CHARLES WOLF DRIMAL
DIRECTOR OF CONSERVATION
Charles provides high-level leadership to the Greater Yellowstone Coalition by steering conservation strategies, supporting and establishing new initiatives within the organization’s strategic plan framework, and developing effective external partnerships.
At GYC he developed conservation priorities focused on tribal conservation, water, and climate change. He cut his teeth as a conservationist by co-founding the Montana Backcountry Alliance in 2004. He joined GYC in 2011 to work on wildlands protections of Wyoming’s Absaroka Beartooth Front where his work contributed to protecting over a million acres of roadless lands from oil and gas surface development and motorized recreation use.
He was an architect of the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act – Wild and Scenic Rivers legislation sponsored by former Montana U.S. Senator Jon Tester. He also worked with a coalition to pass the East Rosebud Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 2018. Charles is a co-author of the Greater Yellowstone Climate Assessment and served an instrumental role in organizing the Wind River Inter-Tribal Gathering to elevate Indigenous connections to the 150th Anniversary of Yellowstone National Park. He has undergraduate and master's degrees in environmental studies and ecopsychology from Dartmouth College, the University of Montana, and Naropa University.
In his other life, he performs original indie folk music under the stage name Raven Roshi, sits zazen, runs trails, skis powder, dreams of the next surf trip with his wife, and teaches their three children reverence for the Earth. He’s grateful to call the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem home.
Favorite Greater Yellowstone Animal: A tie between red-tailed hawk and wolverine
Conservation Hero: Gary Snyder
Book I’d Recommend: Zen Mind Beginners Mind by Suzuki Roshi
