[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 13, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E920-E921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING ROBERT ``BOB'' MODEL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DEBBIE DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 13, 2022

  Mrs. DINGELL. Madam Speaker, as Co-Chair of the Congressional 
Sportsmen's Caucus, I rise today to recognize an individual that has 
made significant contributions to our nation's fish and wildlife 
conservation efforts, as well as America's longstanding outdoor 
traditions. This individual is also the inaugural recipient of an award 
named after members of this body that have made lasting and significant 
contributions to our nation's outdoor heritage.
  Robert ``Bob'' Model was born in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1942 to 
Faith Rockefeller Model and Belgian Jean Model. Model attended The 
Browning School in New York and then graduated from Elon College in 
Elon, North Carolina in 1967. Bob and his wife, Mona, now live in Cody, 
Wyoming where he is a rancher, outfitter, and businessman, as well as a 
hunter, conservationist, philanthropist, and active participant in 
wildlife conservation.
  Bob has long been a champion of private lands in sustaining our 
public wildlife resources and of the need to improve sportsman and 
landowner relations. On his Mooncrest Ranch, Bob has actively worked to 
enhance wildlife habitat on both private and public lands. In an 
ongoing partnership with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the 
Shoshone National Forest, Bob has successfully grown a non-migratory 
elk herd in the Rattlesnake Mountain and Trout Creek Basin area from 
250 elk to well over 2,000 since the mid 1970s. The herd is maintaining 
their population in very difficult circumstances, including wildfires 
and drought. In addition, the Mooncrest Ranch provides several hundred 
days annually of free public access for big game hunting.
  While Bob is an excellent steward of the land, his most noteworthy 
contributions to wildlife conservation in Wyoming and throughout the 
country are in the public policy arena at the national level. Bob is a 
member, past president, and chairman of the Boone and Crockett Club. 
During Bob's tenure as president, he was a leader in re-establishing 
the Club's historic role as one of the premiere conservation 
organizations promoting hunter ethics and advancing national policy on 
wildlife conservation and hunting heritage. As a well-read historian, 
Bob understands, believes, practices, and even preaches the 
conservation

[[Page E921]]

philosophy of Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell who were 
founders of the Boone and Crockett Club. As a Boone and Crockett 
member, Bob has personally provided major support for Boone and 
Crockett endowed professorships at the University of Montana, Oregon 
State University, and Texas A&M. Bob has also been an advocate for 
professional wildlife management with a long tenure on the Board of 
Directors for the Wildlife Management Institute, including a stint as 
Chairman. He was a founder and past chairman of the American Wildlife 
Conservation Partners (AWCP) which is a coalition of over forty of 
America's most respected hunter/conservation organizations that meet to 
discuss and take action on the most important conservation issues 
facing our country. The AWCP has developed and forwarded a conservation 
vision to the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations and works 
actively with administration officials to implement the necessary 
policy revisions.
  During the George W. Bush Administration, Bob was a member and 
chairman of the Sporting Conservation Council and served as a member of 
the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council during the Obama 
Administration. Bob is also a founder and board member of the National 
Conservation Leadership Institute in Shepherdstown, WV, a joint 
endeavor between state and federal wildlife agencies, private 
conservation organizations, and natural resource industry to provide 
world-class leadership training to the next generation of conservation 
executives.
  Bob has also been instrumental in the founding and growth of the 
Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, the largest bipartisan, bicameral 
caucus in the United States Congress, bringing together members with 
professed support for hunting, fishing, and professional wildlife 
management. Since the Caucus's founding in 1988, Bob has remained 
active and involved through his support of numerous Caucus initiatives 
and his many contributions to the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, 
including his nearly two decades of service on the Foundation Board of 
Directors, including a term as Chairman of the Board.
  In recognition of Mr. Model's service to conservation--both on-the 
ground and in the policy arena--Mr. Model has been chosen as the 
inaugural recipient of the Dingell-Young Sportsmen's Legacy Award, a 
fitting tribute to an individual whose life has epitomized dedication 
to America's outdoor heritage.
  Named in recognition of the Dingell family--Congressmen John D. 
Dingell, Sr. and my husband, John D. Dingell, Jr.--and my good friend, 
the late Congressman Don Young, the Dingell-Young Sportsmen's Legacy 
Award is a fitting tribute for Mr. Model. Each day as Co-Chair of the 
Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, I think about the award's namesake 
patrons. Like them, Mr. Model's contributions were built upon a 
commitment to never allowing partisan politics to cloud his love of the 
great outdoors and his commitment to the time-honored traditions of 
hunting and fishing.
  In closing, I want to thank Mr. Model for his many contributions to 
America's outdoor heritage and congratulate him for the well-deserved 
recognition as the first ever recipient of the Dingell-Young 
Sportsmen's Legacy Award.

                          ____________________