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Interview with Bart Semcer, Sierra Club

Bart Semcer is an avid outdoorsman who has dedicated his life to conserving the world's wildlife and wild places. Bart currently serves the Sierra Club as its Washington, DC Representative for Fish and Wildlife Policy and Hunting and Fishing Programs. In this position his responsibilities include developing and executing government relations strategies on issues related to the management of endangered species, public lands and the perpetuation of America's outdoor heritage.

I felt it would be incredibly important to interview Bart for our readers here.  Bart is advocating a strong bond between environmentalists and Conservationists to work on the things we do agree upon in saving our wild places and protecting our planet.  I think you will see from the following interview that Bart is working extremely hard on all of our behalf and while some may view him on the wrong side of the fence, he is an avid hunter and is working hard to make changes from within.

Prior to joining the Sierra Club staff Bart Served the Sierra Club in a number of volunteer leadership positions including Chair of the national Wildlife and Endangered Species Committee, Chair of the Essex Group (New Jersey), Vice-Chair of the New Jersey Chapter and as a member of the Wild Planet Strategy Team, New York City Group Executive Committee and Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors. He is the recipient of Extraordinary Achievement and Outstanding Achievement awards from the Club's New Jersey Chapter.

Bart is also a Conservation Fellow with The Rewilding Institute, a think tank working to develop and promote strategies to advance continental scale conservation in North America.

In addition to his affiliations with Sierra Club and The Rewildling Institute Bart is also a founding member of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and a life member of the International Hunter Education Association, as well as many other conservation and outdoor recreation organizations.

Bart graduated from Muhlenberg College in 1994 with a BA in Philosophy/Political Thought. While a student at Muhlenberg, Bart helped establish the school's Environmental Studies Program.

In recent years, Bart's love of hunting and fishing has taken him from his adopted state of Virginia to Alaska, Bermuda, California, Colorado, Montana and Washington State. He lives at the edge of a federal wildlife preserve that is home to bald eagle, osprey, great blue heron, lesser scaup, and numerous other species.

The Interview

How did you get into hunting and fishing?

I grew up in and have always lived in a pretty urban environment. My childhood was spent in the suburbs of New York City, not exactly the place most people think of when they think about hunting and fishing.  But the suburbs were different then and my friends and I could ride our bicycles and take our rods to a pond behind the school.  We’d spend afternoons with spin rods going after sunfish and stocked trout.  We also had a creek that flowed through town where we would gather crawfish and frogs.

I was lucky that I had a father who got me involved in the outdoors when I was young.  He and his friends would take me and other children up to a camp in the mountains on weekends where we would fish and shoot.  The first time I shot a .22 rifle I was 8 years old and it was on one of those trips.

In the summer we would visit friends of the family who had a country house in New Hampshire and we would fish for brook trout almost every morning and afternoon.  Bermuda was also a popular destination for my family and my father and I would go out reef fishing together while down there.

Those early experiences outside gave me an appreciation for nature that hasn’t waned yet.

Who influenced you to search out a career in Environmentalism and Conservation?

I’ve never really drawn my inspiration from other people.  Instead it is the sight of geese in the sky, the feel of a fish on the line and the smell of gunpowder in the air that has always inspired me.  I really enjoy these things, I’ve built my life around them, and I want to help other people enjoy them as well. Keeping our outdoor heritage alive requires conserving the natural resources that heritage depends on.  So, I chose conservation as a profession.

Where did you go to school?

Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I read that you helped establish the Environmental Studies Program for your school, how did that come about?

There were a number of members of the faculty who were interested in formalizing a track of study that tackled conservation subjects beyond just the natural sciences.  I, and a few other students, were active in organized conservation and outdoor recreation activities on campus and these faculty members reached out to us to help them design the program, which we did over a period of several months.  It is something I am very proud to have been a part of.

What is your role with the Sierra Club?

I oversee the Club’s hunting and fishing program.

The Sierra Club has a renewed commitment to working with America’s sportsmen, how did this come about?

We know from market research we commissioned that over 100,000 of our members purchased a hunting and/or fishing license in the past year.  These hunters and anglers form a very important part of our membership because active outdoorspeople are the base of the conservation movement.  It is hunters and anglers who provide the largest stable source of funding for fish and wildlife restoration projects and habitat acquisition efforts.  We want our members who hunt and fish to feel welcome in Sierra Club, to add their strength and ideas to our programs and to represent us in their communities.

Why do you think conservation groups and environmental groups should work together?

We have a common interest in the outdoors to protect and we have strength in numbers.  Not everyone values the natural world as much as conservationists and environmentalists do.  The willingness on the part of individuals and institutions to put other concerns above healthy habitat and robust fish and wildlife populations knows no political party.  History has shown though that when people who value the outdoors work together they can overcome any resistance.

Where do you see the conservation/environmental movement going in the next five years?

I see it growing in influence beyond the traditional organizations to include churches, large corporations, venture capital firms and other institutions. The idea that a choice must be made between conservation and the economy seems to be fading and the reality that good jobs and large profits can be created via businesses that support wild landscapes, clean water and healthy fish and wildlife populations is taking root.  The growing recreational hunting and fishing economy is certainly part of this, especially in the developing world.  Renewable energy technology which reduces pollution also holds great economic promise. 

Tell me about your favorite hunting trip?

Last year I hunted with a pack of basset hounds for the first time.  This was in the Virginia Piedmont, near my current home.  We hunt eastern cottontail. It’s just a great time.  The chance to watch the hounds work in such a beautiful landscape plus taking part in a hunting tradition that goes back thousands of years, it’s just a wonderful thing. I liked it so much after that first hunt that I stuck with it and I now serve as an Honorary Whipper-In for the pack.

What are your plans for hunting and fishing trips in the next year?

I just enjoyed some dove shooting on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and I’ll be going back there to hunt geese.  I have a pheasant hunt in South Dakota planned for November and am lining up some bird hunting in Montana for December.  I’ll hunt with the bassets at least once a week until the end of March.  I may cap with some Virginia foxhunts as well.  Over Christmas I’ll return home to New Jersey and fish that same pond I did growing up.

Sierra Club Sportsmen