SKEET REESE

Reese is a world-renown bass fisherman and ambassador for fishing. He won worldwide fame in 2009 when he won first place in the national Bassmaster Classic in Alabama.

As a tournament angler, he has 48 top 10 finishes and five wins, including first place in 2010 at the Smith Mountain Lake Classic in Virginia and also at Potomac River in 2007. He was BASS Angler of the Year in 2007.

In 2010, Western Outdoor News named Reese as California's No. 1 bass fisherman. Reese is also one of the most sought-after speakers in fishing. He not only provides insight to his special world, but also reveals exactly what lures and locations he uses to attain his record catches.

On television, his name evokes instant recognition among anglers. In the process, Reese has not only attained greatness, but has inspired thousands to go fishing.

His seminars on flipping and pitching, sight-fishing at Clear Lake for 10-pound bass, are landmarks in the fishing world. He has just the right mix of enthusiasm, craft excellence and mental toughness to make him one of the top anglers in California history.

KEN & MARCIA POWERS

No couple in America has completed more epic hiking expeditions than Ken and Marcia Powers. They gained world fame for being the first to complete the American Discovery Trail, 4,900 miles, from the East Coast to the West Coast, ending at Point Reyes National Seashore in 2005. In the past 10 years alone, other expeditions include the 2,680-mile Pacific Crest Trail, the 212-mile John Muir Trail, the 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail, the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail, the 808-mile Arizona Trail and the 1,096-mile Idaho Centennial Trail. In the offseason, they connect with the public at forums and seminars, and they have created a Web site to answer questions and form a long-distance hikers community. In the process, they inspired thousands to take part in the wilderness experience through their accomplishments and public outreach.

HAL JANSSEN

Janssen is a world-renowned fly fisherman who invented many concepts and equipment now in use. He has caught nearly every species of freshwater and saltwater game fish, totaling in the hundreds, and has entertained, informed and inspired thousands at seminars, at schools and in videos. Among his inventions are many fly lines and 70 fly patterns used throughout the world. As an illustrator and painter, he has created fishing art for calendars, magazines and prints. He is a consummate authority who was sought out by Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and others as a guide and friend, and has also served many fishing clubs and conservation organizations. Janssen's fly-fishing catches include 20-pound trout, 100-pound tarpon, 40-pound salmon, and hundreds of other trophy-quality specimens from around the world - virtually all that he released unharmed.

STEVE CARSON

Since the 1990s, Carson has been a director of "Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs," through which he has helped thousands of youngsters to have their first outdoors experience. For this he was singled out by Congress, which awarded him a "Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition." Carson has also directed the Penn Fishing University seminar program, where he mentors offshore saltwater anglers. He is ranked No. 3 in the world for most species of fish caught on rod-and-reel, was named as one of the top 30 anglers in the West by Western Outdoors magazine, and is renowned across the hemisphere as one of the leading offshore saltwater fishermen for tuna and other big-game species. Carson also is involved in many local media across the state to connect, inform and inspire the public, through writing, photography and seminars. He is also chairman of the Butte County Fish and Game Commission.

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

Nic Fiore

For more than 50 years he was on the slopes at Yosemite’s Badger Pass, teaching skiing.

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.

In summer, Fiore directed Yosemite’s High Sierra Camps, often hiking the High Sierra to two or three camps in a single day. He knew of and hiked old trails that hadn’t been tred since the Buffalo soldiers patrolled Yosemite.

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."

FRANCIS FARQUHAR

Posthumous

Farquhar (1887-1974) was a Bay Area conservationist, mountaineer, scholar and writer.

He hiked the length and breadth of the Sierra from Fredonia Pass to Mt. Langley and climbed every mountain of 14,000 feet or more on the West Coast. He made the first ascent of the Middle Palisade in 1921, the last 14,000-foot peak in California to be climbed. He was the climber most responsible for introducing the techniques of modern rope climbing to the Sierra.

The technique is used throughout the world today.

He served as a director of the Sierra Club for 27 years, from 1924 to 1951, and twice as president from 1933-35 and 1948-49. A pioneer conservationist, he was instrumental in the club's efforts to get the entire Kern River country added to Sequoia National Park in 1926.

