Siegfried Honored as RMEF Conservationist of the Year

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is proud to announce that Eric Siegfried is the recipient of its 2021 RMEF Conservationist of the Year Award.

Siegfried, the founder of onXmaps, created a revolutionary product that changed the face of hunting, greatly bolstered public access and since generated more than one million dollars for conservation.

“No one has done more to give hunters and other recreationists supreme confidence to know exactly where they stand in the backcountry or on a mountain ridge than Eric Siegfried,” said Steve Decker, RMEF chief revenue officer. “His dedication to elk country, hunters and conservation, and RMEF, is paramount.”

As a young engineer and life-long hunter, Siegfried determined how to load a statewide land ownership map onto a micro S-D card and then plug it into a Garmin G-P-S unit. That allowed hunters and others with a GPS unit to instantly identify whether land was public or privately-owned and the accompanying borders.

His company later launched the extremely popular onX Hunt App that transforms a smartphone into a map-based GPS unit. The app continually adds new layers, including RMEF projects and land access points, opening the door for hunters to learn and explore new landscapes. RMEF also uses onX data to identify land and access projects, further strengthening RMEF’s impact across elk country.

“Eric is a proud hunter, RMEF life member and conservationist. He has worked tirelessly to expand public access, and the onX sponsorships and support of our projects generated thousands of memberships and hundreds of thousands of dollars to further our mission,” added Decker. “We thank and salute him for his passion and dedication.”

Siegfried accepted the award at a recent RMEF big game banquet in Missoula, Montana.