Brian O’Donnell

Brian O’Donnell could be labeled as an “all-around wilderness revivalist.” He is currently the executive director of the Conservation Lands Foundation (CLF) whose mission is simple, but vastly important: to protect, restore and expand the National Conservation Lands through education, advocacy and partnerships. The National Conservation Lands currently encompass 28 million acres of public land, over 2,400 river miles and approximately 6,000 miles of trails throughout the West. Before CLF, O’Donnell was the national public lands director for Trout Unlimited, and he has also worked for The Wilderness Society, where he led campaigns that resulted in the congressional designation of the Black Rock Desert, the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Areas and dozens of new legislated Wilderness areas throughout Nevada. He was the co-founder of the Nevada Wilderness Coalition, Wilderness Support Center and West Virginia Wilderness Coalition, and in the early 1990s, he served as the executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League.