MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - Jared Frasier

My name is Jared Frasier and I am the Executive Director of 2% for Conservation. Originally from Northern Wisconsin, I benefited greatly from a diverse outdoor heritage and conservation ethic passed on by family and friends. Moving to Montana during the Great Recession, my career path pivoted from a practicing outdoor educator to learning code and web design in order to provide for my young family. Over the course of several years, I volunteered with dozens of wildlife conservation groups in the region, ultimately leading to becoming 2%’s first paid employee in late 2017.

Based out of Montana’s Gallatin Valley, I enjoy time outdoors with my family and our wire-haired pointing griffon, Bobbie Marshall (she’s named after the Wilderness Complex that was influential in making me settle down in MT).

I volunteer with and am a member / life member of several wildlife conservation groups.  I became an individual member of RMGA in 2016 and a lifetime member in 2020. I also volunteer as a Montana Hunter’s Education Instructor, sit on the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame Review Committee, on the Next Gen Advisory Board for the Gallatin Valley Land Trust,  and as an advisor to the Board of Directors for the International Caribou Foundation.

1. Why did you choose to become a member of RMGA?

When I think of conservation organizations that put their money into actual on-the-ground work for a species, RMGA is one of the best.  In my role at 2% for Conservation, I help businesses and individuals find places to give their time and dollars.  RMGA’s work takes little explanation, as the work speaks for itself.  Population surveys.  Disease monitoring.  Research work and translocation in extreme environments.  The proof is in the progress.

2. What was your first ever experience with mountain goats and what's the story?

I was walking back down the unplowed western side of the Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, after a failed/snowed-out “Dash” (Logan --> Goat Haunt in 24hrs on foot) bid on the 2009 summer solstice. I heard a grunt from over the stone railing and saw a young billy chewing the road’s runoff mud from a section the sun had hit.  As a recent transplant from the Northwoods of Wisconsin, I was mesmerized.  Even though the sleet was driving hard, I stayed there and watched that goat suck minerals from the road for well over an hour, before darkness pushed me down.  I’ve been utterly enamored ever since. 

3. What do you think is the most important wildlife conservation success in modern history?

The setting aside of roughly 15% of the world’s surface area to be wild, in perpetuity.  Obviously, there’s near immeasurable management nuance to each part of the whole, but this effort has been possibly our most crucial step as a species in ensuring a positive future for those that continue the work of conservation after us.  There is a new push to set aside 30% of North America from development by 2030. For my entire life, I’ve watched favorite hunting/fishing spots and habitat areas get bulldozed and turned into condos and strip malls at a devastating rate.  This is happening world-wide.  We must be proactive to set the next generations up for success.

4. Let's practice your ID skills! Is this a billy or a nanny, and why?