying Tomato,” is world re-known as a snowboarder and is the inspiration for millions of young people around the world to take up winter sports. Yet his success has come after overcoming a congenital heart defect, where he survived two open heart surgeries by the age of 1.

He is best known for taking the winter Olympics by storm in 2006, when he won the gold medal in the snowboard halfpipe. He then also won the gold medal in the same event in 2010 and 2018. White has also participated in the Winter X Games, where he has won a medal every year since 2002. Including all winter X Games competitions through 2013, his medal count stands at 18 (13 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze), among which is the first quadruple win streak by a male athlete in one discipline, the snowboard slopestyle.

White’s dynamic performances and charismatic personality has made him the hero of a generation. White also has his own character in the video game Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder, as well as the video games Shaun White Snowboarding and Shaun White Skateboarding. In recent years, he cut short his famous long, flowing red locks, saying it had become a stereotype. A famous quote: “Some people attach snowboards to their feet. Very few attach them to their souls.”

KIT CARSON

Posthumorous

Kit Carson, was a legendary American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer.

In the 1840s, Carson was hired as a guide by John C. Frémont, whose expeditions covered much of California, Oregon, and the Great Basin area. Frémont mapped and wrote reports and commentaries on the Oregon Trail to assist and encourage westward-bound pioneers, and Carson achieved national fame through those accounts. Under Frémont's command, Carson participated in the conquest of California from Mexico at the beginning of the Mexican–American War. Later in the war, Carson was a scout and courier who was celebrated for his rescue mission after the Battle of San Pasqual and for his coast-to-coast journey from California to Washington, DC to deliver news of the conflict in California to the government.

He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime – that helped inspire millions into the wilderness across the Western U.S. -- by biographies and news articles, and exaggerated versions of his exploits were the subject of dime novels. His understated, quiet nature belied confirmed reports of his fearlessness, combat skills, tenacity, and profound effect on the westward expansion of the United States. Although he was famous for much of his life, historians in later years have written that Kit Carson did not like, want, or even fully understand the celebrity that he experienced during his life.

During the late nineteenth century, Kit Carson became a legendary symbol of America's frontier experience, which influenced twentieth century erection of statues and monuments, public events and celebrations, imagery by Hollywood, and the naming of geographical places. 

EMILY HARRINGTON

Emily Harrington, Truckee, is one of the most successful and versatile professional climbers in the world. She also has inspired countless thousands through appearances on national television shows and national media, where she shared her story of overcoming hardship with the support of her dad, and then bonding amid the outdoor experience.

This past November, Harrington became the first woman to free climb ‘Golden Gate’ on El Capitan in under 24 hours, making her the 4th woman in history to free climb El Capitan in a day. If elected, she would be the second Hall of Fame member to have summited Mt. Everest. She’s a five-time US National Champion, has completed numerous first female ascents of 5.14 routes, and made a complete ski descent of Cho Oyu - the world’s 6th tallest peak. 

She also gained national attention that has inspired families across America. After she had a near-death fall at El Capitan, and her father, Tim, 64, faced high-altitude edema issues, the father-daughter team supported each other to climb 18,996-foot Mount Cayambe in Ecuador. The story landed them on television shows across America and inspired parent-child connections in the outdoors to bond and move forward under hardship.

Emily called this her greatest personal victory: Surviving the fall at El Capitan and then climbing Cayambe with her dad. “We’ll always be connected for life.”

Emily satisfies the two requirements of all Hall of Fame members: A paramount scope of adventure – she is among the world’s preeminent climbers; and has inspired thousands to take part in the outdoor experience, especially parents and their children.

ROYAL ROBBINS

Posthumous

Royal Robbins was a leader in what is known as the Golden Age of Yosemite rock climbing. He was at the forefront of a trend called “clean climbing,” in which he used only removable nuts to hang his climbing rope for protection while making an ascent of Nutcracker, a classic Yosemite route, in 1967.

This became the first ascent of its kind in the United States, and started a revolution and ongoing debate over how much mechanical and safety equipment a climber should use. The standard was to pound or drill pitons into the granite. Once set, they could be used by climbers over and over. In Mr. Robbins’ mind, a climber should have left nothing behind.

In 1947, at age 12, Robbins was a fatherless train-hopper on his way to a life of crime. After being released from juvenile detention, Robbins realized he was hanging with the wrong crowd. So he found a new outlet for his time: the Boy Scouts.

At age 14, he became a Boy Scout and found a different sort of adventure. “The Scouts got me off the streets of Los Angeles,” he said. “Into the out of doors. Into the mountains. Out into the good stuff.”

A year into his Scouting tenure, Robbins was invited to join Scouts from 35 other troops on a backpacking trip in Yosemite National Park. “That trip was the first time I ever tried rock climbing,” he said, as reported in the September 2005 issue of Boys’ Life magazine. “I liked the thrill of being up high and doing challenging stuff. In hiking, I was average. But in climbing, I had a little something else.”

Though many today recognize the Royal Robbins name from the travel and outdoor apparel company, Robbins first achieved fame as a rock climber.

