Legends of the Wild: Hal Herring on Conservation, Storytelling & Public Lands

Podcast: Legends of the Wild, A Field & Stream Production
Host: Sam Soholt
Guest: Hal Herring
Date: October 8, 2025
Episode: 9 - Hal Herring on the Future of Conservation and the Fight for Public Lands

Overview:

This episode delves deep into the intertwining paths of outdoor journalism, conservation, and the ongoing fight for America’s public lands. Host Sam Soholt sits down with Hal Herring—acclaimed outdoor journalist, Field & Stream contributor, and passionate public lands advocate—for a sprawling, candid conversation. Together, they trace Hal's rural Alabama roots, his circuitous journey to Montana, the realities of storytelling (and pack rats), landmark conservation fights, and the realities of protecting wild places for future generations. Both men reflect on personal setbacks, the rewards and frustrations of the outdoor lifestyle, and offer hard-earned optimism about fixing what’s broken.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hal’s Outdoor Origins & Path to Journalism

• [02:12] Hal shares the inevitability of his outdoor path, growing up "eat up" with the woods, early reading, and mentorship in Alabama.
  • “I was just eat up with not just the romance of the books and stuff, but the reality of... spearing, like, buffalo during the floods on the Tennessee River. I mean I was like nine years old...” —Hal ([04:10])
• [05:03] Moving to Montana, adapting skills learned as a boy to the West, and supporting himself with rural work.
• [06:46] Writing roots: Starting with fiction and essays, $825 a month on a ranch, and yearning to articulate “the song people were singing” in conservation.

2. Breaking in at Field & Stream and Early Conservation Fights

• [09:43-11:35] Hal’s break: Reporting on Montana’s “game farming” (captive shooting) controversy, meeting mentors like Jim Posewitz.
  • “I was meeting...what I consider the best people in the world. Like, I was like, holy smokes. You know, this is what I think. I've just never had it articulated.” —Hal ([10:14])
  • On Montana as the "church" of big game hunting ([11:27])
• [12:27] Early Field & Stream submission, technological hurdles (swapping a shotgun for an Apple II computer), and living hand-to-mouth in Montana.

3. Pack Rats, Rural Reality & Storytelling

• [15:54-22:14] A detour on pack rats—first jamming the printer, then chaotic home invasions, and sharing tales of close encounters from both Sam and Hal.
  • “It's funny because you can't. As cool as they are, you can't really live with them.” —Hal ([20:43])
• [14:36] Vivid stories of rural barter, wildlife, and finding humor (and meaning) in hardship.

4. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), Reporting, & the Journalist’s Duty

• [22:42-27:07] The reality of chasing difficult stories: Chronic Wasting Disease, the ethics & economics of game farming, and the devastating loss of CWD pioneers Beth Williams and Tom Thorne.
  • “I loved researching and writing about stuff that was controversial and difficult.” —Hal ([27:39])
• [28:41] Conservation appeals because it’s “fixable”—unlike so many of society’s other crises.
  • “I have watched the Clean Water Act of 1972...watch things getting better all of my growing up days.” —Hal ([29:16])

5. The Hard Choices of Conservation

• [30:37-33:42] Conservation is never “convenient”:
  • “Convenient is just a straight pipe, the sewage out to the creek behind your house.” —Hal ([30:47])
  • Quoting Pat Murray: “Easy choices make hard lives, and hard choices make easier lives.” ([32:11])
• [33:08] Discussing life “as a diminishing portfolio of enthusiasms” and the importance of not letting go of what you love.

6. The Outdoor Life as Practice & Sacrifice

• [34:53-41:34] Hal details a recent crisis: drought, digging a new well, missing favorite annual activities (range restoration, bird hunting, incredible pike fishing), and trading adventure for essential home work.
• Trading current outdoor seasons for family and health, the soul-searching that comes when life interrupts plans.
  • “Life making the hard choices, right?” —Hal ([37:04])

7. Field & Stream, Changing Media, and the Role of Storytellers

• [44:05-47:56] The magazine era, reporting on bear poaching, “saying yes” to the Deepwater Horizon liveblog, and the bittersweet transition as Field & Stream (and conservation journalism) went digital.
• The power and pitfalls of the internet: reacting in real time, far-reaching activism, but the loss of big, immersive stories.

