Land Tawney, President and CEO
Land is a fifth-generation Montanan who developed his conservation ethic from a young age in duck blinds on warm water sloughs in the Bitterroot Valley, at the end of a fly rod during the salmon fly hatch on the Big Hole River, and chasing the wily wapiti in Cinnabar Basin. He's led the charge at BHA since 2013.
Land received a B.S. in wildlife biology from the University of Montana in 2000 and a Ph.D. in post hole digging while fencing in the family quarter horses and mules. Fresh out of college, he worked for a newly formed sportsmen's organization called the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership as the TRCP's national grassroots coordinator. Much of his work at the TRCP focused on sustaining high-quality places to hunt and fish via roadless area conservation and promoting volunteer incentives for landowners to provide public access to private lands. Following four years with the TRCP, Land joined the staff of the National Wildlife Federation as NWF's regional representative in Missoula, Montana.
In 2007, Land was promoted to senior manager for sportsmen’s leadership at NWF. In this capacity Land led a joint campaign with NWF, TRCP and Trout Unlimited called Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining, which aimed at reforming the 1872 Mining Law. Working with more than 600 local, state and national sportsmen's organizations, former U.S. Forest Service chiefs and former state fish and game directors, the coalition was able to advance comprehensive legislation with bipartisan support through the House; unfortunately, it stalled in the Senate.
In 2009 Land initiated Vanishing Paradise, an effort to nationalize the issue of coastal land loss in the Mississippi River Delta, which winters 11 million ducks and geese every year and supports world class redfish and speckled trout fishing opportunities. This joint campaign by NWF, Ducks Unlimited and Louisiana Wildlife Federation built an army of 700 local, state and national sporting businesses and organizations and more than 70,000 individual hunters and anglers from all over the country. All these partners were essential in the passage of the RESTORE Act through Congress. RESTORE dedicated 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalties (estimated at $15-20 billion) associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to restoration of this national treasure.
In addition to his campaign duties, Land helped build the sportsmen profile within NWF, served as liaison to national sportsmen's organizations, created two sportsmen advisory councils and was a member of the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council, an advisory board that counsels the secretaries of Interior and Agriculture on issues concerning hunting and fishing. In short, Land has spent his professional career building, energizing and activating hunters and anglers to carry on our rich outdoor legacy.
Land sits on the boards of the Phil Tawney Hunters Conservation Endowment, named after his late father, and is active in local and regional sportsmen's groups. Any other spare time is spent on the stream, duck blind or chasing big game.
Land enjoys anything outside with his wife Glenna, daughter Cidney, son Colin, and their black labs, "Triple T," Teller Turk Tawney and Tule Tawney.
Grant Alban, Development Associate
Born and raised in Southern California, Grant knew at an early age that he someday would live in Montana. Fascinated by animals his whole life, he learned the finer points of hunting from his grandpa when he was old enough to carry a gun. After graduating from Humboldt State with a degree in wildlife management, Grant spent most of the next decade as a biological science technician, doing everything from studying spotted owls in the Northwest to eradicating feral pigs from California’s islands and spending five seasons in Montana’s backcountry collecting grizzly bear hair.
Grant now enjoys elk and antelope hunting and guiding his wonderful wife down Montana’s rivers while she casts to rising cutthroats. Grant is thrilled to be a part of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and feels privileged to be able to help protect the wild places that mean so much to him.
Jason Amaro, Southwest Chapter Coordinator
Jason is an avid outdoorsman, he has chased everything that swims, flocks or walks. He grew up along the banks of the Rio Grande in Las Cruces, NM, later attending college in Socorro, NM and Las Vegas, NM. He has degrees in Mathematics, Theoretical Physics and Secondary Education. During his early 20’s he taught in the public school system and spent his summers guiding fly fisherman in Northern New Mexico.
Those experiences fortified his belief that certain things like the rise of a Gila Trout to a hand-tied fly or the bugle of a bull elk are experiences that should never be bartered, and that access to outdoor experiences should be shared by all, regardless of social status.
Upon finishing four years of teaching on the Pojoaque Reservation and in Elim, Alaska, he worked as a project manager and solutions architect in the healthcare industry. After 15 successful years, he decided it is more important to be significant than successful, and he and his family decided to go "all in" with his advocacy in support of sportsmen and sportswomen. Most recently, he is the former New Mexico Sportsman Conservation Coordinator for Trout Unlimited, where his focus was Forest Plan Revision. Jason is married to his amazing and supportive wife Candace, and they have two children, Brock and Zoe.
