Bugling All Elk Volunteers!

It’s Volunteer Week, and RMEF’s volunteers do much more than picking up trash …

Volunteering doesn’t have to make you feel like someone working off a “community service” sentence. Volunteering for conservation could mean doing field work if that’s your jam, or it could mean fundraising to help protect a cause you believe in. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation honors and celebrates its dedicated volunteers for efforts to advance its mission during National Volunteer Week.

“From our chapter committee members to those who give of their time at work projects to our board members, RMEF volunteers are the driving force that advance our mission,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO. “Without them, we cannot do what we do to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat and our hunting heritage.”

“Yes, you’re tired at the end of the day, but then you look back at it you can say, I really did something for wildlife. I am very proud of that.”

— RMEF VOLUNTEER

“Dating back to the earliest of RMEF’s days, people from all walks of life recognized and valued this hunter-backed conservation group, so they donated their time, talents and efforts to support and sustain it. That dedication by thousands of volunteers continues today,” said Fred Lekse, RMEF Board of Directors chair.

During RMEF’s first-ever fundraising season (fall 1985 through spring 1986), volunteers hosted seven big game banquets that generated about $30,000. Since then, some four decades later, volunteers have raised millions upon millions of dollars to put on the ground to enhance, conserve and open public access to wildlife habitat, support wildlife management and promote hunting heritage.

Lifetime accomplishments:

– 8.9 million acres conserved or enhanced

– 1.59 million acres of opened/improved public access

– 14,295 conservation & hunting heritage outreach projects

– $1.6 billion in total conservation value

– Elk population growth from 550,000 in 1984 to 1.1 million today

Click here to become a volunteer and here to see a listing of upcoming RMEF banquets and other events.