On June 3rd, 2023, despite a dismal weather forecast, 23 conservationists showed up to pull more than a mile of old woven and barbed wire fencing in SW Montana. BHA members and volunteers from all over the state met up with Simon Buzzard from the National Wildlife Federation who provided some conservation history and project goals before we loaded up and drove towards the work site, a region called Horse Prairie. So why were we focused on this specific part of the state? In 2020, Montana ...

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — our nation's largest land management agency, tasked with overseeing 245 million acres across the country — manages public lands for a multitude of uses. But how does conservation stack up to other uses like oil and gas, mining, and grazing? Currently, conservation isn't an equal priority, which is unfortunate for hunters and anglers like me who rely on quality fish and wildlife habitat and large tracts of undeveloped public lands. However, the BLM is ...

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ deputy director has raised the hackles of some Montana land access advocates. A recent federal court ruling in Wyoming regarding public access at the corners where a checkerboard of public and private parcels meet has prompted questions about how the ruling may apply in Montana, an FWP spokesman said. As a result, on Thursday the department issued a short press release. “Corner crossing remains unlawful in Montana, and Montanans should continue to obtain ...

By Charlie Booher Punctuated equilibrium defines our history, and natural resource policy is no exception. Looking back at the history of public land management in this country, we’ve frequently experienced long periods of small or stepwise changes in laws, rules or regulations, separated by a short period of rapid activity that promulgates decades of results. We are lucky to have so recently experienced a punctuation in the 116th Congress. In 2020, conservation, hunting and outdoor ...

Summary: On May 26, 2023, the District Court of Wyoming found it legal to cross through private airspace when stepping from public land to public land over a shared public/private corner. Read on for more information on what exactly this decision means for the public, and read the judge's order here. 1) Is corner crossing legal everywhere now? Just in Wyoming?    It’s complicated. This specific decision is based on the particular facts involved in the case. The judge determined that the ...