Mountain & Prairie Podcast

Russ Schnitzer is a Colorado-based conservationist and professional photographer whose love for the landscapes and people of the American West shines through in all aspects of his life. Russ is the Senior Program Officer for Natural Resources at the Gates Family Foundation, one of Colorado’s most effective and generous conservation funders. As a photographer, he’s worked with some of the biggest names in the flyfishing world, including Patagonia, R.L Winston Rod Co., Orvis, The Drake Magazine, The Flyfish Journal, and more. And to top it all off, Russ is a former hotshot wildland firefighter and smokejumper, and, as you’d expect, he has some amazing stories from that period of his life. Russ grew up in the midwest, but he headed to Idaho for college and has never looked back. During and after college, he fought fires throughout the West, and through that challenging, intense, dangerous work-- and at least one devastating tragedy-- he learned lessons that he still applies to his life today. Russ’s entire caree