John Sullivan, Chairman
John has been working in the outdoor/hunting/fishing industry since he was 16, starting as an assistant (more like a pack mule dropping off equipment at various locations) for a fly fishing outfitter in the Swan Valley. While attending The University of Montana for degrees in Resource Conservation and Economics, he worked at a local hunting shop and was a river guide leading multi-day wilderness trips out of West Glacier in the summers. After graduating, he moved to southeast Alaska to help develop new fly fishing channels of business for various salmon fishing lodges.
He began to miss Montana too much, so he returned to Missoula and is active in Montana's hunting and fishing communities. John has firsthand experience watching smart policy protect and improve habitat, wildlife populations and opportunities for hunting and fishing. He is passionate about protecting backcountry, restoring degraded habitat and working with the state and private landowners to improve access.
Tom Healy, Vice Chair
Tom grew up in Iowa City and was introduced to bird hunting while cutting class with his high school principal’s son. Soon after guiding his first trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, he bought a solo canoe and explored the Quetico-Superior Region at every opportunity. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point with a degree in biology, Tom served as the Executive Director of Camp Olson YMCA for five years. In 1997 he became a founding board member and Co-Executive Director of North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota; he frequently travels back to teach classes and harvest wild rice.
With his wife Meagen and a pack of bird dogs, Tom moved to northwest Montana in 2002 to start a Nordic ski lodge with friends. He continues to work as a timber frame teacher, designer and builder, and is committed to sharing his passion for conservation and wild places. As an ardent big game and bird hunter, Tom frequently can be found in the forests, prairies and rimrock country of our nation’s public lands.
Lou Bahin, Secretary-Treasurer
Lou is a lifetime- and legacy-member of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers who spends much of his time exploring Montana's wild places on foot and bicycle. One of his favorite activities is backpacking to secluded fishing holes or traversing public lands along the continental divide on two wheels.
Lou recently retired from a career in the publishing and software industries, and lives in Missoula with his wife, Lila, and two sons. He spends his time in the front country experimenting with wild game recipes, coddling two dogs, and when summer comes to Montana, tending bees and a rapidly expanding garden.
Returning to Montana from several years in Washington D.C. and Chicago has only increased Lou's passion to explore the outdoors and kindled a desire to pass along the backcountry experiences we cherish to future generations.
Hannah Nikonow, Region 2 Board Member
Hannah grew up in a small Wyoming town (but who are we kidding, all Wyoming towns are pretty small). Though she attempted to stray, her hook and bullet father drew her back from the dark side (vegetarianism) and made sure she dedicated a good portion of her life to hiking and hunting the state's sagebrush flats and mountains.
In college, Hannah obtained a degree in journalism from the University of Montana but spent her social hours in the College of Forestry and Conservation student organizations. Today, she works as a communications specialist for a bird habitat conservation organization in Missoula. Her present passion is training and hiking with her wirehaired pointing griffon, Rye, and figuring out the wily ways of grouse and pheasant. Otherwise, you can find her experimenting with new ways to make wild game taste better and trying to touch her toes with this thing called yoga. Dedicated to the preservation of wild lands, Hannah is a willing disciple who is eager to follow in the boot tracks of those currently speaking out for the protection of public lands.
Christian Appel, Region 3 Board Member
Christian was born and raised in eastern Montana where his parents exposed him to the great outdoors. His love of Montana began as a child while "camping" in his tree house in an old cottonwood. Christian marveled at the Big Sky sunsets, the thunderstorms rolling across the plains, and the critters that would land or wander by while he was perched in the tree house. He spent his childhood exploring the plains searching for arrowheads and in pursuit of deer, antelope and birds. Weekends were spent backpacking in the Beartooths to fly fish for cutthroats and brookies.
Christian is a graduate of the University of Montana and is the owner of Great Northern Physical Therapy in Bozeman, Montana. He is an avid archer and fly fisher. Christian is a life member of BHA, the Montana Bow Hunters Association, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and the Mule Deer Foundation, and conservation of our wild lands and watersheds has become a passion of his. He receives great pleasure in sharing the splendors of our wild lands with his family and friends. "I'm in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it's difficult to analyze love when you're in it."--John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America
Doug Krings, Region 4 Board Member
Born and raised in central Montana, Doug's travels around the country were enough to convince him that Montana truly is the Last Best Place. He lives in Lewistown with his family, and when he's not chasing elk with his stick bow he works for a structural steel fabricator.
