The Hall of Fame held in Cody, Wyoming
The primary purpose of the Hall of Fame is to honor those individuals, both living and posthumously, who have made significant, lasting lifetime contributions to the conservation of Wyoming's outdoor heritage.
Each year, recognition will be given to people who have worked consistently over many years to conserve Wyoming's natural resources through volunteer service, environmental restoration, educational activities, audio/visual and written media, the arts, and political and individual leadership.
Another goal of the Hall of Fame is to educate the public about, and promote the significance of, Wyoming's rich outdoor heritage. Inductees will be solid role models for today's youth.
2022 Induction Ceremony
The Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame induction ceremony has been rescheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 23 at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.
Honoring:
-Helen Roylance
-Duaine Hagen
-Richard Guenzel
As well as Youth Conservationist of the Year:
-Isabelle Burky
2020 Hall of Fame Inductees
Helen Roylance
Helen Roylance of Cheyenne is a trailblazer for women and the outdoors in Wyoming. Roylance was the first woman to hold the position of hunter and outdoor skills coordinator for the Game and Fish in 1995. Roylance established the Game and Fish’s Becoming an Outdoors-Woman program in 1996 where more than 1,000 women have participated to date. She also set up the first online hunter education course in the state. Roylance is the first woman to be solely inducted into the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame.
Richard Guenzel
Richard Guenzel of Laramie is a retired Game and Fish biologist who worked with the department for 27 years. He, in collaboration with Dr. Bruce Johnson of Game and Fish, Dr. Fred Lindzey of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and Mr. Fred Reed of Western Air Research helped develop and implement an aerial line transect technique to more accurately estimate pronghorn populations. Guenzel was the first biologist in Wyoming to capture a pronghorn using a net gun from a helicopter. He also helped develop systems to record data from aerial operations and advised researchers on adapting distance sampling to aerial surveys around the world, and with species ranging from African elephants, marsh deer, free-ranging horses and burrows, and near-shore pelagic fisheries. His work on pronghorn has been acknowledged with many awards, including induction into the Pronghorn Hall of Fame in 2010.
Duaine Hagen
Duaine Hagen of Meeteetse is an accomplished horseman who has been outfitting and running guest ranches for hunters and anglers in Wyoming for 40 years. Hagen has guided hundreds of hunters and anglers over the years, as well being active in the Outdoor Dream Foundation for kids dealing with illnesses, and the Wounded Warrior Project for veterans and active military duty members. He was appointed by the governor in 1993 to the Wyoming Board of Outfitters, and remained on for seven years. Also in 2003, Hagen won the Game and Fish’s Wildlife Stewardship Award.
2020 Youth Conservationist of the Year
The first Game and Fish Youth Conservationist of the Year, Isabelle Burky, will also be recognized at the Hall of Fame Banquet. The award acknowledges a Wyoming youth who has shown enthusiasm and leadership in the outdoors and conservation. Burky is a senior in high school from Worland, and has worked in Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier national parks where she’s constructed trails, monitored wildlife, repaired historic cabins and helped control noxious weeds. Her favorite outdoor activity is hunting, and intends to pursue a degree in wildlife biology.