Organizational Résumé
5705 GRANT CREEK, MISSOULA, MT 59808
800-CALL ELK
WWW.RMEF.ORG
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Mission
Ensure the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat. Our top priority—protecting and
enhancing elk country—has never changed.
Core Values
We are a wildlife conservation organization with an emphasis on wild elk and the land that
supports them. We define conservation as a balance between people, land and wildlife. We
strongly advocate ethical hunting and other sustainable uses of natural resources. We seek
common ground among stakeholders and we celebrate outdoor and rural lifestyles and values
that keep people directly connected to the land.
Principal Challenge
The rate of wildlife habitat loss in the West, primarily to subdivision and development, is
staggering. According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, 34.5 million acres of nonfederal rural land including rangeland, forestland, cropland and pastureland were lost to
subdivision, urban, commercial and industrial uses between 1982 and 2002. The human
population in the West is growing much faster than the national average. The American Farmland
Trust reports that 11 percent of remaining prime ranchland—as much as 8.8 million acres of
classic elk wintering range—in the Rocky Mountain states could be converted to residential
development by 2020.
Historical Overview
Our 25th Anniversary is coming up in 2009. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Montana, we
have grown and evolved into an international conservation leader. At the end of 2007, we had
completed 5,740 conservation, education and hunting heritage projects across 49 states and
eight provinces, protected and enhanced over 5.2 million acres of habitat for elk and other
wildlife, and helped open more than 500,000 previously closed acres for public hunting, fishing
and other recreation.
Objectives
1. Land Protection. To permanently protect habitat for elk and other wildlife, we accept land
donations, purchase land from willing sellers, help spearhead land exchanges, and work with
landowners to enact conservation easements. Acquired lands are typically conveyed to public
agencies. Lands with conservation easements remain privately owned and controlled.
2. Habitat Stewardship. Elk habitat includes winter range, summer range, migration corridors
and calving grounds. All are vital. We improve the quality of these areas by funding a wide
range of management practices from forest thinning to prescribed burning to noxious weed
treatment to constructing watering devices.
3. Elk Restoration. Elk once roamed from Manitoba to Mexico and inhabited all of the Lower 48
except Florida and upper New England. We helped restore long-absent herds in Tennessee,
Kentucky, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Ontario. Current federal and state regulations
prohibit relocating elk across state lines because of disease concerns. But we maintain our
vision of working with state and federal agencies to bring this symbol of wildness back to
suitable habitat wherever possible.
4. Conservation Education and Hunting Heritage. A key to the future of America’s outdoors
is advancing public understanding and leadership in conservation, and we are active
nationwide in education initiatives emphasizing conservation principles, hunter safety and
hunting ethics.
How We Work
In a word, partnerships. We have excellent relationships with government agencies, private
landowners, conservation groups, tribal leaders, corporations, foundations and local
stakeholders. We work shoulder to shoulder with the timber companies, mining companies and oil
and gas companies that own huge tracts of key elk habitat and provide widespread public access.
We’re proud of our reputation as a voice of reason, authority and integrity—a rare facilitator
capable of bringing opposing viewpoints to the negotiating table and mediating creative
conservation solutions for elk and other wildlife.
Funding
Funding for our mission comes from more than 500 local banquets, member dues, special events
and other fundraisers, philanthropic contributions, corporate sponsorships, merchandise and ad
sales, and grants.
Local Dollars, Local Impacts
In elk states, Project Advisory Committees (PACs) composed of agency wildlife professionals, Elk
Foundation volunteers and staff annually allocate 50 percent of net proceeds from our big game
banquets for local conservation projects. In non-elk states, these proceeds form a granting
program for local conservation education and hunting heritage projects.
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Governance
Volunteers power the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Dedicated volunteers across the country
drive fundraising at the ground level while a volunteer board of directors establishes top-level
directions and policies. Volunteer committees provide oversight for land transactions and
finances. Bylaws and directives guide business activities. Daily operations and staff are directed
by a president/chief executive officer.
Internal Structure
Under the direction of a president/chief executive officer, our staff works in five major
departments: 1.) lands and conservation, 2.) field operations, 3.) development, 4.)
marketing/communications, 5.) accounting
M. David Allen, President/Chief Executive Officer
A lifelong conservationist with a deep passion for elk and hunting, Allen’s career for 33 years
focused on marketing, media and communications for the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association, Pro
Bull Riders Tour, Wrangler Jeans, Dale Earnhardt/Richard Childress race team and other
NASCAR teams. He served on the board of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation until his
appointment as president/chief executive officer in 2007. A native of Deadwood, SouthDakota, he
studied journalism at the University of Wyoming and now resides in Billings, Montana with his
wife and sons.
2007 Highlights

Enhanced 310,854 acres of elk habitat—a new record.

