2023 AWARDS

GORDON EASTMAN GRASS ROOTS AWARD: BRIAN SOLAN

Over the last decade, Brian Solan has served as a director, president and executive director of the Montana Wild Sheep Foundation and led the organization to remarkable achievements shaping bighorn sheep conservation in the Treasure State. Those accomplishments made Solan the ideal recipient of the Gordon Eastman Grass Roots Award, recognizing exemplary hardworking members of WSF chapters and affiliates.

This year marks Solan’s eleventh year of service to the Montana Wild Sheep Foundation. He started as a board member in 2011 and by 2015 was elected president. Around the same time, MTWSF Executive Director Jim Weatherly (2006 WSF Grass Roots Award recipient) decided to retire from his role, passing all his duties on to Solan. He took on both roles and led the chapter to make stellar gains in membership, fundraising and project funding. In 2017, Solan was “hired” as executive director with one caveat: he was not to be paid, which was just another proof of Solan’s character and dedication. Solan’s vision of hiring a part-time conservation director a few years ago and hiring a soon-to-be paid executive director will assure continued MTWSF growth long into the future.

Solan’s contributions to Montana bighorn conservation are profound and historic. According to current MTWSF President DJ Berg, in 2016 Montana was struggling to advance bighorn sheep initiatives due to ongoing frustrations between agricultural and conservation advocates. Solan stepped in with solutions.

“Brian opened up a conversation with the Montana Wool Growers Association to find common ground. This led to a cooperative agreement between our two organizations, which was co-authored by Brian. I cannot understate how important this was for bighorn sheep restoration in Montana. This cooperative relationship continues to be the cornerstone of the progress we are well that the landowner joined our organization and continues to assist with bighorn restoration projects in Montana,” Berg said. making, and it serves as a model for other organizations.”

In the last 11 years, MTWSF has funded approximately $400,000 in Grant-In-Aid projects. One of Solan’s most notable projects is the Garrity Mountain Wildlife Management Area land acquisition. In 2015, Solan wrote a successful grant for $100,000 to transfer 134 privately held acres into the Garrity Mountain WMA. In total, these funds leveraged an additional $260,000, which led to the successful acquisition of the property. This project provided connectivity between the Garrity Mountain and Blue Eyed Nellie WMAs, prevented development in prime bighorn corridors and opened sportsmen/ women access into the Garrity Mountain WMA.

During his tenure with MTWSF, Solan and his team have tripled the chapter’s annual operating budget. Along with financial success, Solan has led the board of directors in critical decisions to boost membership. From 2015 to date, MTWSF membership has increased by 35 percent.

This agreement has led to several collaborative, breakthrough projects between the MTWSF and MWGA, including long-term Montana State University College of Agriculture research on Movi in domestic sheep. Solan and his MWGA partners organized the 2017 symposium

“Sheep In Montana – Domestic and Wild” held at the state capital.

In 2019, Solan coordinated a conservation easement in the Missouri River Breaks to protect the world’s premier sheep herd from a potential domestic sheep operation. “The negotiation went so

Selfless dedication to family, friends and community is another of Solan’s hallmark traits. It’s all part of his ethos of “showing up,” according to Berg.

Brian Solan shows up to make peace and make a difference. He shows up to have difficult and productive conversations with his fellow citizens. He shows up to advocate for bighorn sheep at the Montana state capitol and Washington D.C. He shows up to raise funds and allocate them wisely. He shows up when a new sheep hunter calls him to ask for his help filling his tag. He shows up to get dirty Putting and Keeping Wild Sheep on the Mountain®. WS

JACK O’CONNOR WRITERS AWARD: MIKE McTEE

The Jack O’Connor Writers Award is presented annually at the Sheep Show®’ to recognize the author of the best published article about wild sheep, with special focus on hunting and/or conservation. Known as the “dean of outdoor writers,” O’Connor was born in 1902 and presided over the golden age of modern big-game hunting worldwide. Since his death in 1978, O’Connor’s magazine articles and books have continued to inspire, especially those in the sheephunting community.

Created by the Jack O’Connor Hunting Heritage and Education Center in Lewiston, Idaho, in partnership with WSF, the award this year went to Mike McTee of Missoula, Montana, for his article “The Rock Creek Ram,” published in the November/December 2022 edition of Sports Afield magazine.