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.

TERRY HODGES

Hodges is a retired Fish and Game Warden who used helicopters, airplanes and canoes, often on his own time, to catch California's most heinous poachers.

He used a helicopter to snare waterfowl violators who had bragged they couldn't be caught, and became a pilot so he could fly single-engine aircraft over the Sierra Nevada at night to catch the worst of the deer spotlighters and bear poachers. He paddled a canoe in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to stalk illegal commercial salmon and striped bass gill-netters, and he developed a system of sound triangulation to locate out-of-season hunters and other illegal wildlife shooters.

As a gifted writer, he then brought game warden tales to life with a 20-year series of magazine stories and books. In the process, no one in America has better connected with the public the active role of conservation, or inspired more youth to become game wardens. He is also an avid bass fisherman and pilot.

WILLIAM HENRY BREWER

Posthumous

A geologist/botanist/naturalist, Brewer led the first and most widespread exploration of California's landscape in history. His trek from 1860-64 by foot, horseback and boat explored virtually every part of California's topography in detail, along with its plants and wildlife. His small team, including legendary geologist Josiah Whitney, carried bulky gear and 5-foot barometers to calculate elevations and, as part of the expedition, climbed all of California's highest peaks.

Brewer recorded his findings, analysis, elevation calculations and amazing personal reflections in a massive diary that still sells today, titled "Up and Down California." He documented the biggest flood in the past 200 years, when the Central Valley was covered with water from Red Bluff to Bakersfield, 70 miles wide. When the Los Angeles basin had only 12,000 residents, he predicted the massive population increase that followed. This diary is still considered the bible of California outdoors, and has inspired thousands to explore many of the same places Brewer recorded on his trek.

BOB FRANKO

A legend in Half Moon Bay for fishing 200 days per year out of Pillar Point Harbor and beyond across the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Brazil. He has pioneered new fishing methods for albacore, has caught salmon on 4- pound line, hosted a local TV show and has openly shared his secrets to inspire thousands to take part in the sport. One of his inventions, the Franko Bullet Rotator, is a successful new salmon lure.

This maverick also invented a new-style conservation organization, the Coastside Fishing Club, which anybody can join for free on the Internet. Franko has led a drive to gain 7,000 members in only three years, that is, forming the largest fishing club in Northern California virtually overnight, and supporting it solely by donations. Already, he has placed a member on the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. "My goal is to protect our fishery for our children through conservation, and to protect the rights of the recreational angler," Franko said.

DOUG STOUP

“Nature brings us sanity,” says Stoup, who has explored the North Pole and South Pole. “This shelter-in-place order allows us all time to reflect on how fortunate we are. I reside in Lake Tahoe and we have had snow accumulation in March that allows me to do some ski touring in the mornings above the west shore. Like others, I have been housebound, and catching up on some books and contemplating the future. At this time I am suppose to be skiing to the Geographic North Pole (his 18th NP expedition).”

Stoup: America's leading explorer of the North and South poles, Stoup has undertaken 12 world-class winter treks, including one in which he guided a blind skier to the geographic South Pole. He helped pioneer a technique called "randonnee," a French word for ski mountaineering, to climb and then snowboard on the highest peak in Antarctica, the 16,077-foot Vinson Massif. On another trek, he completed a 250-expedition in the Antarctic on an ice bike with 5- inch wide tires he helped design. He is also an acclaimed cinematographer.

Stoup was the only American chosen for an expedition to the North Pole this month that will deploy weather stations to document the shrinking of the polar ice cap. He also will lead trips to both the North Pole and South Pole for unprivileged youth, to share a world few have seen or even imagined. "I want to do something that is going to help our environment and the world, to be a positive influence on others," Stoup said.

BILL KARR

Some 400,000 youth and their parents have taken part in Karr's "Youth Outdoor Fair" and "Shoot For the Future" programs. Karr invented programs offering hands-on outdoor experiences for kids with their parents, along with 25,000 giveaways. It is little known that Karr has never been paid a cent for the thousands of hours of work required to produce the events. He is the only two-time winner of the Public Service Recognition Award, honored by the Outdoor Writers Association of California, OWAC's most prestigious award.

Karr is better known as the Northern California editor of Western Outdoor News, but he also led a drive to save the fisheries of the Salton Sea. He has managed duck clubs and wildlife preserves and is an expert woodsman, hunter and offshore angler. His adventures span the hemisphere and beyond, and he often hosts groups and introduces them to world-class outdoor experiences. He fishes, boats, hunts or camps some 125 to 150 days per year -- and no one in the past generation has shared this world with more youngsters.

