Shameful Cowering In Time Of Crisis - Ducks Unlimited Fires Another Celebrated Writer

Duck’s Unlimited, one of the largest conservation organizations in the United States, has just fired Mike Furtman, one of its most public and celebrated conservation champions. Mike’s assertion that he was persecuted for his personal politics makes a lot of sense because this dangerous thought policing from the conservation community is not just some random one-off; it’s not even the first time DU has recently sided with reactionary big money over its own stated mission.

The brazenness and details of Mike’s termination are explained in his recent Facebook post, posted on Nov 2 and entitled “When is Ducks Unlimited, a Great Conservation Organization, Not so Great?” It is stunning for several reasons, not the least of which is Furtman’s long history of advocacy, dedication to wild places, and impressive catalog of work.

If a movie director called central casting in need of a conservation champion and seasoned Northwoods hunter, Mike Furtman is the guy they would send. Furtman, now 71 and often camo-clad, has devoted most of his life to writing about and advocating for America’s wetlands, waterways, and wildlife. Mike’s impressive resume includes a dozen books, hundreds of articles, and a highly celebrated 30-year career writing for Ducks Unlimited, which boasts over 1.6 million members and supporters.

Through the decades, Mike has been a trusted fixture at DU. Besides his normal duties as Contributing Editor, the org has often called on him to write stories for children, assist college students with research projects, and contribute his celebrated photography. Furtman’s outlook has been so valued at DU that the organization charged him with writing their monthly “Marsh Watch” column, awarded him their coveted “Communicator of the Year” award, and commissioned him to author “The Ducks Unlimited Story” on the 75th anniversary of the organization’s founding.

Furtman’s impressive writing, advocacy, and photography have earned him immense respect in Minnesota. If you stroll through the Minneapolis airport, you’ll likely see his books or stunning images in the stores showcasing the beauty of his beloved North Star State.

Mike, who loves his isolated cabin near the Boundary Waters, is also an unabashed champion for this most-visited and pristine American wilderness area. This is an important part of the story because DU has a history of accepting significant funding from mining companies, and the Boundary Waters is the very same place where the Trump administration is currently rushing headlong to force a dangerous industrial mining operation that is vehemently opposed by hunters and anglers across the nation.

That’s right. Mike is on the side of hunters, has thirty years of proven history, piles of local and national street cred, awards out the wazoo, a demonstrated dedication to clean water and wildlife, and a near-perfect alignment with the stated DU mission, which is to “conserve, restore, and manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America’s waterfowl.” Given all this, how could a guy like Furtman get fired from a conservation organization?

The answer, according to Mike, is that he was fired because he is hated by ultra-wealthy MAGA types on DU’s board because he is a concerned citizen and activist who dares to criticize Trump and publicly say he is a Democrat. In other words, Mike takes the mission of DU to heart; he’ll fight and vote for it, whereas the DU board will not.

When I called Furtman to ask him about how all of this had happened, he explained that not long ago, a big-time Republican donor from Thomasville, GA, named Monty Lewis had followed him on Facebook despite having no other personal connection. Lewis, who made his fortune through his “Plantation Propane” business, is a significant donor to DU and an emeritus member of the DU board of directors. Furtman was quickly warned by another associate that Lewis was collecting social media intel and getting people fired, but Mike, who thought his work spoke for itself, was emphatic. “I did not think much of it because I’ve never inserted my personal politics into anything I’ve done for DU, and I am proud of my work.”

Despite his long history, Furtman was fired just days after posting his report on the recent No Kings rally, which included several photographs of anti-Trump signage. Mike immediately suspected political persecution and remembered the warning. He then directly confronted both his editor and Lewis, who both refused to deny that the dismissal was due to Furtman’s personal politics.

It’s well known in the outdoor world that ultra-conservative wealthy men like Monty Lewis are welcomed by the organization, and by Adam Putman, a conservative former Republican Florida congressman himself who now makes $600k as DU’s CEO. It’s my own personal experience that many men like this don’t really believe in the mission of the organizations to which they belong. Instead, they see the membership and money as political tools to further their own right-wing MAGA agendas, and if you wonder why organizations are silent as the Trump administration rototills our wild places in this undeniable moment of crisis, this is why.

As proof of this assertion, one need only consider the 2015 story of Don Thomas, a well-known Montanan and former longtime field editor to DU. Thomas, who still lives in Lewistown, was fired from his 14-year DU stint in 2015 after he wrote a story in Outside Bozeman about multi-billionaire Montana import James Kennedy Cox, who was using his wealth and influence to attack the sacred right of Montana stream access, on which many duck hunters depend.

Although Don’s excellent article did not mention DU and was printed in Outside Bozeman, Thomas was quickly fired by DU because Kennedy Cox was a significant donor to DU. Of course, Don stood by his principles and stated his case plainly.

“I think it’s within journalistic license to call someone selfish and arrogant when they’re clearly being selfish and arrogant,”

Thomas’s dismissal garnered attention from the AP and subsequently sparked a firestorm of outrage among DU members nationwide. A snippet from a High Country News article effectively summarized the situation.

“The issue is not just the dismissal of Don Thomas — it’s that D.U. took an unwarranted action that’s contrary to the interests of its grassroots,” says Glenn Elison, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and longtime Ducks Unlimited member. “The issue is that D.U. is not vocally supporting public access. That sends a message.”

I spoke to Don as I was writing this piece about Mike Furtman. In typical Thomas directness, he made his assessment of the past and current DU board actions: “They offered me my job back if I would retract what I said, but I refused because it’s true. The people who did this weren’t about conservation, they were about money.”

Don is dead nuts right, both then and now. I look back and think how prescient he was in 2015. A decade ago, he knew then what so many hunters and anglers still do not get today:

“D.U. might say it doesn’t get involved in politics, but wildlife is politics now.”

The people who truly care about wildlife and wild places would be well served to listen to Thomas. What we care about is all about politics, and we’d also be well served to condemn DU for firing another conservation champion simply because the big money plantation does not like his honesty.

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