GALEN CLARK

Clark (1814-1910) is best known for his discovery of the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia trees and for his role as guardian of Yosemite National Park for 21 years. In 1853, Clark had tuberculosis and doctors gave him six months to live. He then moved to the Wawona area of Yosemite as a homesteader. His lungs healed and he subsequently explored and climbed much of what became Yosemite National Park.

Upon his discovery of the Mariposa Grove, Clark persuaded Congress to pass the Yosemite Grant, which provided first-of-a-kind park-like protection for the Mariposa Grove. Clark then became the first civilian ranger of Yosemite.

He ran a hotel in Wawona and wrote three books, including "Indians of the Yosemite" (1904) and "The Yosemite Valley" (1910). After being told he would die a young man, he lived to be 96 and is buried in the Yosemite Cemetery. Said Clark: "I went to the mountains to take my chances of dying or growing better, which I thought were about even."

NIC FIORE

No person has taught more skiers in California history. When he arrived in Yosemite Valley from his native Canada, he looked up toward the sheer vertical rock walls of Yosemite Valley, then turned to Luggi Foeger his ski school director and exclaimed, "But Luggi, where do the beginners ski!?"

In his more than 50 years teaching skiing at Yosemite's Badger Pass, over 137,500 people learned to ski from him and the Yosemite Ski School which he directed. He introduced thousands more to skiing through dry-land ski schools held on high school football fields, thus incubating the sport throughout California.

Fiore wrote "So You Want to Ski," was selected by the French government to represent the United States at the French national ski instructor's academy, and subsequently coordinated similar exchanges in the United States to improve American instruction.

Fiore is the only person to have received awards for outstanding contribution to skiing from both the Northern California and Nevada Ski Media Association and the Southern California Association of Ski Writers. He is the only ski instructor ever to be inducted into the California Tourism Hall of Fame.

WILLIAM LEMOS

The impact that Lemos has had on others, as well as his own adventures, makes him California's greatest outdoor educator. Lemos has led more than 50 national and international wilderness excursions for high school students, college students and adults.

His passions span the range of the outdoors. Lemos is an avid hiker, biker, scuba and skin diver, kayaker, natural historian and fisherman. In 1992, he earned a doctorate in education and his dissertation documented the curriculum and benefits of his wilderness experience courses. In 1999, he helped win a grant to start the advanced placement ecology and eco-literacy course at Mendocino High School, now considered a template for environmental education.

Lemos now devotes his time to land conservation and education as a monitor for the Mendocino Land Trust's conservation easements. Additionally, he is a founding member of the land trust's Big River committee, providing stewardship for Big River, one of California's longest undeveloped river estuaries.

STEVE RAJEFF

Rajeff has dominated the world of competitive casting for more than 40 years. His abilities and demonstrations are mind-boggling. He holds the national single and two-hand fly distance records at 238 feet and 290 feet, respectively. He also set the two-hand casting plug-casting distance record with a poke of 367 feet using only a 5/8-ounce plug. Rajeff has won 33 national and 14 world all-around championships.

Rajeff has long been a fixture in San Francisco at the Golden Gate Park casting ponds. He has fished intensively for most of his life, including guiding for seven years in Alaska and Montana.

These experiences led him to design breakthrough rods and more than 2,500 rod models as head of engineering for G. Loomis. He has conducted tournament and fly casting lessons and demonstrations in Argentina, Chile, the Bahamas, Russia, South Africa, and many countries across Europe, as well as at sports shows across the United States.

Rajeff's first fish was a rainbow trout from the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park. His largest fly-caught fish landed was a tarpon estimated at 180 pounds.

"It is no longer about the most or biggest fish," Rajeff said, "but enjoying the challenges and appreciating beautiful places fishing and casting takes me."