8. Conservation Advocacy in the Digital Age

• [48:48-52:18] The rise of coordinated conservation action: TRCP, BHA, Trout Unlimited, and leveraging the Internet and social media to unite outdoor users against threats to public lands.
• The success of the public lands “battle,” the necessity of constant vigilance, and how these fights would be lost piecemeal without unity.
  • “We would have been fighting piecemeal battles for the rest of our lives to just try to hold on to this or that...” —Hal ([52:12])

9. Maintaining Hope, Avoiding Burnout, & Passing It On

• [53:28-57:53] Advice for activists:
  • “Do what Ed Abbey always said, be a Half hearted fanatic...celebrate, take your kids, go fishing and hunting...but you got to think about the Clean Water Act at some point.” ([53:28])
• The necessity of “eternal vigilance,” celebrating victories, and remembering we are beneficiaries of hard-fought wins.

10. Projects, Writing, Family, and “The Four Burner Stove”

• [60:31-65:47] Hal discusses current writing projects—books about public lands, their histories & his travels—balancing work, family, hunting/fishing, and health, and the importance of not letting any “burner” go cold.
  • “...you got family, you got work, you got hunting, fishing, and probably the fourth is your health. You've got to turn those burners on or off...balance that.” ([63:21])

11. Why It Matters: Reality-Based Conservation

• [71:55-79:54] Hal’s final message:

  • “Let’s drag conservation...public lands...out in front of the politics. We're not playing that game anymore.” ([71:55])
  • Grassroots sportsmen/women’s groups had power—face-to-face local advocacy still matters.
  • Fixing pollution, floods, declining habitat is possible with political will and incentive structures; “hunters and fishermen are particularly good at this...reality-based decisions, not abstract.”

• On stewardship:

  • “I always say current stewards because it's just our turn.” —Sam ([79:29])
  • Citing Doug Duren: “It's not ours, it's just our turn.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On mentorship & learning to articulate conservation:

  • “I was meeting the...best people in the world...singing my tune I didn't know how to sing yet.” —Hal ([10:14])

• On conservation as permanent struggle:

  • “We are in a battle or even a long term war to protect the things that we truly believe in, that we have inherited, that we can't give up.” —Hal ([54:33])

• On hope and celebrating wins:

  • “You need to remember to write a few pieces that just celebrate what we love.” —Jim Posewitz, as recounted by Hal ([57:18])

• On reality-based advocacy:

  • “Reality based decisions. They're not about politics...It's cold or it's really hot. We should bring an extra quart of water for Junior...why is it flooding? Well, yeah.” —Hal ([78:41])

• On personal obligation:

  • “I feel I have an obligation to point out that things that are broken can be fixed in the environment and public lands and fish and wildlife, which makes people's life better.” —Hal ([29:50])

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------| | Hal's childhood, Alabama, and early fascination with outdoors | 02:12+ | | Moving West, Montana rural life | 05:03+ | | Breaking into Field & Stream, early stories, importance of journalism | 09:43+ | | Captive game farm controversy, CWD reporting, meeting conservation icons | 10:56+ | | Pack rat stories & rural mishaps | 15:54+ | | Conservation as a solvable challenge, Clean Water Act, fixing the broken | 28:41+ | | “Hard choices, Easy lives”: philosophy of conservation work | 32:11+ | | Life disruptions, drought, balancing priorities | 34:53+ | | Changing Field & Stream, role of storytellers | 44:05+ | | Advocacy in the social media age: public lands battles | 48:48+ | | Avoiding burnout, celebrating wins, half-hearted fanaticism | 53:28+ | | Writing projects, family, the “four burner stove” philosophy | 60:31+ | | Grassroots power, fixing the system, what do we value? | 71:55+ | | The necessity of pragmatic, reality-based conservation | 78:11+ | | Closing thoughts and gratitude | 81:19+ |

Final Thoughts & Takeaways

• Optimism with realism: The work is never done—but as Hal demonstrates with stories from decades of field experience, determined individuals, organized advocacy, and persistent storytelling can (and have) changed the future for wildlife, wild places, and people.
• The urgent value of public lands: They’re not only resources but the backbone of community, accountability, and the American conservation model.
• Personal engagement matters: Whether writing, legislating, or just taking kids outside, everyone has a role.
• Balance is hard but essential: Life’s a four-burner stove; don’t let any one burner grow cold.

Episode closes with plans for more hunting stories, the hope of meeting in a duck blind, and a shared sense of gratitude for a life lived outdoors and in service to wild places.