2026 Izaak Walton League National Convention Highlights Conservation, Leadership and Advocacy

The Izaak Walton League’s 2026 national convention in Bloomington, Minn. drew a crowd of more than 300 members, guests and volunteers, and a well-attended Youth Convention.

Wildfire smoke from Canada and the Superior National Forest curtailed some of the Youth Convention’s planned outdoor activities but prominent speakers, presentations and exhibits indoors provided a springboard for compelling conversations about national policies, advocacy and the role of volunteers in conserving outdoor America.

Guest speakers focused on the challenges ahead and the League’s imperative to tackle them and Get It Done, the convention’s theme. In a video recording, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) thanked the League for “working to preserve our natural wonders,” including the vast, pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, which faces the threat of mining pollution.

In her keynote address to the convention, U.S. Representative Betty McCollumn (D-Minn.) also urged support for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Citing the League’s success in convincing Congress to protect the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge in the 1924, she said “I’m counting on your help. Without you, it won’t happen…Thank you for the work you do.”

Elections

Delegates voted to elected national officers for the League including:

  • Scott Meyer, President (Minnesota)
  • Jim Storer, Vice President (Virginia)
  • Craig Enneking, Treasurer (Iowa)
  • James Meek, Secretary (Iowa)

Delegates also re-elected three Executive Board members:

  • Mike Fuge (Wisconsin)
  • Rick Graham (Ohio)
  • Bill Kelly (Idaho)

Board Members for the Endowment

Members at the convention elected three new board members for the Izaak Walton League of America Endowment:

  • Bill Iltzsche (Ind.)
  • Shawn Gallagher (Ohio)
  • Charlotte Johnson (Iowa)

All members of the League are automatically members of the Endowment.

Resolutions

Delegates approved two resolutions: one that updates the League’s conservation policies related to agriculture to better reflect current federal programs, and another that supports

more effective consideration of the cumulative impacts of environmental decision making that is meaningful, enforceable and aligned with how harms actually occur.

The full text is available at iwla.org/event/2026-national-convention.

League Leaders

Speaking to the convention, National President Scott Meyer described the work need to manage the tsunami of data centers spreading across the U.S. Due to the volume of water and land they consumer, we need better planning, transparency and oversight of their siting and operations. Meyers has formed a committee to focus on that effort.

Executive Director Jared Mott, describing himself as a duck hunter from the Lower Mississippi, reminded the audience that it was threats to the Upper Mississippi that first galvanized the League, and we know how to win policy battles. “We have been here before,” he said. The League serves as a potent force for clean water through its policy work and volunteer water monitors who collect data to tell stories about the waters that mean the most to them. With the immersion in the nitrate issue, through Nitrate Watch, the League has grabbed that tiger by the tail, he said. We can’t just tell Americans to drink less water.

National Awards and More Details to Come

National awards were presented to individual members, chapters and divisions and details about the award winners and about the convention will be published online and in the next issue of Outdoor America.