GARY GRAHAM

Graham, 67, is a supremely skilled saltwater angler who holds several fly fishing world records and won the prestigious Angler of the Year award from the Tuna Club. A pioneer of fly fishing in Baja, Graham has been instrumental in finding new fisheries and developing new techniques, all of which he has shared directly with his clients as well as through his speaking, photography and writing.

With his wife, Yvonne, he founded Friends of Fishing. This is a nonprofit organization created to take disadvantaged children enrolled in Big Brothers and Big Sisters of San Diego County fishing and teach them about the ocean. A longtime conservationist, Graham donated proceeds from his paid marlin-fishing seminars to the white sea bass restoration project, one of the great success stories in saltwater fishery rehabilitation.

Since 1993, Gary and Yvonne have owned Baja on the Fly, a fly fishing expedition company in Baja California, which has hosted more than 2,000 fly fishing clients in several locations in Baja and mainland Mexico.

RICK COPELAND

Copeland, 54, is an abalone diver, fly fisher and a highly-skilled hunter for duck, deer, turkey and wild pigs. He has inspired thousands of youngsters, women and other newcomers to take up fishing and hunting.

Copeland was a founder of the "Becoming An Outdoors Woman" program, has led two "Catch-A-Smile" functions per year, helped administer the Youth Outdoors Sports Fair and donated free expert how-to seminars for the public with the Department of Fish and Game.

He has served as president and CEO of Wilderness Unlimited, the largest hunting and fishing organization of its kind in America. As a biologist, he manages thousands of acres for hunting, fishing and habitat conservation.

Copeland was the leading vote-getter this year. "The award was created for people like this," wrote one voter anonymously. "He is the consummate outdoorsman, highly skilled in many vocations, yet one who has had a great positive impact on thousands of others."

JOSIAH WHITNEY

Posthumous

Whitney (1819-1896) was the rare mix of outdoorsman and scientist, a member of the first climbing party to summit the highest point in the continental U.S., 14,497-foot "Mount Whitney."

As an outdoorsman, Whitney took part in the Brewer Expedition, in which a team of scientists surveyed 14,000 miles, on foot or horseback, and climbed every significant mountain in the state. Their survey covered not only geology and geography, but also botany, zoology and paleontology.

As a scientist, Whitney was legendary. He was appointed the state geologist for California in 1860 and was credited with determining that Lake Tahoe was created by a collapse of fault zones. The largest glacier on Mount Shasta also was named after Whitney.

A trip to Lake Tahoe, kayaking to Emerald Bay's boat-in campsites, an ice-cold try at water skiing and finding hidden Cascade Falls and other surprises are featured on "The Great Outdoors With Tom Stienstra" today at 10 a.m. on KBCW-44 (Bay Area Cable 12).

YVON CHOUINARD

Chouinard, 68, is best known as the founder of Patagonia, but he also helped invent the removable piton, a metal spike hammered into rocks and used to secure ropes, a landmark invention in the evolution of climbing.

He donates 1 percent of his sales, about $2.5 million per year, to protect and restore the environment. He is a skilled climber, surfer and flyfisher who parlayed his passion into Chouinard Equipment, which quickly became the largest supplier of climbing equipment in America.

In turn, he expanded the specialty outdoor clothing line and created Patagonia, which over 30 years has become one of the most successful and the most copied outdoor businesses in the world.

Memorable quote: "Most businessmen are corpses in suits."

BILL BEEBE

Beebe, 79, pioneered the investigative story among the nation's outdoors writers and yet also mastered the skills of wildlife photography, fishing and coastal boating. His career has had many milestones. A series of stories uncovered corruption between commercial netters and the Department of Fish and Game, and the United Anglers of Southern California awarded Beebe its highest honor for his "commitment to protect, restore and enhance" the fisheries of Southern California.

His photograph of President John F. Kennedy as the president returned from a swim in Santa Monica Bay was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1963 and is included in "The Best 50 Years of Life Magazine." As Southern California's dean of outdoors writers, Beebe has beat others to virtually every big news story in Southern California and mentored dozens of outdoors writers.

As a master at taking part in the outdoor experience and communicating it, Beebe helped shape the perceptions of a generation of outdoorsmen in Southern California.

Memorable quote, from Santa Barbara columnist Mike Moropoulos: "He carries the torch."

