Bob St. Pierre
Chair
Bob is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Pheasants Forever, Inc. & Quail Forever where he’s been working to grow the non-profit habitat organization’s brand since 2003. Prior to joining Pheasants Forever, St.Pierre was the Assistant General Manager of the Saint Paul Saints Professional Baseball Club. St.Pierre also serves as “The Captain” Billy Hildebrand’s co-host on FAN Outdoors radio broadcasting live every Saturday morning from the Twin Cities and across the Midwest on the KFAN radio network. St.Pierre first fell in love with the Boundary Waters through KFAN’s annual live broadcasts out of Ely. Since that first KFAN Boundary Waters canoe trip, St.Pierre has become a frequent BWCAW explorer with the majority of those adventures taking place on cross-country skis behind his German shorthaired pointers.
Dave Simonett
Dave Simonett is the lead vocalist, guitar player, and songwriter in the American bluegrass-influenced band, Trampled by Turtles. Born on the U.S. Army Base in Landstuhl, Germany, Simonett grew up in Mankato, Minnesota where he enjoyed fishing and Minnesota Twins baseball. He moved to Duluth to attend UMD, and that’s where four friends started to play music together and coalesced to become Trampled by Turtles. It’s during this time in Duluth that Dave started taking trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He fell in love with paddling and fishing across the BWCA and has subsequently introduced his children to the joys of camping in the Boundary Waters. Over the last few years, Simonett has also become a hunter and public lands advocate. He’s a member of Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. He’s also appeared on an episode of MeatEater podcast to talk about his journey to becoming a hunter.
Rob Drieslein
Vice-chair
Rob has been a Minnesota-based professional newspaperman, magazine contributor, and outdoors communicator since 1992. In addition to his editorial and general manager duties at the Outdoor News Publications, Drieslein hosts the syndicated Outdoor News Radio, writes a conservation blog at outdoornews.com/Minnesota, and he has written for several national and regional magazines. Rob has a degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas. Living in the Twin Cities, Drieslein and his wife of 23 years, Annette, raise three sons and a daughter, all of whom enjoy canoe camping trips in the Boundary Waters, hiking America’s national parks, recreational shooting, and fishing Minnesota’s lakes and streams.
Hansi Johnson
Hansi Johnson is a lifelong BWCA enthusiast. He lives in Duluth, Minnesota with his son Tae and his wife Margaret and routinely does family visits to the Wilderness. Hansi works for the Minnesota Land Trust and advocates for Minnesota’s natural spaces and for the sports and activities that take place within them, with his work at MLT as well as his Photography.
Julia Peebles
Treasurer
Julia Peebles grew up hunting and fishing in Indiana and works to conserve waterfowl and other wildlife as the Agriculture and Sustainability Manager for Ducks Unlimited, Inc. in Washington, D.C. In her previous roles at Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Julia was a strong advocate in protecting the Boundary Waters and continues to do so through her personal advocacy efforts.
When Julia isn’t in the D.C. area and working on conservation policy, you will find her with her family hunting upland birds in Indiana and Michigan, hunting whitetails in Tennessee, or fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mark Kenyon
Mark Kenyon is the author of That Wild Country: An Epic Journey into the Past, Present, and Future of America’s Public Lands and host of the Wired To Hunt Podcast and MeatEater’s Back 40, One Week in November, and Deer Country television shows. He is a diehard hunter, angler, hiker, and backcountry enthusiast.
Mark Neuzil
Secretary
Mark is a professor of journalism and environmental studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. He has written several books, including Canoes: A Natural History in North America (with Norman Sims), A Spiritual Field Guide (with Bernard Brady) and Views on the Mississippi, which won a Minnesota Book Award. An avid outdoorsman who enjoys fishing as well as hunting pheasants and deer, Mark makes multiple canoe camping trips to the BWCA each year, including an annual family outing that began before his adult daughters were in kindergarten. His journalism has taken him to such varied places as Cuba, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, and his freelance articles have appeared in publications including Field & Stream, Earth Island Journal and Audubon magazine. He also was a Fulbright Scholar teaching journalism at Charles University in Prague, where he enjoyed the Czech pastimes of carp fishing and mushroom hunting.
Dave Seaton
Dave and his wife, Nancy, own and operate Hungry Jack Outfitters, near the Gunflint Trail entry to the Boundary Waters. Dave and Nancy have traveled through the canoe country extensively, guiding others and on their own. They have passed their love of the Wilderness to their two sons, Ben and Will, who join Dave and Nancy whenever possible.
Ron Monson
Ron is a lifelong Minnesotan. He first visited the BWCAW in 1977 with his church youth group and again in 1978 through the inaugural Leadership Training Experience with Mink Lake Camp. He now has a twenty-year streak going in the BWCAW with friends, mostly up the Arrowhead Trail.
Ron earned his BA in Biology in 1985 from Bethel University, his MA in Teaching from the University of St. Thomas in 1987, and his ABD in Educational Leadership & Administrative license in 2012 from Bethel University. He was a high school biology, human anatomy & physiology teacher, and principal for 35 years, retiring in 2021.
Ron now serves as the Land Steward for their family farm in Todd County, MN. 81 of the 110 acres are currently enrolled in CRP. He is also an active, longtime ambassador for the MOVEMBER Foundation, raising awareness for Men’s Health. In 2022, he summited Mt. Kilimanjaro with Movember.
Ron enjoys hunting and fishing. Deer and pheasants are his main pursuits, and he will gladly join the hunt for grouse, waterfowl, or turkey. He recently tagged a huge Red Stag in Argentina! His fishing focuses on smallmouth, walleye, and largemouth. He will jump into the boat on any fishing foray.
