I grew up in suburban Chicago, and my backyard abutted a small forest preserve, which had a little creek flowing through it. To my brothers and me, that forest preserve was as wild as Alaska, and we spent countless hours exploring the forest and creek. So began my love of all things wild.
A few years later, when I was 15, I went on a month-long NOLS backpacking trip in the Lemhi Mountain Range in Idaho. For a flatlander from Illinois, it was an amazing experience. When I traveled home after the trip, some part of me remained in the West, and I spent the next fifteen years preparing for my return. In that time, my interest in, and passion for, the natural world only deepened. I closely followed environmental issues, with those affecting the northern Rockies nearest and dearest to my heart. Many voyages to Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming also transpired.
I earned a B.A. from Middlebury College in Vermont in 2001 and a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law in 2005. Following law school, I clerked in federal court in Chicago for a year, spent two years in the litigation group of a large Chicago law firm, and then, following a brilliant alignment of the stars, obtained my dream job as a wildlife advocate for NRDC in Montana.
Away from the office, I can be found chasing wild trout with a fly rod, trail-running, playing pond hockey, hiking, hunting, or doing something else in the mountains. But if it were an emergency, I’d check the rivers first.
Posted June 6, 2013 by Matt Skoglund in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Name the environmental fight, and it’s often framed as Save Nature v. Jobs & Development. In one corner is the granola-eating, Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging hippie, and in the other corner is Exxon Mobil. Not so with Pebble Mine. Frankly,...continued→
Posted April 2, 2013 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
The Chicago Cubs are undefeated, and we’ve recently been hit some by beautiful spring weather (though, in the name of fish, fire, fungi, and farming, I hope we get a good chunk of snow and rain in the next few...continued→
Posted February 25, 2013 by Matt Skoglund in Solving Global Warming, The Media and the Environment
Sunrise over Lake Nokomis at the 2013 U.S. Pond Hockey Championships. (Photo by Jeff Cashman.) A year ago, I wrote a blog entry about pond hockey and climate change. In that post, I discussed an alarming new study...continued→
Posted January 7, 2013 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
In a much-anticipated decision announced today, a Montana state judge upheld the State of Montana’s historic decision to give wild bison from Yellowstone National Park access to tens of thousands of acres of habitat north of the Park...continued→
Posted December 13, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Several wolves from Yellowstone National Park have been killed in wolf-hunts in the Northern Rockies this fall. Of the wolves killed, many wore radio collars, which researchers and wildlife managers use to monitor wolves and collect scientific data about them. Not...continued→
Posted November 15, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Elk season is almost over. And, after a few weekends of fruitless mountain-wandering in search of the mighty wapiti, it’s hard to think about anything else. Tan smoke; they can make you crazy. But I write to tell...continued→
Posted September 27, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Wild bison in Yellowstone National Park Yesterday, I provided an update on Montana’s historic proposal to give wild bison from Yellowstone National Park access to year-round habitat in Montana. Today, I’d like to show you what some of...continued→
Posted September 26, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
In July, I wrote about the State of Montana’s historic proposal to open a large chunk of the Gallatin National Forest west of Yellowstone National Park to year-round use by wild bison – as well as year-round use...continued→
Posted August 10, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Two Saturdays ago, I hiked into a small stream in the Park to self-administer some backcountry-trout-stream therapy, which Yellowstone offers in abundance. It was a great day, and badly needed. Let me explain. In June, I was away...continued→
Posted July 30, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Last week, the State of Montana announced a landmark proposal for year-round bison habitat outside Yellowstone National Park in Montana. Specifically, the proposal would allow for year-round use for all bison on a big chunk of the Gallatin...continued→
Posted June 29, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
A group of bison cows and calves in Yellowstone National Park in May 2012. Last month, I posted an array of photos from a spring trip into Yellowstone National Park. Conspicuously absent from that post were any photos...continued→
Posted May 22, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Looking upstream at Slough Creek in the northeast corner of Yellowstone. I recently spent five days in Yellowstone National Park with some wonderful NRDC supporters. We saw a ton of wildlife, went on some great hikes, laughed a...continued→
Posted May 10, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Each spring, they grow. From a recently frozen earth, they rise. Quietly, secretly, calmly, they slink up out of dark soil and emerge. They are simple, pure, undemanding. Small, just a few inches, muted colors, no flash, humble. They...continued→
Posted March 14, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
A pair of wild buffalo along Slough Creek in Yellowstone National Park Last April, I wrote about an historic agreement made by the federal, state, and tribal agencies that collectively manage Yellowstone’s wild buffalo population, which gave the...continued→
Posted March 14, 2012 by Matt Skoglund in Solving Global Warming
January 21, 2012 at the U.S. Pond Hockey Championship Seven years ago, I discovered that a fountain of youth exists. It’s called the U.S. Pond Hockey Championship, and you can find it each January on Lake Nokomis in Minnesota....continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