LAURIE BAGLEY

In May, Bagley, 45, became the 19th U.S. woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest via the North Col route in Tibet. She also summited Alaska's 20,320-foot Mount McKinley in 2005 and set a women's summit ascent speed record on 14,162-foot Mount Shasta, with a 7,000-foot vertical gain in 133 minutes.

Bagley has also served as a Class III-V rafting guide and has completed more than 50 marathons. She has managed these accomplishments with no commercial sponsors. At the same time, Bagley is the founder of Fit Maternity and Beyond, a leading proponent for the Breast Cancer Fund and has raised thousands of dollars for many benevolent organizations and causes, both in America and in third-world countries where she climbs.

Her Everest presentation, "Journey of Hope," has helped many transform their lives, and she also provides fitness coaching. She is currently climbing 22,841-foot Mount Aconcagua, South America's highest summit.

Memorable quote: "One step at a time."

BOB COOMBER

Coomber, 52, known as "Four Wheel Bob," has become a Bay Area legend for hiking the region's most rugged trails in a wheelchair. He gained national acclaim with his determination to become the first wheelchair hiker to ascend 14,000-foot White Mountain east of Bishop.

As an active youth, Coomber hiked, fished and aspired to become a police officer, but diabetes and debilitating osteoporosis ended that dream. At the age of 31, he was forced to use a wheelchair to get around. Coomber's love of the outdoors propelled him out of a serious depression and enabled him to set and reach goals that many deemed impossible, inspiring many others -- including those not in wheelchairs -- to do the same. He first gained national attention when featured on "The Early Show" on CBS.

Memorable quote: "No more excuses."

JEDEDIAH SMITH

Posthumous

Rivers, lakes, schools, trails and men are named after Smith (1799-1831). Smith led the first and second overland expeditions into California, twice crossing the Mojave Desert. He also made the first trans-Sierra crossing, west to east over what is now Ebbetts Pass. His journeys in California spanned from the Colorado River on northward to the Smith River. In the process, his stories of salmon runs on the Klamath River ("you could walk across the river on their backs") and elsewhere are still told, and the crown jewel of the nation's rivers, the Smith River in Del Norte County, honors him. He accomplished this despite experiencing danger from Indian tribes and sustained deprivation of water and food when crossing the Mojave, both so severe that 26 of the 33 men who joined his expeditions were killed or died. One of the most-popular multi-use trails (hiking, biking, skating, equestrian) in the United States along the American River (which he explored) is named after Smith.

DEE THOMAS

Thomas is the only West Coast bass tournament angler inducted into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame. He invented the Flipping Technique for bass, pioneering shallow-water fishing in heavy cover. This technique transformed the fishing industry with the invention of fishing rods, reels, hooks, line and even bass boats (decks were elevated) for this technique. He has won 15 national tournament titles including a BASS victory on Bull Shoals in 1975, and is a two-time winner of the West Coast Bass Classic. At age 65, he won the Western Bass Tournament at Clear Lake against one of the most competitive fields ever assembled in the Western U.S. Rather than become closed about his secrets, Thomas has appeared at sports shows and provided his best fishing wisdom to anybody who asks.

JACK O'NEILL

As the "Godfather of Wetsuits," O'Neill is a legend among surfers and scuba divers throughout the world. He invented the first wetsuit in the 1950s, and to prove their effectiveness, he filled large tubs with ice blocks and water at sports shows, and then had his kids sit in them all day. That opened up surfing and scuba diving to millions of participants who otherwise could not stand cold marine water. His business also invented the surfboard leash, a design used by virtually every surfer in the world. He then developed the O'Neill Sea Odyssey program -- a free, educational cruise aboard the Team O'Neill catamaran that acquaints kids with the microbiology of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. He is an avid surfer and sailboat skipper.

RICHARD (DICK) MAY

By getting laws passed, influencing DFG plans and litigating when necessary, May has made it possible for millions to enjoy quality trout and steelhead fishing in California.

As the architect of the organization California Trout, May is the chief individual responsible for California's Wild Trout Program, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and the saving of Mono Lake and restoration of Rush Creek. The court decision, known as Cal Trout I, is renowned for its application of water law to protect trout. In addition, he is largely regarded as the key leader who stopped dams on the Smith River, and who saved, restored or opened countless other waters for trout and steelhead fishing. May is a fly fisher who has fished most of the state's blue ribbon waters, mastering a difficult art with long casts and soft landings under difficult conditions.