Completed 53 permanent land protection projects—a new record.

Completed a total of 287 habitat stewardship projects and190 projects promoting
conservation education and hunting heritage.

Created healthier habitat in 20 states and protected land in 13.

Launched a new landscape-scale aspen restoration project along the Rocky Mountain front in
Wyoming.

Completed our first donated conservation easements in Arizona and Arkansas.

Completed our first conservation easement on reclaimed mining lands.

Played a leading role in permanently protecting Theodore Roosevelt’s historic 5,200-acre
Elkhorn Ranch in North Dakota, considered by many to be the birthplace of America’s
conservation movement.
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Recent Major Awards
2008 • First-ever Theodore Roosevelt Legacy Award from the Boone and Crockett Club.
2006 • Conservation Organization of the Year from the Kentucky Wildlife Federation Foundation.
2005 • Conservation Partner of the Year from the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land
Management • U.S. Forest Service Centennial Award for outstanding contributions in volunteer
leadership and resource stewardship.
Annual ‘Elk Camp’ and Exposition
Still growing and setting records, our annual convention is an extravaganza of exhibits, auctions
and celebrations of conservation and hunting. Thousands of attendees from around the country
enjoy the event while raising more than $1 million a year for conservation. Our 25th Anniversary
Elk Camp will be held in Fort Worth, Texas.
Communications
We engage members in a variety of ways. Most notable is our award-winning magazine, Bugle.
This “Journal of Elk Country and the Hunt” covers conservation, natural history, management and
hunting with more than 390,000 readers per issue. Elk Chronicles, our new television program,
will launch in 2008 on the Outdoor Channel, which reaches 30 million American homes. Our
website, www.elkfoundation.org, is an informative and educational destination on the Internet,
with over 50,000 visits each month. In 2008, we’re launching two e-newsletters—one for all our
members and the general public, the other exclusively for our volunteers.
Synopsis of Positions
The following is an abbreviated, alphabetical roundup of organizational positions and policies. It is
not intended as a comprehensive or exhaustive report. For additional information, visit
www.elkfoundation.org or contact us.
Diseases
We are concerned about diseases in wild elk and deer herds, as well as
conditions and events that foster disease outbreaks such as game
farming and feeding wildlife. We fund research and disseminate
information and education about wildlife diseases.
Elk Management
We believe that local, state and federal wildlife officials are best qualified
to determine biological and social carrying capacities and the most
appropriate methods to achieve them. We do not involve ourselves in
dictating elk management policy.
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Elk Restoration
We strongly support efforts to reintroduce elk to native range. We
cooperate with all state initiatives, regulations and policies.
Game Farming
We are concerned about game farms because captive deer and elk can
harbor and transmit diseases to wild herds. We support additional
research and regulation of game farms. We do not accept game farm
hunts for fundraising because they do not meet long-standing standards
of fair chase.
Grazing
We support sustainable and innovative use of resources. Sound grazing
plans are good for ranchers and elk.
Grizzly Bears
We have no official position on grizzlies but support sound, scientific
management of both predator and prey species.
Gun Control
Although we strongly support hunting, our organization focuses on
habitat conservation and attempts to avoid sidetrack issues.
Hunting
More than 95 percent of our members are hunters. We strongly support
legal, responsible and ethical hunting.
Land Ownership
We do not seek to own land long-term. Instead, we work with willing
landowners to acquire tracts of critical elk habitat, enact conservation
easements, and transfer those properties to agencies or conservation
buyers. Most of the lands we acquire are opened for public access.
License Fees
Although we strongly support hunting, we focus on habitat conservation
and attempt to avoid sidetrack issues.
Political Issues
We avoid advocacy of candidates and work closely with members of
both parties. We focus our political involvement on legislative and policy
issues affecting elk and other wildlife.
Timber Harvest
We support sustainable use of resources. Good timber management
plans are good for loggers and elk.
Winter Feeding
We support winter feeding of elk only in emergency situations and only
when supported by state wildlife agencies.
Wolves
We support managing wolf populations through hunting, with regulations
controlled by respective state wildlife agencies.
We encourage members to get involved in political issues of their choosing.
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