JOSEPH WALKER

Walker was the greatest trailblazer in California history. He was the first to discover a trans-Sierra route, in the process becoming the first trailblazer to see Yosemite. His gravesite marker reads, "Camped in Yosemite, Nov. 13, 1833."

Though Jedediah Smith and John C. Frémont are better remembered because of more flamboyant styles, it was Walker who made the greatest discoveries of any trailblazer in California history, the first trans-Sierra routes. He is best known among the public for Walker Pass (on the Pacific Crest Trail) in Kern County, Walker River in Mono County, and Walker Lake in Nevada.

Unlike Smith, whose recklessness placed himself and those around him at peril (27 of 33 died on Smith's California expeditions), Walker kept his men safe, fed, with water, and ready for physical challenge. Thousands of pioneers followed in his footsteps.

PETE OTTESEN

Ottesen is the award-winning outdoor writer for the Stockton Record, an educator who invented an outdoors program for students, the personal guardian of 2,800 acres of wetlands, and an expert waterfowl hunter and wildlife lover. His impact on the public has been far reaching and long lasting.

As a 35-year administrator of the San Joaquin County Outdoor School, Ottesen took more than 350,000 fifth/sixth-grade children for five days and four nights to the Santa Cruz Mountains. He also started the regional "Kids Catch A Smile" fishing program for physically challenged children.

He is best known publicly for his outdoors writing, including the longest current consecutive tenure of any outdoor writer in California. Ottesen wrote provocative stories about the toxic disaster at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge. He was involved in the ongoing saga of acquiring an adequate supply of good-quality Central Valley Project water for the Grassland Ecological Area and Central Valley Refuges, benefiting more than 350 wildlife species.

BOB FLETCHER

Fletcher has led the fight against overharvesting and waste by commercial netters and long-liners. Under Fletcher's watch as chief deputy director for the Department of Fish and Game in the 1980s, gillnets were banned from the inshore coastal waters of the Bay Area. Later, he pressed the issue of damage by trawlers and long-liners in Southern California waters.

He is best known as the president of the Sportfishing Association of California, which represents 175 sportfishing vessels berthed from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and 23 SAC Landings, with 1.million customers per year.

Fletcher is an expert sport angler, fishing for albacore and yellowtail out of San Diego. He is a licensed boat captain and worked 12 years as owner and operator of two 65-foot vessels. Before that, he fished commercially for tuna and harpooned swordfish. His travels have taken him across thousands of miles of ocean waters along the California and Mexico coastline.

OLA EIKREM

Ola Eikrem

California’s most inspirational female mountaineer.

Eikrem inspired a generation of women hikers, backpackers and mountain climbers by climbing 68 14,000-foot mountain peaks.

In one summer alone, Eikrem, just 5-foot-4, climbed 23 of them in Colorado. She also climbed Mount Rainier in Washington at age 39 while pregnant.

In the process, she hiked with three generations of men, her father (Cecil Meyers), husband (Bjorn) and son (Erik). She explored every wilderness in the Sierra Nevada, hiking every good-weather weekend for years on end. She carried her infant son in a backpack to Muir Pass on the John Muir Trail in the high Sierra. In the winter, she ventured to Mount Tamalpais and other Bay Area parklands.

She was active in the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society at a time when active women members were rare. She actively campaigned for the Wilderness Act of 1964, the single largest addition of wilderness in American history.

Eikrem served as a Yeoman 2nd Class during World War II.

JOHN REGINATO

The depth of Reginato's travels across Northern California is unparalleled. His turf consists of Tehama, Shasta, Lassen, Trinity, Siskiyou and Modoc counties. No individual in California history knows any region more intimately. He is an avid boater, bird hunter, angler and award-winning wildlife photographer. Reginato is also a champion of youth outdoors activities, especially opportunities for youth trout fishing.

As manager of the Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association for 41 years, Reginato promoted all phases of the outdoors and regional tourism and inspired thousands to go fishing, boating, hunting, camping and traveling in Northern California. He developed a network between recreation businesses and the public and averaged 20,000 phone and mail contacts per year with the public, roughly 8 million contacts in his career.

Reginato pioneered boating and fishing access for the public, developing 20 new boat ramps in Northern California and inventing the concept of using houseboats as a recreation getaway. He also helped develop the concept of rails to trails, starting with the 25-mile Bizz Johnson Trail near Susanville.