Tim Brass, State Policy Director
Tim Brass grew up hunting and fishing in Minnesota with his family and friends. He followed his passion for the outdoors to earn a B.S. in natural resource management from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, and an M.A. in community and regional planning from University of Oregon. Prior to joining BHA, Tim did research work for the Forest Service, National Science Foundation and Cooperative North American Shotgunning Education Program.
Now living in Colorado with his wife Megan and his daughter Linden, Tim enjoys hunting waterfowl, big game hunting with a bow and fly fishing high mountain lakes. He’s glad to be a part of an organization that stands up for the wild, public lands he enjoys the most. Tim’s role at BHA is to help chapters spearhead campaigns at the state and local level, aimed at conserving intact fish and wildlife habitat, ensuring public access and opportunity and defending our fair chase hunting traditions.
Sawyer Connelly, Campus Outreach Coordinator
Sawyer Connelly hails from the Acadian forests of northern Vermont. From a young age his mother taught him all the beauty the natural world has to offer, while his father educated him on the importance of civic engagement. It didn’t take him long to find a fishing pole and explore the rivers and shores of New England, trying to catch whatever swam, while getting his first taste of politics at the age of 14, working as a legislative page in the Vermont State Legislature.
After graduating from Northfield Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts he lost the pastels, packed a suitcase and headed to South Africa for a year. From there the call of the West led him to Colorado and Colorado College. While there, his already strong passion and appreciation for wilderness and wildlife flourished as he chased elk and mule deer in vast tracts of wilderness throughout Colorado and ripped lips in every watershed throughout the state. He took his passions to the classroom, pursuing a degree in environmental science and a minor in English while conducting research with the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project on large landscape conservation in 2013-2014. When not in the classroom or backcountry, he could be found dabbling in the theatrical arts and helping found the Colorado College fly fishing club.
Graduating in 2015, he packed his bags to enjoy a humbling stint chasing Atlantic salmon in Norway but soon found the West was calling him back. Relatively to Missoula, when not in the office, he’ll be found exploring new waters and lands of the area with his German Shorthaired Pointer, Moshup, finding animals, and skiing.
Trey Curtiss, Collegiate Curriculum & Outreach Assistant 
Born and raised in Missoula, Montana, Trey was introduced to hunting and angling at a very young age. It wasn’t long after his first day hunting that he knew he wanted to pursue a career working towards the best interest of wildlife, wildlands and his shared hunting and angling tradition. Trying his best to follow in his father's boot tracks, hunting evolved from a pastime of finding adventure, outdoor relief and self-sustenance to a mechanism that encourages new hunter participation and appreciation of our natural resources from hunters and non-hunters alike.
While working towards his undergraduate degree, Trey interned for BHA for over a year and a half. Trey helped develop and presided over BHA’s first collegiate club at the University of Montana. Graduating from UM in the spring of 2017 with B.S. in resource conservation, he began working full time for BHA a few weeks later. As the Collegiate Curriculum and Outreach Assistant - BHA/ USFWS Fellow, he now works to bolster the collegiate program, develop curriculum for and administer programs for new hunters and anglers as well as assisting in fostering new outdoor recreation supporters and allies. When not in the office, he’s likely scheming over ways to find next seasons elk.
Caitlin Frisbie, Office Manager
Having grown up in Montana, Caitlin has a deep passion for conservation and the outdoors. She began out-fishing her father at a young age on the Smith and Bighorn Rivers and continues to show him how it's done on the rivers surrounding Missoula. Fishing proved to be a gateway drug to the outdoors and she quickly learned that she could not be monogamous with her first love. You can find her on the slopes, trails and on her boat with her trusty and free-spirited pup, Mikey.
As our Office Manager, Caitlin brings a varied background and an enthusiasm for our mission. Volunteering and working in education and membership coordination for other non-profits allowed her to be a key player in the growth and success of influential start-ups here in Missoula. Armed with experience and enthusiasm, Caitlin is primed to drive and inspire member engagement and fight for all the outdoor experiences she craves.
John Gale, Conservation Director
John Gale is a fifth-generation Idahoan who grew up hunting and fishing the backcountry with his family. Engaged in politics at a young age, John finished high school early to take his first job with the Idaho State Senate. Later on, while feeding an outdoors addiction as a whitewater river guide and ranger, John received his degree in natural resource management from the University of Idaho.
After a two-year stint in Morocco with the Peace Corps managing biodiversity and water projects, John found a niche for his ecumenical angling habits in Washington, D.C., directing a variety of grassroots conservation programs for Trout Unlimited. Eventually he succumbed to the calls of Western topography and returned to the high country, directing sportsmen campaigns and public lands policy for nine years with the National Wildlife Federation.
