Richard (Dick) Cochran went on his first pack trip in 1949 when he was six years old. He has been going on pack trips ever since. Dick and his wife Dena have been married for 55 years and have two daughters, Claire and Courtney, and three grandchildren. Dena rode jumping horses for many years and collected numerous ribbons at horse shows around the state of California. Dena, Claire, and Courtney have been on numerous pack trips, and two of Dick’s three grandchildren have been on one pack trip. He is preparing the youngest granddaughter for her first pack trip. Dick practiced law in Visalia, California, for 40 years at the same law firm: Ruddell, Cochran, Stanton, Smith, and Bixler. Countless Backcountry Horsemen of California (BCHC) High Sierra Unit meetings were held at his office. Dick’s father, Max Cochran, had an idea about forming an organization to represent the interests of stock users in matters related to the use of public lands. Dick went on numerous back country trips with his father and whenever they encountered other stock users, Max would discuss the need for such an organization. With the help of numerous other stock users, the High Sierra Stock Users’ Association (HSSUA) was born. Later, after hosting Lloyd Fagerland from Montana and Ken Wilcox from Washington, both of whom were active in their state organizations, the name was changed from HSSUA to Backcountry Horsemen of California (BCHC) and became part of the Back Country Horsemen of America (BCHA) organization. Dick was the first chair of BCHC’s Public Lands Committee where he served for about six years. After HSSUA became BCHC, he served as a National Director for BCHC for five years in the mid 1990’s. Dick served as President of the High Sierra Unit as well as chair of their Public Lands Committee. In 2017, he retired from the practice of law and moved to Healdsburg. He continues to serve on the High Sierra Unit Public Lands Committee and participates in their meetings by phone. Dick has had a long journey working on public lands matters for the HSSUA and the BCHC. He volunteered for the one-year Vice President of Public Lands position because he was afraid no one else would do it.