Badlands Conservation Alliance names Shannon Straight Executive Director
The Badlands Conservation Alliance (BCA) has named Shannon Straight as Executive Director.
Shannon, a Minot native, has a lifetime love of the badlands and is motivated to forward the Badlands Conservation Alliance’s mission: A Voice for Wild North Dakota Places! He is an advocate for collaboration and is grounded in the belief that new members and donors to BCA will play a vital role in shaping North Dakota’s future that better balances resource development with conservation. Shannon has witnessed the transformation in western North Dakota over the course of a lifetime of adventures in the badlands. One favorite adventure is having backpacked the entire 144 miles of the Maah Daah Hey Trail (MDHT) over ten days during the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020.
Straight had previously served two terms on Minot’s City Council, was a member of #MakeMinot, a citizen lead initiative to reduce the size of Minot’s City Council and is a founding member of Friends of the Souris River, an initiative to restore and renew active river culture in Minot following the devastating impacts of the 2011 Flood. He is owner/operator of Straight’s Concessions, LLC, a seasonal, mobile food business located in Minot.
Shannon’s teenage hikes amongst the buffalo, elk, deer and birds in Teddy Roosevelt National Park left an indelible impression. A stark contrast from the fairgrounds, rodeo arenas and carnivals where he grew up selling confections (cotton candy) and grease (hand dipped corn dogs) in his family’s summer season mobile concession business. Following graduation from The University of North Dakota in 2000, he served two terms as a *VISTA Volunteer in Alaska and Vermont. After a decade splitting time between working for an educational non-profit in Alaska, harvesting apples in Vermont and owning his own summer mobile food business in ND, the 2011 Flood brought Shannon home to North Dakota and Minot. While rebuilding four family homes, he often found relief and renewal while camping and hiking in the North Dakota Badlands. Camping and backpacking trips became a refuge for quiet before the buzz of being ‘on’ for the busy public engagement during the summer food event season.
Like the Flood of 2011, the Covid Pandemic of 2020 canceled most of Shannon’s summer food business, yet provided an opportunity for a long-held dream to hike the entire Maah Daah Hey Trail. In May of that year, he and a friend hiked ‘The Deuce,’ the 48 miles south of Medora. In October 2020, Shannon backpacked alone the remaining 96 miles from Sully Creek Campground to the CCC Campground south of TRNP North Unit. Days on the trail were filled with bird songs, deer, unrelenting ND wind, coyotes calling out in the night and stars that illuminated the skies where he camped. Shannon is grateful to have the Badlands and the TMDHT in ND. He is indebted to a few hunters that helped with extra band-aids and salve that allowed him to care for a wounded left foot as he hobbled to finish the trek into the CCC campground that cold October day.
Shannon hopes to build upon the solid legacy and foundation of BCA’s founding members. He is determined to collaborate with all those willing to preserve and protect our sacred spaces. He is an avid traveler with extensive backpacking experiences in favorite places such as Alaska, Colorado, Nepal, Tibet and recently Tanzania. He is a consumer, drives an F350 diesel that pulls his hot dog trailers and is a proud conservationist.
Straight began his new role on May 1 and can be reached in the Badlands Conservation Alliance office at 701-450-1631. Become a member of Badlands Conservation Alliance today at www.badlandsconservationalliance.org and RSVP to join BCA June 9-11th for Big Cottonwoods and Bighorns: a North Unit Theodore Roosevelt National Park Weekend for Badlands Conservation Alliance with hikes led by Clay Jenkinson, ltamerica.org and Lillian Crook, redoakhouse.com