As BHA’s conservation director, John is committed to defending our wild public lands, waters and wildlife for future generations. In his personal time, John enjoys the outdoors with his wife and daughter and prefers the solitude of lonely backcountry mountains where the elk bugle and cold streams run with wild trout.
Chris Hennessey, New York & Pennsylvania Public Lands Coordinator
Chris grew up in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a passion for hunting, fishing, camping and nature.Now a resident of the outdoor mecca of State College, Pa., he is surrounded by the ridges and valleys of the AlleghenyMountains. There – and across the country – he enjoys many types of public land recreation with his wife, Tina, and their children PattyAnn and William.
Chris spent most of his career in newspapers and public relations. His conservation ethic was honed while directing communications at a land trust in State College. He is excited to be on board at BHA and looks forward to working with members in Pennsylvania and New York to protect our precious woods and waters.
Will Jenkins, Upper Great Lakes Outreach Coordinator
Born and raised in Central Virginia, Will now resides in Hudson Wisconsin with his wife and 3 kids. Growing up he mostly hunted whitetails and turkey with family but developed a passion for the outdoors after discovering bowhunting and taking a trip for trout and turkey to Highlwand WMA in the Virginia mountains. After moving to the midwest his love for public land and the backcountry was further cemented after chasing South Dakota Mule Deer.
Will has been a freelance outdoor writer and blogger for 5 years having written for various publications on the topics of hunting, fishing and conservation. He has also been an active member of the Minnesota Chapter of BHA helping with various programs such as the Adult Learn to Hunt program with the Minnesota DNR as well the initiative to help protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from sulfide mining.
Josh Kaywood, Southeast Chapter Coordinator
Josh Kaywood grew up backpacking, climbing and kayaking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he developed a passion for the outdoors. While attending college at the University of Mississippi he was introduced to a new landscape, the Mississippi Delta, where he fell in love with waterfowl hunting. The cypress swamps and fields of the delta provided a new lens through which to view the outdoors and inevitably led to his growing interests in small game hunting, bowhunting whitetails and black bears.
Before coming to BHA Josh developed a career as an entrepreneur in healthcare, largely focusing on business development. Josh is a founding member of the Southeast chapter and served as its first chair, which fostered a desire for a deeper level of commitment to the BHA mission.
Sam Lungren, Backcountry Journal Editor
Sam grew up on Whidbey Island in Washington’s Puget Sound, where he developed a love for outdoor adventures and an ambition to write about them. After a youth filled with steelheading and duck hunting he went to Gonzaga University to study journalism. His senior thesis story about the historic Elwha River dam removal project led him straight into graduate school at the University of Montana. He wrote and photographed another thesis about the controversial use of salmon and steelhead hatcheries and graduated with an M.A. in environmental journalism and natural resource science. While attending UM, he worked for Bugle magazine at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
Sam spent four summers working on a commercial salmon fishing boat in Prince William Sound, Alaska but now lives full-time in Missoula, Montana, editing and producing Backcountry Journal.
Frankie McBurney Olson, Director of Operations
Frankie was born and raised on a ranch outside of Ronan, Montana. She grew up hunting, fishing, camping and enjoying the wonderful state of Montana. Frankie attended college at the University of Montana and upon graduation began her work in the nonprofit sector. Frankie has fundraised for the University of Montana, American Cancer Society and most recently was the executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Missoula.
Frankie’s love of the outdoors brought her to BHA, where she is very excited to be part of the conservation effort so that her two young boys can enjoy the same experiences that she had growing up.
Mike McConnell, Central Idaho Coordinator
Mike McConnell is a born and raised Idaho country boy, biologist, environmental consultant, and guide. Growing up in the Treasure Valley, he engaged in the hunting, fishing, and skiing endeavors in which the family regularly set out on. He was well steeped in the traditions of his sporting family by an early age; hunting upland game, skillful training and handling birddogs, bow hunting elk and deer in the mountains, fly fishing, skiing, and learning the virtuosity of a great man from some incredible sages.
After graduating with a B.S. in Wildlife Resources from the University of Idaho, Mike went on to be an environmental consultant and professional guide throughout the intermountain west working on a variety of projects as broad as interstate infrastructure projects and as finite as implementing water quality projects utilizing biomimicry technology. Guiding clients down Idaho’s rivers has been a passion of Mike’s for over a decade, a passion that will no sooner diminish than his love for hunting and fishing in wild places.
Four years ago, Mike started his own consulting firm, Idaho Habitat Works to achieve his goal of melding his two careers. Time and preparation paid off and Mike has now joined the ranks of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers as the organization’s Central Idaho Coordinator. Mike is committed to conserving public lands, waters, and wildlife for future generations in Idaho and beyond. In his free time, Mike enjoys hunting upland game with his prized Griffons, hunting big game by traditional means, fly fishing domestically and around the world, running rivers, and skiing Idaho’s high country.
