SCOTT WILLIAMSON

He is a world-renowned wilderness hiker and one of America's most inspirational outdoorsmen. Williamson was the first person to complete a continuous one-season round-trip of the Pacific Crest Trail, 5,300 miles. In 1996, while working at a convenience store in Richmond, he was shot in the face during an attempted robbery. The bullet is lodged in his head. Williamson completed the hiking Triple Crown, through-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Appalachian Trail. In 2011, despite record snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, Williamson set a new PCT speed record, unsupported, by finishing the trek in 64 days, 11 hours, 19 minutes, an average of 41.1 miles per day. He willingly shares his lightweight camping strategies, speed and training techniques at seminars where he sells nothing but inspiration. Named on 65 percent of ballots.

IL LING NEW

Born in San Francisco and a Yale graduate with an MBA, she turned her back on a lucrative marketing career to teach people self-protection, how to handle firearms, and hunting. She is America's No. 1 female firearms instructor and No. 1 female freelance guide. She has hunted across the hemisphere and to Africa twice, including for Cape buffalo, and trains hunters from across the hemisphere prior to world-class expeditions. She has hunted ducks in California since age 10. As an instructor, she has had a profound influence on people across America, and has taught Marines and police as well as housewives and hunters of all backgrounds. Her skills are world-renowned; with a handgun small enough to fit in her palm, she can put three shots in a pie plate in 5 seconds, has competed nationally for skeet titles, and is versed as an expert in all rifles. She has a stunning ability to improve others' skills and safety. Named on more than 75 percent of ballots.

BILLY GIANQUINTO

"Billy G," as he's known across America, is best recognized as one of the world's best duck callers, the inventor of specialty calls for teal and wigeon used by thousands, and a conservationist who has led dozens of fundraisers for wetland protection.

For 38 years, he has provided thousands of seminars, including volunteer fundraising seminars for the California Waterfowl Association and other groups. He has freely revealed his techniques in more than 300 appearances on television shows and DVDs.

Gianquinto has also worked extensively with youth education. With the Boy Scouts of America, he has taught rowing and canoeing for 45 years, and has also taught flyfishing at the Golden Gate Casting Ponds in San Francisco, among many volunteer outreach programs.

MARTY MACDONNELL

McDonnell of Sierra Mac River trips, is the premier outfitter on the Tuolumne River, an inventor whose ideas have affected thousands, and a prominent conservationist who has inspired many to protect the state's rivers.

As a rafter, McDonnell made the first descent of the Cherry Creek/Upper Tuolumne run and began commercial rafting on the hairball ride. He was the only outfitter allowed to run the Middle Fork of the Feather River.

McDonnell has dedicated his life to getting thousands of people safely and comfortably down whitewater rivers. He invented the first self-bailing cataraft, helped develop the Sotar self-bailing raft, and invented the "boom truck" now used by all rafting companies at takeout.

He created a new way to rescue people caught at waterfalls, now the standard technique for guides.

McDonnell is a charter member of the Tuolumne River Preservation Trust and helped saved the Tuolumne River and the Clavey River from getting dammed. The only book written about The T, "Rocks and Rapids of the Tuolumne River," by W.H. Wright in 1983, is dedicated to "Mr. Tuolumne, Marty McDonnell."

JERRY KARNOW

Karnow is the state's No. 1 wildlife detective, the political leader of game wardens in California, and an avid hunter and angler with a specialty for tracking big game in remote locations.

As a game warden, Karnow has donated thousands of hours beyond his normal shifts, using FBI-type detective skills, to bust hundreds of poaching cases. One such case was profiled on national television and attracted attention to California's force of game wardens from across America.

He is the political leader for game wardens; after election, Gov. Jerry Brown had a meeting with Karnow.

He's an avid hunter and angler, fishing salt and freshwater, and hunting deer, elk, antelope, upland game and waterfowl throughout the west. The past season he took a lifetime-best mule deer in remote terrain that required 11 hours to pack out.

Karnow has an easy, friendly personality that engages the public and puts people at ease, regardless of their backgrounds. In the process, he has become one of the state's most effective advocates for fishing and wildlife conservation and enforcement.

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."