Facts and Information
Boots on the Ground (BOTG) is a program of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA), North America’s largest community of Union sportsmen and women committed to preserving our outdoor heritage for future generations.
BOTG is made up of skilled Union members, who volunteer their time, labor and expertise to help expand and improve hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation access and wildlife habitats on publicaly accessible lands and waters.
BOTG volunteers work in partnership with local, state and federal management agencies and non-profit conservation organizations to provide much needed and a highly sought after skilled labor, not regularly found among other volunteer groups.
With a volunteer workforce including electricians, plumbers, bricklayers, masons, carpenters, welders, ironworkers, heavy equipment operators and other skilled workers, BOTG is ready to help cash-strapped and often understaffed state fish and wildlife agencies and other non-profit conservation organizations get the job done right.
BOTG volunteers are passionate about hunting, fishing, the outdoors and the communities they live and work in, and they’re committed to helping build more and better access and wildlife habitat for everybody who enjoys the great outdoors.
The first Boots on the Ground project took place in conjunction with Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources. The state DNR had funds for the materials needed to build 100 live- catch deer traps that would be used in a long-term white-tailed deer study, but they lacked skilled manpower and the funds needed hire welders to construct the traps. That’s when BOTG volunteers from several Plumbers and Pipefitters, Sheet Metal Workers, Iron Workers and other Union Locals in Wisconsin stepped up to build the traps. And the first partnership was born.
Local, state and federal management agencies and non-profit conservation organizations working on public access and/or wildlife habitat projects or related projects who interested in partnering with BOTG volunteers should contact Boots on the Ground Program Manager, Jim Klatt, at jimk@unionsportsmen.org or 612-331-0270.
For more information about the Union Sportsmen Alliance and the Boots on the Ground please, please contact Senior Communication’s Manager Kate Cywinski at katec@unionsportsmen.org or 615-831-6793.