Preserving Public Lands

Crowfoot: “The idea that we can use government to improve society — that’s at the core of everything I do.” Courtesy of California Natural Resources Agency

Wade Crowfoot 96’s passion for natural spaces started on the banks of Loon Lake in Ontario, Canada, when he was a boy. There, at his family’s cabin, he’d pick blueberries and fish for bass, perch, and catfish.

More than three decades later, Crowfoot’s love of the outdoors extends 2,500 miles west to California, where in 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed him secretary of natural resources.

In that cabinet-level role, Crowfoot manages 25,000 employees who steward state forests, natural lands, and waterways. He also advises Newsom on natural resources and the environment.

For Crowfoot, defending public lands isn’t just an environmental issue — it’s a democratic one. “These are lands that you can enjoy whether you’re rich or poor, regardless of your background,” he says. “Public lands are uniquely American. They are our heritage.”

Additionally, under Crowfoot’s leadership, California has become a national model for tribal partnerships. (Crowfoot’s English surname is often mistaken as Native American.) More than 100,000 acres of ancestral land have been returned to Native communities, and more than half of the state’s park land acreage is now comanaged with tribal nations.

At UW–Madison, Crowfoot majored in political science and quickly immersed himself in state government. He found a mentor in Dennis Dresang ’64, professor emeritus of public affairs and political science. The mentorship led to a page position at the state capitol, and eventually to an honors project on public-private partnerships.

Crowfoot’s turning point came during his sophomore year, when he and a friend took a semester off to drive across the country in a Volkswagen van. They camped their way through the national parks and ultimately arrived in the Bay Area. En route, Crowfoot was enchanted by the starkness of the eastern Sierra Nevada and the sublimity of Big Sur’s precipitous coastal cliffs. After studying abroad in Costa Rica, he returned to Madison to finish his degree, and then he moved west.

Crowfoot has witnessed how Californians across the political spectrum rally around wild spaces: “They’re a connector in a time of great political division.” Despite growing environmental threats — and political opposition in some quarters — Crowfoot remains relentlessly hopeful. His work is animated by a belief in the Progressive tradition, one he traces back to Wisconsin’s political history. “The idea that we can use government to improve society — that’s at the core of everything I do.”

Published in the Winter 2025 issue