Winter Wildlands Alliance

Overview

The Winter Wildlands Alliance was founded in February 2000 by backcountry ski and quiet use groups from Nevada, Colorado, California, and Idaho. ⁴ The organization is based in Boise, Idaho, but has a network of approximately 100 environmentalist organization across the United States. ⁵ Some of these organizations include Patagonia, ⁶ Avalanche Science LLC, ⁷ Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition, and Nordic and Backcountry Skiers Alliance of Idaho. ⁸ The alliance focuses on preserving winter wildlands and human-powered snow sports experiences on public lands through working and dealing with grassroots groups, elected officials and other organizations. ⁹ The Winter Wildlands Alliance has received over $3.5 million in donations from various left-of-center environmentalist foundations such as the Turner Foundation ($1.2 million), the Wyss Foundation ($600,000), and Patagonia being the biggest donors. ²

Political Activity

In 2010, the alliance partnered up with Wolf Recovery Project and the Sierra club in a lawsuit against the USDA to try and stop the agency from darting and tagging wolves in wilderness areas. Since that same year, the WWA have been running a long campaign to get the use of snowmobiles on public land restricted. ¹⁰ In 2021, the alliance joined forces with the American Alpine Club to sue the Council on Environmental Quality because of an alleged infraction of the National Environmental Policy Act. ¹¹

The WWA, alongside 91 left-of-center environmental organizations, signed the letter demanding the removal or resignation of William Perry Pendley from the position of Deputy Director for Policy and Programs of the Bureau of Land Management during the Trump administration. ¹² The alliance also pledged its solidarity with action for left-of-center social policy and Black Lives Matter. ³

Other Activity

The Winter Wildlands Alliance runs a winter science education program called SnowSchool. SnowSchool works with 35,000 students at 70 sites across the United States every year. The SnowSchool is also partnered with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) SnowEX program to connect students with scientists to assist them with their work. ¹³ The organization also runs a Backcountry Film Festival tour every winter and it tours over 100 cities. ¹⁴

People

Harold A. Hallstein IV is the president of the board of directors for the Winter Wildlands Alliance. ¹⁵ Hallstein is the founder and managing partner of the Sanaka Group ¹⁶ an investment management business based in Boulder, Colorado. ¹⁵ He previously worked as a fund analyst for RCG Capital Advisors, a long-short equity investment partnership. He is also the chairman of Boulder’s Open Space Board of Trustees (OSBT). ¹⁶

Todd Walton is the executive director of the Winter Wildlands Alliance. He has worked with various organizations in the outdoor industry such as Outdoor Research, Outdoor Industry Association, Snowsports Industries America, and Crested Butte Mountain Resort. He also serves as the president of the board of the Washington Trails Association. ¹⁷