ANSEL ADAMS

Posthumous

Unparalleled landscape photographer and environmentalist, Ansel Adams redefined artistic photography and the western landscape at the same moment. His dramatic black and white photographs of Yosemite, the Sierra Nevada and Southwest are credited as helping to make photography appreciated as an art form and drew people to the need to preserve these beautiful, open and wild places.

His innovations in developing film and prints changed how people envision then produce photographic images. The Zone System, conceived by Adams, divides light into ten zones or tones from total black (Zone 0) to pure white (zone ten). Of his famous Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, made in one outing with the use of his final plate and printed in 1927, Adams said, "I had been able to realize a desired image: not the way the subject appeared in reality but how it felt to me and how it must appear in the finished print."

He initiated or was behind the formation of many new collections of photographers and created A More Beautiful America which served to benefit the improvement of the environment. He often supported and lent his photographic skills to efforts to preserve wild places.

RAY CANNON

“Man’s quest for the goal of complete pleasure can be achieved. But it is seldom blundered into.”

That is the opening of Raymond Cannon’s book “How to Fish the Pacific Coast.” Sunset Publishing released it in 1954 to enormous acclaim. Cannon’s book sold out of its first printing in two months and is one of a handful of epic outdoors books published in the last century. The book helped define Cannon as a preeminent communicator and fishing legend across the western United States.

Ray Cannon lived in Southern California and Baja, Mexico. He became well known as the founding outdoors columnist for Western Outdoor News out of Huntington Beach. He evolved into legendary status for his columns on Baja, as well as the success of “How to Fish the Pacific Coast” in the 1950s and beyond. Cannon developed a vast following across the world of the outdoors and appeared across Southern California to draw crowds to learn his expertise. He was an expert angler with a reach that spanned from Mexico to California, Oregon, Washington, Canada and Alaska, and he inspired a generation of anglers to follow and take part in his adventures.

Cannon’s book is a rare, outdoors classic. It was written with great style and a unique mastery of the sport. Rare, well-thumbed copies are found online or in bookshops occasionally, thereafter to be treasured as one of the finest outdoors books ever published. He covered the Pacific coast from Baja north to Alaska, with many of his favorite spots detailed along the entire route. His 150-page “Fish Identification” details 203 species that include: names, drawings, size, color, range, bait, tackle, and whether common or rare. In the character of the era, he referred to a Great white shark as a “Man-eater.”

Though not as famous as John Muir, Raymond Cannon held similar renown among anglers as the poetic scribe of Southern California and Baja waters.

KEITH FRASER

Fraser is a sturgeon master, results-only conservationist, bird lover, educator, 40-year baseball coach, champion of youth and bait man. Bait and tackle shops come and go, but Fraser and his crew hit their 40th anniversary this weekend at his little shop, Loch Lomond Live Bait in San Rafael.

He's 6-foot-5, thin, razor sharp, gruff with politicians, kind to children and always old school, like Clint Eastwood in "Gran Torino." His wife, Gloria, puts up with him.

Out on the water, his rod tip wiggled, and he just sat there with his arms folded. "Flounder," muttered Fraser, able to discern all species by their bites. "Damn flounder."

He reeled in the flounder, let it go and said, "Where's Mr. Sturgy?"

Big numbers

Before Fraser revealed his secrets, many anglers believed it took 20 to 40 hours of fishing to catch a sturgeon, a lifetime to get a 100-pounder. In my first three trips with him, we fished 11 hours, caught and released eight over 50 pounds. I caught 150- and 100-pounders on back-to-back casts.

Nobody believed any of this, so I asked Fraser to keep an exact count of his bites, sets and fish on his trips, which usually span just two to four hours, during the peak time of an outgoing tide.

The numbers tell the story: 41 trips, 86 sturgeon (keepers over 46 inches, two over 200 pounds), all released unharmed. Over this period, he missed only 10 sets, known at KFMPs (Keith Fraser Missed Pumpers). In one period, he had 26 straight bites without a missed set, which obliterated my best streak of 14 straight.

A key to Fraser's success is that he invented a rod cradle for sturgeon fishing. The rod sits on top of it. When you get a bite, it's often so quick that you're late, or you move the rod, spook the fish and it's gone. Instead, when a sturgeon starts to taste the bait, Fraser tips the rod forward, using the end of the board as an axis point, careful not to move the bait.

Waiting to pounce

Fraser then gets in strike position, like a gunslinger waiting for his opponent to draw. If the rod tip is pulled down the slightest bit, often so subtly the untrained would never see it, Fraser sets the hook home like it's a 250-pounder. Sometimes it is.

