The methodology: To help select this year’s Champions of Conservation, we consulted with six experts with a broad range of ecological perspectives. “We must ensure the sustainable use of land and water to support the South’s econ- omy, create recreational opportunities, and preserve our cultural identity for generations to come,” says Mamie Parker, an Arkansas native and former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leader. “It was inspiring to serve on this panel and witness the passion and dedication of individuals actively working to preserve and protect our region’s natural beauty.”

Sally Bethea, one of the first women in America to become a “riverkeeper”—a vocal defender of a specific waterway who holds companies and governing bodies accountable for pollution—served as executive director of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in Atlanta for two decades and continues to assist the organization as a senior adviser. In July, she published Keeping the Chattahoochee: Reviving and Defending a Great Southern River, detailing her restoration efforts.

Caleb Hickman, a G&G 2022 Champion of Conservation, is the supervisory biologist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. As such, the Oklahoma native and citizen of the Cherokee Nation lives at the intersection of culture and ecology. He and his team manage tribal lands and conduct some thirty-plus projects a year focused on native species historically important to the Cherokee, including elk, hellbenders, and fish such as the sicklefin redhorse.

Mamie Parker followed up a career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as chief of staff and head of fisheries with her current position as a success coach and consultant at Ecologix Group, Inc., collaborating with such clients as the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and National Wild Turkey Federation. The governor of Arkansas inducted the biologist into the Natural State’s Outdoor Hall of Fame for her work on fish habitats and invasive species.

Simon Perkins is a lifelong outdoorsman and represents the third generation of the Perkins family to lead Orvis, as president. Before joining the company in 2012, he spent a decade as an upland hunting and fly-fishing guide in Montana, and he served for years on the board of Trout Unlimited Headwaters. He also advocates for Orvis’s support of conservation across the country through the Breaking Barriers Awards and by collaborating with organizations such as Black Warrior Riverkeeper, the Everglades Foundation, and the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

Felica Sanders, named the 2020 Biologist of the Year by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, has spent more than three decades conserving a wide diversity of bird species, from neotropical migrants to red-cockaded wood-peckers. As the Coastal Bird Conservation Project supervisor for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, she focuses on shorebirds and the preservation and protection of their coastal habitats, including Charleston’s Deveaux Bank, not ar from her home just north in McClellanville.

Jonathan Wilkins, a hunting educator and facilitator in his seasonal home base of Brinkley, Arkansas, organizes hunting and fishing trips through his company, Black Duck Revival, to reconnect people, especially “nontraditional” hunters and Black Americans, to the land and self-reliance skills. An expert in wild-game cooking and an advocate for sustainable hunting, Wilkins has also served as a state board member for the Arkansas chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.