In 1969, he became the first to solo climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

He changed the culture of climbing to better protect the natural features of the rock — so the mountain would remain intact for the next climber.

PAIGE PEARCE-GORE

Movers & Shakers

A world-renowned competitive archer, Pearce-Gore is a youth outdoors instructor who has networked with the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundatrion. She won her first international competition in Turkey at age 13 and now, at 22, holds state, national and world titles.

Pearce-Gore has recorded the highest score marked by a woman in the history of the sport. She won the Western Classic, the largest outdoor 3D target competition in the world, last year for the fifth time overall and fourth in a row.

Using archery to travel the world, she has ventured to China, Columbia, Turkey, Germany and El Salvador.

She has parlayed her success, poise and ability to connect to others to become the led instructor at the Kids Outdoor Sports Camp, which runs in four sessions in Northern California. in turn, that inspired an invitation from the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation to its annual event in Washington, in late 2017.

JAY SORENSON

Posthumous

The original owner of Jolly's Bait Shop on Pacific Avenue in Stockton, many considered Sorensen to be the ‘best bait fisherman’ in the San Joaquin River Delta.

Sorensen operated a fishing guide service on the Delta for more than 40 years. “He served as a mentor to generations of Delta anglers.” Sorensen was probably most well-known for founding the California Striped Bass Association in 1974.

“He was the first to sound the alarm about the deteriorating Delta ecology and fisheries,” said Roger Mammon, president of the CSBA West Delta Chapter and secretary of the Restore the Delta Board. “He no longer saw striped bass spawning in the San Joaquin River as they had for decades.”

The striped bass population began declining after the State Water Project went on line in conjunction with the Federal Central Valley Project.

Sorensen then rallied his fishing friends and founded the California Striped Bass Association to advocate for restoration of the fishery. The association expanded and currently has five active chapters. “It is the oldest continuously operating fresh water fishing organization in the state,” Mammon said.

Sorensen guided thousands of people fishing for striped bass and other species on the San Joaquin River, including celebrities, sports figures and even politicians. The nickname “Jolly” came from his penchant for humor and joke telling,

In explaining his reason for the founding of CSBA, Sorensen told Hurley in an interview, “We became very concerned that the huge spawning runs in the San Joaquin River disappeared almost overnight in the early ’70s, since you used to be able to go out on the river at night and watch the small males bumping the females on the surface for acres. The surface of the river was white from all of the milt.”

Besides fighting for the restoration of striped bass and his beloved Delta, Sorensen was also an outdoor writer. He authored the “Let’s Go Fishing” in the Rio Vista Herald for more than 40 years, as well as writing for other publications, including the Fish Sniffer magazine. In 2015, the Bay/Delta Yachtsman awarded Sorensen the Hal Schell Award.

Sorensen had many memorable sayings. One of the most notable was, “The Delta is my Sistine Chapel. There are no two sunsets alike on the Delta.” Another saying showed his deep understanding of California fish and water politics: “The San Joaquin River flows by gravity for its first 100 miles, but it flows by politics for the remainder of its journey to the ocean.”

PAUL BONDERSON JR

Paul Bonderson, Jr., chairman and past president of Ducks Unlimited protected wetlands, waterfowl and California’s hunting and conservation heritage.

The Sunol tech millionaire started a crusade to raise $1 billion to create wetlands habitat to benefit waterfowl and wildlife. He put several million of his dollars into his passion and has seen the results.

“I want to help create something for the next generation,” Bonderson said. “Just in California, we’ve lost more than 90 percent of our historic wetlands” to draining and conversion to farmlands in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, and to levees, infill and construction in the bay and delta.

“I know that protecting and creating wetlands really works to produce more birds,” he said. “I’ve done it myself on some of my own land.” At his 2,500-acre ranch in the Butte Sink near Colusa, Bonderson said that he and his sons have converted 1,500 acres from rice fields to wetlands.

Bonderson envisions a network of volunteers to fund and carry out the vision of restoring wetlands across North America. Part of the vision, he said, is to educate the public on how protecting wetlands habitat also provides homes for more than 200 species of birds, along with dozens of species of wildlife and endangered species.

NED MACKAY

MacKay is one of California’s greatest ambassadors to parklands. As a 15-year member of the volunteer Trail Safety Patrol, he has spent more than 7,500 hours providing assistance of any kind to those in need, ranging from guiding them to safety, directions, water or interpretive information about parks.

He is best known at the East Bay Regional Park District, where he is one of a handful to have hiked all of the district’s 65 parks. MacKay has also participated in hikes of all levels, from easy strolls to ambitious backpacking trips across Yosemite National Park and much of the Sierra Nevada, and beyond across the western U.S. With a group of friends, he has rafted rivers in California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona and Alaska.

His outreach to the public includes writing stories in many newspapers that detail park programs and natural history. While MacKay’s scope of travel ranges far, his accomplishments in the outdoors come second to him: He seeks always to help anybody in need, and in turn, he has shared his love for nature and wild places with thousands.