By Michael Wright - October 30, 2019 - Originally published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle  Meanwhile, the Forest Service has tried to make some progress. This summer, it began work on the Porcupine Ibex Trail, a reroute of a disputed trail that a landowner had blocked for years. Agency officials have also said they’re in talks with landowners on the east side of the range about access issues there. Erickson said this latest deal has been in the works for more than a decade. She said there’s ...

In Defense of Brook Trout By Nick DelVecchio, BHA Member Pennsylvania has been blessed with treasure troves of natural resources.  Over the decades, prosperity and wealth has been owed to the abundant through mines, mills, and oil derricks that litter the state.  However, one resource in particular has endured through the ebbs and flows of industry: the brook trout. Having the distinction of being the state fish of Pennsylvania is quite literally the least we can do for these hardy fish ...

The US Forest Service has recently proposed a land exchange in Montana's Crazy Mountains called the “South Crazy Mountain Land Exchange.” This proposal would swap privately owned sections with publicly owned USFS lands within the Custer-Gallatin National Forest. The Montana Chapter of BHA appreciates the efforts by the Custer-Gallatin NF to consolidate public lands. We understand the challenges of managing the Crazy Mountains with its many private inholdings and public access disputes. ...

South of the Brooks Range in northern Alaska there still exists intact ecosystems that remain largely unchanged except by forces of nature.  This is one of the largest public land wild areas left in the U.S.  Hunting and fishing here is the dream of many sportsmen and women, but to the people in remote communities of this region it is their subsistence use area as it always has been.  The subsistence use and sport hunting and fishing opportunities are on the brink of being drastically ...

Just south of Boise is the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA), most being comprised of public lands that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Idaho Army National Guard. Many locals utilize this area for recreational purposes, most commonly for recreational target shooting. With such close proximity to the city of Boise and the network of roads that scatter the landscape, many of these areas are heavily used and degraded by the ...