For the last 15 or so years, when not hunting, Doug has volunteered with conservation organizations dedicated to preserving our outdoor heritage and protecting traditional uses. Specifically, his work has focused on public access to great elk habitat in central & eastern Montana. Doug is a former board member of the Traditional Bowhunters of Montana, Montana Bowhunters Association and a handful of FWP Committees. He's also currently on the board of the Lewistown Bowhunters Association and Central Montana Outdoors. Recently, Doug and his daughter, Emma, were featured on The Durfees, a film by Mission: Montana.
Matt Rinella, Region 7 Board Member
Matt grew up in small-town Michigan where he eked out an outdoorsman’s existence on the rural-urban interface of America’s heartland. At age 28, when Matt moved to Montana to pursue a Ph.D. in Ecology from MSU, he was stunned to learn just how much the wild, wild west was still a thing. From that time on, Matt’s abiding interest has been hunting and exploring Montana’s wild places. Naturally, Matt’s time in the forests and plains has fostered a desire to protect these places, as well as people’s right to enjoy them. When it comes to conservation and access, Matt is a no nonsense guy, and he is ready to fight the good fight.
After finishing his degree in 2004, Matt took his current job as a research ecologist for the USDA-ARS in Miles City, Montana, where he learned, paradoxically, eastern Montana is more western than western Montana. Other discoveries have been that good pack llamas are incredibly hearty, competent backcountry companions and 20-lb corgis, though hard to keep up with, make the best hunting partners.
Steve Platt, Montana Capital Board Member – Helena
Steve started fly fishing on the creeks of Vermont and Wyoming when he was 11 years old. He has a BA in environmental studies and anthropology from the University of Vermont, along with a MA in anthropology from the University of Montana. Steve moved to Helena in 1991 and was the staff archaeologist for the Montana Department of Transportation for 25 years, working all across the state.
Steve has been active in Montana conservation since the late 1980s. Steve and his wife Alicia have two grown children who are both BHA members. They enjoy hiking, floating, backpacking, hunting and fishing. Lately, Steve has been chasing backcountry trout with a Tenkara rod and pursuing big game with a trad bow or with his rifle. Another passion he has is hunting upland birds and waterfowl with his goofball pointer, Frodo.
Steve has tied his own flies for 40 years, rolls his own ammunition and hunts over home-carved decoys. He also keeps bees in the Helena Valley.
Greg Munther, Montana Chapter Conservation Director – Missoula
Raised in Idaho, Greg has spent his entire life in the Mountain West as a career Forest Service biologist and district ranger, and since retiring as a natural resource consultant. He's been roaming the hills, streams and lakes of Montana continuously since 1976, with passions split between traditional bowhunting, bird hunting and fly fishing.
Greg lives in Missoula with Sherry, his wife of 42 years, and his German shorthair, Lucy. He seeks to travel to some of the remaining wild places on Planet Earth with his flyrod and longbow as opportunities arise.
After witnessing too many favorite hunting and fishing areas becoming fragmented by poor land management and illegal off-road vehicle use, Greg became involved in BHA soon after it originated, and served as the early Chairman of the Montana Chapter. He believes strong, proactive protection of backcountry is essential to the future of both quality hunting and fishing in Montana. Greg is confident that the Montana Chapter of BHA is one of the most important statewide organizations and that we must continue to work to protect all of the remaining intact habitats and wild country in Montana.
John Sullivan: Board Chair - Missoula
Tom Healy: Board Vice Chair - Wisdom
Lou Bahin: Board Secretary-Treasurer - Missoula
Greg Munther: Montana Chapter Conservation Director - Missoula
Vacant: Region 1 Board Member - TBD
Hannah Nikonow: Region 2 Board Member - Missoula
Christian Appel: Region 3 Board Member - Bozeman
Doug Krings: Region 4 Board Member - Lewistown
Vacant: Region 5 Board Member - TBD
Justin Schaaf: Region 6 Board Member - Fort Peck
Matt Rinella: Region 7 Board Member - Miles City
Steve Platt: Montana Capital Board Member – Helena
Click here to contact the Montana chapter board.