MISSOULA, Mont. (January 25, 2023) – The Boone and Crockett Club announced that James L. Cummins, Executive Director of Wildlife Mississippi, has been elected to serve as the Club’s 36th President. Cummins is originally from Mississippi (the state where Theodore Roosevelt’s infamous Fair Chase bear hunt took place) and as president of the Boone and Crockett Club he intends to focus his efforts on promoting conservation policy and hunting ethics. .
“It wasn’t hard for me to fall in love with the Boone and Crockett Club: my values and their values are pretty much the same, and its founder, Theodore Roosevelt, is my philosophical soul brother,” says Cummins. “As the oldest conservation organization in North America and the second oldest in the world, the Club has 135 years of thoughtful and measured commitment to conserving wild places and things. And we do it in a way that balances human and wildlife needs, like wisely using our natural resources for hunting or managing our forests as a partial solution to climate change.”
Born and raised in the Delta town of Greenville, Mississippi, Cummins describes himself as a “science nerd” who did his 11th grade science project on antler growth in whitetail deer. . He is a trained wildlife biologist with a BS from the State of Mississippi and an MS from Virginia Tech. He also has significant policy experience serving as a staff member of the late US Senator Thad Cochran and ongoing political action in his current position with Wildlife Mississippi and through volunteer leadership positions with the Boone and Crockett Club and the Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation. Cummins also serves as one of six Americans on the Binational Softwood Lumber Council with Canada. He became a member of the Boone and Crockett Club in 2007, recruited by former Club President and Honorary Life Member Bob Model, who also led the Club’s engagement on conservation policy issues.
“James has been an active member helping to lead the Club’s Conservation Policy Committee and Strategic Planning Committee. He is always there when we need his leadership and guidance on policy and organizational structure and we are very excited to have him as club president for the next two years,” said club chief executive Tony Schoonen.
Cummins has already assumed his new role as president, working closely with members of Congress in the final days of the 117th Congress to include the Chronic Debilitating Diseases Research and Management Act in the general appropriations bill. He actively participates in the deliberations for the reauthorization of the Farm Bill and forestry policy.
“It is truly humbling to be the president of the Boone and Crockett family. Our immediate past president, Jim Arnold, has done a fabulous job leading this organization over the past two years,” Cummins concluded. “He handed the reins over to me and the entire team with the Club in top financial shape as we accomplished more for conservation and hunting than ever before. I’m looking forward to taking it to the next level.”
About the Boone and Crockett Club
Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club promotes the stewardship and visionary management of big game and associated wildlife in North America. The Club maintains the highest standards of fair pursuit sportsmanship and habitat stewardship. Member accomplishments include the expansion and protection of Yellowstone and the establishment of Glacier and Denali National Parks, the founding of the US Forest Service, the National Park Service and the National Wildlife Refuge System, the fostering the Pittman-Robertson and Lacey laws, creating the Federal Duck Stamp program, and developing the cornerstones of modern gambling laws. The Boone and Crockett Club is based in Missoula, Montana. For more details, visit www.boone-crockett.org.