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.

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.

Molly Elliott, Region 1 Board Member

Molly took her first paddle raft trip down the Grand Canyon when she was 13. Within a few years she was leading backpacking and rafting trips in Oregon. Molly believes that water binds all of us together, and she loves the fact that her two big brothers, her parents and she all live within the Columbia River System. When Molly wets a line in the Flathead near her now home in Columbia Falls, it reminds her of other Western rivers of her adolescence - the Clackamas, McKenzie, Rogue and Deschutes. She advocates to maintain and improve access to streams and waterways so future generations may tell river tales the way she recalls hers.

Molly has always wanted to do everything her older brothers did - including hucking cliffs on her skis - so naturally, as soon as she moved to Montana, she took up archery hunting and, shortly thereafter, she added a shotgun and rifle to her quiver. As a BHA Life Member, Molly enjoys immersing herself in issues that matter to sportsmen because she feels doing what's good for hunters and anglers is good for all public land owners. With a Master's degree in epidemiology, Molly writes evidence-based medical policy for a living, and is a proponent of community based participatory research as one way to inform public land and water policy. In her spare time, she trains for hunting season, guides fly-fisherman and takes fashion tips from her griffon, Winston.

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Dane Rider, Region 3 Board Member

Dane was born in Bozeman then spent much of his childhood and post-college years bouncing around the Heartland, New England and the Gulf Coast of Florida. During this time, one constant remained: he must return to Montana. In 2015 the opportunity presented itself and Dane seized the opportunity, jumping in with both feet. The biggest draw for Dane had been the blue-ribbon trout streams of Montana, recalling childhood trips back to the Boulder River and float trips on the Big Hole and Yellowstone; but as an adult the greatest appeal became the large swaths of public lands in which he could chase elk, mule deer and mountain grouse. After discovering that the access to and use of our public lands and waters was threatened, Dane became active in advocating for these wild places. He became a BHA life member in 2016.

When Dane is not talking with people about the benefits of the public estate, he can be found making the most of the varied environments that Montana has to offer. You can often find him searching for an alpine lake full of uneducated trout, or foraging for mushrooms, berries and other wild edibles. Dane is at home in the mountains and will continue to fight to make sure these lands, waters and wildlife are here for generations to come.

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 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. 

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Austin Rogers, Region 5 Board Member

Growing up in eastern Montana, Austin was raised in the outdoors. Be it bowhunting, fishing or camping, he has enjoyed the backcountry wilderness and clear waters all across the state. Austin now calls Billings home, where he works as an organizer for the IBEW.

Austin has had the benefit of a lifelong friend, mentor and hunting partner in his father, Rex, who's taught him a great many things: How to fletch arrows, shoe horses and visit scenic mountain lakes when they should be hunting elk. Through his father, and many others, Austin was instilled in him the values of Montana's outdoorsmen and women: clean water, untamed land and a willingness to stand up for what you believe in. Seeing those who stood in the past for Montana's backcountry, Austin stands with those that are still here, and hopes to preserve something to stand for in the future.

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Justin Schaaf, Region 6 Board Member

Justin advocates diligently for the conservation of the vast public estate in the northeast corner of the state. He has a background in biology and currently works as a locomotive engineer in eastern Montana. Justin has an infectious passion for wild things and wild places and is committed to conserving them for future generations. 

Justin packs on the miles hunting, fishing and exploring the sagebrush prairie and badlands with his young family. He regulars makes the long trek from his home in Fort Peck to Helena to advocate for his region and BHA's value before the Montana Legislature.

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 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.

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 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.

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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.

 

 

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