MeatEater Announces New Director of Conservation

“As a lifelong hunter, angler, and father of two young boys, I view the future of wildlife and wild places as a very personal issue. So when Steve asked me to join MeatEater, back in 2017, the opportunity that excited me the most was the chance we might have, as a group of leaders in the hunting and fishing community, to make a positive difference on the future of conservation and the hunting and fishing way of life. I’ve looked at that as our ultimate goal ever since, and I’m proud of the strides we’ve taken in the last 8+ years. That said, I’ve always felt that we could do even more,” Mark said.

Mark has been hosting the Wired to Hunt Podcast since 2014. He is the author of That Wild Country: An Epic Journey into the Past, Present, and Future of America’s Public Lands and will be publishing a second book in 2027 exploring the future of fish and wildlife in America through the lens of a hunter/angler.

He’s on the national board of directors for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, National Deer Association, and Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters. Additionally, he was recently the recipient of the 2025 Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ Ted Trueblood Award for exceptional communications work informing and inspiring people for the benefit of public lands, waters, and wildlife. He was also the 2014 Quality Deer Management Association Communicator of the Year.

While working at MeatEater, Mark founded the Working for Wildlife Tour, which rallied more than a thousand hunter/angler volunteers to participate in public land habitat improvement projects across the country at ten different events. He also hosted the Back 40 YouTube series, which explored the intersection of private land hunting and stewardship, and the role that hunters can play in addressing the biodiversity crisis.

To say Mark is well-equipped to take on this role is an understatement. The previous Director of Conservation, Ryan “Cal” Callaghan, agrees.

“Mark is the right guy for this job; he’s the best conservation communicator in the game,” Cal said. “The role of for-profit businesses in pushing for sustainable management, responsible use, and the power of public lands, waters, and wildlife cannot be understated. Plus, it’s the right thing to do. Mark has my full faith and expectation to lead in this space.”

Mark’s goal is to educate, inspire, and activate the MeatEater audience to participate in pro-conservation efforts.

“Expect more world-class conservation content, a higher velocity of conservation education and news, a greater focus on driving tangible action to conserve wildlife and wild places, and a more strategic approach to harnessing our voice and resources to influence change,” he said.

“This means, for example, continuing to lead in the fight against the sale, transfer, or degradation of America’s public lands in new and bolder ways. It means a greater focus on directly improving or acquiring hunting and fishing opportunities, and wildlife habitat, through our Land Access Initiative, our Working for Wildlife Tour, and other new efforts. And it means turning up the volume across the MeatEater platforms to make sure the voice of hunters and anglers is heard loud and clear.”

As Teddy Roosevelt famously put it, “the wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will.”

Ultimately, Mark says, we want “more mule deer on the hill, more trout in the stream, more squirrels in the pot, and more wide-open, healthy landscapes and waters to explore along the way.”

“If I do my job right, our efforts will be seen, heard, and felt on the airwaves, on the ground, and in Washington, D.C., and state capitols all across America. I can’t wait to partner with the diehard hunters and anglers of the MeatEater community to help make this a reality, and I look forward to seeing many of you out there, getting our hands dirty together, and raising our voices as one in defense of wildlife and wild places.”