"What I love about it is that with every bite, you don't know if it's a shaker or a 200-pounder," Fraser said. "The anticipation is unreal as you get ready to set the hook. It's like sticking your finger in a light socket. And it's right here in the bay, 15 minutes from the dock."

Watching the bay-delta fisheries decline has been heartbreaking for Fraser, who dedicated much of his life trying to restore sturgeon, striped bass and salmon populations.

As the founding president of United Anglers, he was a results-only force who intimidated politicians, whom he scorned as life-forms equivalent to potted plants.

He was involved with victories that include the 10-year revival of the striped bass fishery, getting a ban on gillnets that kill marine birds and other sea life, reducing the dumping of dredged mud spoils in the bay, raising millions of dollars for all bay fisheries, and new laws to raise size limits to protect juvenile fish and create a maximum size limit to protect large spawning sturgeon. Of course, many people were involved in each of these conservation wins.

As a former English teacher with a degree from Cal, Fraser can deliver charged eloquence that stirs crowds into froths. A few of his gems:

-- On the decline of bay fishing: "The decline of fishing in the bay and delta will serve as a testimonial to future generations as to man's ability to screw up a good thing."

-- On the delta pumps: "Our government can put a man on the moon but can't design a screen to stop the fish from being sucked down the pumps."

-- On government's onus: "The state has taken the striped bass and salmon from our waters at the delta pumps, so why the hell shouldn't the state then assume the burden for replacing them?"

-- On closing fishing: "Shutting fishing down is like cutting off a guy's toe because his finger hurts. It's the ultimate government cop-out."

-- On studies instead of action: "We shouldn't have to wait until the patient dies before we prescribe the proper medication."

-- On lack of field expertise: "A seagull perched on the railing of a ship in the Mothball Fleet knows as much about the sturgeon population as (the Department of) Fish and Game and other so-called experts."

-- On money vs. nature: "There will always be poachers and polluters. Greed is a never-ending enemy to the well-being of our bay."

-- On water politics: "There is a never-ending supply of politicians who would gladly divert every drop of water from Northern California to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. All that concerns them is their cell phones, their deals and the almighty dollar."

Yet Fraser softens among children, birds and his dogs, like Rooster Cogburn getting his heart melted by Mattie Ross. He has donated hundreds of free trips to take youngsters fishing, has a flock of wild birds that he feeds every morning ("they have more personality than a lot of people"), and his little dogs, like Daisy and Salty, are always aboard for fishing trips.

On our trip, we put the set to a few fish, enjoyed the fight and then, like always, released them all. Because of Fraser's influence and knowing that sturgeon can live to be 70 years old and more than 400 pounds (my life best), I haven't killed a sturgeon for 25 years.

- Tom Stienstra

LESLIE APPLING

Leslie Appling of Palm Springs is a renowned wilderness guide and founder of the Leave No Trace movement that promotes seven principles for outdoor ethics: plan ahead and prepare, travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize campfire impacts, respect wildlife and be considerate of others.

TOM STIENSTRA

An American author, outdoorsman and columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, Tom Stienstra is the consummate outdoorsman and conservationists. He has written numerous guidebooks on the California outdoors including Moon's California Camping, the best-selling and longest running outdoor guidebook series in America. His Moon Pacific Northwest Camping is an Oregon best seller.

In 2018, the Outdoor Writers Association of America awarded Stienstra 1st Place, Outdoor Recreation Photo of the Year. In 2017, the National Academy of Television awarded the Emmy for Health, Science and Environment Special to Stienstra and co-producer Jim Schlosser for their PBS Special, "The Mighty T -- the Tuolumne River." The PBS Special also won the President's Award from the Outdoor Writers Association of America as the best outdoors television show of any kind for the year in America. At the OWAA annual conference, Stienstra was the organization's only member recognized for first-place awards in newspaper, radio and television.

In 2015, Stienstra became America's first outdoors writer to win "The President's Award" as "Best of the Best" for the fourth time from OWAA, when he won best story of the year in the Newspaper Newspaper/Website division at the organization's annual awards banquet in Knoxville. The winning entry was “Paddling with giants,” published in the August 5, 2014 editions of the San Francisco Chronicle. To become a finalist for the President's Award, that story won first place in the Outdoor Fun and Adventure Category of the Newspaper/Website Contest. He is one of OWAA's most awarded members, and in 2009, he won first place for best outdoors column in America.