Katie McKalip, Communications Director
Descendant of coal miners, fur trappers, ice fishermen and schoolteachers from Pennsylvania, Katie McKalip grew up with a front row seat to the politicking of Washington, D.C., thanks to her military upbringing. After college in Virginia, she landed in western Montana, where she spends a lot of time outdoors and engages in policy making from a distance.
Katie joined the BHA team following a seven-year stint with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, where she led the TRCP’s media outreach and other communications work. She also helped realize founder Jim Range’s vision of the TRCP as an influencer of sportsmen-driven conservation policy and a center point in the outdoors and hunting and angling constituencies. She serves as counsel to the board of directors of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and volunteers for other grassroots sportsmen and conservation efforts. In her spare time, she enjoys upland hunting with friends, big game hunting with her husband and getting her two kids out and about on Montana's hills, peaks and waterways.
She has an M.S. from the University of Montana and a B.A. from The College of William & Mary. For her master’s thesis, she wrote a manuscript on the history of mining – camps, communities and colorful characters – in the area now known as Rocky Mountain National Park.
Nicole Qualtieri, Social Media and Online Advocacy Coordinator
After a lifetime of nomadic tendencies, Nicole has made her home in Montana and on the trails that weave themselves through her treasured backcountry. Originally from Ohio, Nicole received her B.A. in Sociology from Colorado State University. She spent a stretch of time in corporate America then found herself in Montana nearly by accident after a job offer brought her to Bozeman. The accident proved to be a happy one, and the time she spent outside in the mountains surrounding Bozeman led her out of the corporate world and into hiking and backpacking, two endeavors that stirred a curiosity toward hunting.
Upon the completion of a summer spent backpacking on the northern Continental Divide Trail, Nicole returned to the professional world through Zero Point Zero Productions, where she built her skills in social media and brand management working on the television show MeatEater. Delving into the world of hunting media deeply spurred her curiosity for hunting into a full-on pursuit.
Through her work at ZPZ, Nicole became an active volunteer for BHA's Montana Chapter in Region 3, and through her friendships developed at BHA, she was able to hunt and harvest her first deer in the fall of 2016. After nearly two years of volunteer work, Nicole saw the full-time opportunity to tell BHA's story to a passionate and driven online community as the best next step in her professional journey. She made the jump to Missoula in early 2017, where you can find her on the trails or in the office with her beloved border collie, Butch Cassidy.
Jesse Salsberry, Northwest Outreach Coordinator
Raised in the Pacific Northwest, Jesse was brought up with a deep appreciation for the wild things and places that surrounded him. After graduating from Washington State University with a degree in Digital Technology and Culture, Jesse dove into video production. Cutting his teeth in the Portland, Oregon area, Jesse has gratefully worked with some of the world’s most innovative brands and creative agencies as an editor, motion graphics artist and director.
Now, Founder and Creative Director for an outdoor-focused video production agency, Crowfly Creative, Jesse continues to find ways to bridge the two passions of his life: video and the outdoors. Jesse, his wife and their two children currently live in Vancouver, Washington.
Ryan Silcox, Membership Coordinator
Ryan Silcox joined Team BHA in 2016. Ryan has been hunting and fishing across Montana since he was old enough to walk, and he's excited to be on board at BHA ensuring the future of our outdoor heritage. Ryan brings with him several years of experience managing hunter-based membership and fundraising programs. He looks forward to helping increase the already quickly growing BHA membership base.
Ty Stubblefield, Chapter Coordinator
Ty Stubblefield grew up in Oregon's Umpqua Valley with access to some of the West Coast's most diverse landscape and wildlife. From coastal blacktails to desert mule deer and Rocky Mountain elk to rainforest Roosevelts, Ty has taken full advantage of the opportunity to seek out the wild critters and public lands Oregon has to offer.
At an early age he came to the realization that hunters and fishermen are the true conservationists and stewards of the land. Recognizing the need to give back, Ty jumped on the conservation bandwagon, getting involved with state policy while volunteering for Oregon Bow Hunters from 2001 to 2008. In 2008 he was blessed with the opportunity to work with Oregon's largest state-based conservation group, Oregon Hunters Association, as field administrator. In this position he worked with Oregon hunters to help Oregon's wildlife, habitat and hunters' rights.
Joining BHA and the awesome people who make up this organization is the apex of his career in conservation! BHAers are an elite group of people who understand that these lands we hold so dear are not free and must be fought for. When not working for the betterment of wild public places and wildlife, he can be found enjoying them with a bow or fly rod in hand.