Dan Heilig is more than a friend to me; I look upon him much as I do my sons. He, in turn, has treated me as a son would his father. But the relationship goes beyond that. We share a passion for risk and adventure. Our comradeship has grown through the years and that I will sorely miss.

Dan Heilig has cinched his place in the annals of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. His solid and consistent leadership in guiding WOC through some of the most trying and contentious years experienced by the environmental movement in Wyoming has earned him plaudits from his peers and respect from his adversaries. He is now recognized as one of the outstanding environmental leaders in the western United States.

Dan is stepping down from the position of WOC executive director to take a much-needed break. The constant and wearying battles he has fought on behalf of WOC and Wyoming have taken their toll. He can look back with pride for WOC has grown tremendously, both in numbers and respect, under his leadership. He has built a capable and respected staff and a solid financial foundation for the organization. He leaves WOC in the very enviable situation of being one of the strongest and most successful western environmental groups.

Dan is an activist who likes nothing better than diving into the legal battles so necessary in today’s environmental arena. He has become an authority in public lands and environmental law. In spite of that love of the legal work, he took on the job of executive director and pushed himself to the limit. Dan fostered friendships and relationships with people throughout the West—people who have come to support WOC in a number of ways, including financially. In addition, he nurtured his staff and grew with them. And he drew down his own inner resources.

Dan is innately drawn to the defense of all that we hold dear in Wyoming. He loves the wide-open spaces, the mountains, the deserts, the wilderness, the rivers, the clean air and water—what we consider the amenities that make life worth living here. He worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School before becoming an attorney so that he could live and savor the great out-of-doors. That experience whetted his appetite and broadened his vision for what he wanted to do.

He gained my utmost respect when he entered the fight over the Altamont natural gas pipeline, proposed to go through South Pass. He brought all of his expertise to bear in the fight, stalled the proponents, and saw the attempt fail. I think he took up the fight as much for me as for his own satisfaction. We share a love of the wild and the historic places, and he knew of my intense interest in South Pass and the Oregon Trail. He put his heart and soul into that struggle, and we rejoiced together when the outcome was finally decided in our favor.

Dan is the longest serving — 1998-2004 — and one of the most successful of a long line of prestigious leaders of WOC. He is well deserving of time for rest and rejuvenation. As one of his many admirers and close friends, I, and all of those others, wish him the very best. May the wind be always at his back as he sets forth into the unknown. And we hope he comes back to Wyoming and his circle of friends when he is ready.

Bon Voyage, good friend.