This story first appeared in The Outsider, the premium outdoor newsletter by Jason Blevins.

In it, he covers the industry from the inside out, plus the fun side of being outdoors in our beautiful state.

Dan Gates remembers the sting of comments sent to his friends and fellow volunteers at the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Partners in the Outdoors conference in April. Then even more pain from a letter sent to Gov. Jared Polis by the conference organizer, Alease Lee, demanding that Gates be removed from several volunteer posts.

Lee, who is Black, called Gates, who has for 37 years served as a volunteer on more than a dozen boards focused on Colorado wildlife management and habitat conservation, “a known racist” and “a danger to Black and brown communities and their voices.”

In a post on the Whova app used by all 600 conference attendees, Lee referred to Gates’ “loved ones” as “roaches and rats.”

“I never had any conversation with her except to say, ‘Hi, my name is Dan Gates.’ I told her I’d heard about her and hope we get a chance to talk,” said Gates, a lifelong hunter whose service has included work as chairman of the Colorado Habitat Stamp Committee and board member for the Colorado Wildlife Council and the Colorado Outdoor Partnership Executive Council. “Then I read all that. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t, really.”

A seven-month investigation found Lee’s claims of racism by Gates were unfounded. No one interviewed by investigators offered any support for Lee’s...

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