June 21st, 2025 - Volunteers from the Montana and North Dakota chapters gathered in the "Big Gumbo" area just south of Marmarth, ND for part 2 of an ongoing stewardship effort in North Dakota's largest continuous swath of BLM land. In 2024 volunteers "inventoried" fence - mapping unknown fence lines on the map, meanwhile noting the composition and condition of the fence. This data was handed off to the local BLM field office, who then determined which fences posed a barrier to wildlife, ...

Roadless Rule Rollback On June 24 Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) posted a statement (“USDA Rescinds Near Quarter Century Old Protections for 58.5 Million Acres of National Forest Lands”) strongly opposing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent decision to roll back the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule—removing long-standing protections for 58.5 million acres of national forest lands across 39 states.[1] “For 24 years, the Roadless Rule has provided bedrock safeguards some of ...

Welcome to Nebraska Backcountry Hunters & Anglers July newsletter! Latest: Based on member and supporter questions, here is a bit of history on the establishment of your Nebraska Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. Nebraska became an official chapter in January 2020. However, the interesting backstory to its establishment is that most of chapter founders (Kyle Broadfoot, Bill Grossniclaus, Mike Storrs, Adam Leitschuh, Erik Dippold, Casey Hunter, Ryan Sewell, James Eaves) recall ...

By Don Rank HARRISBURG, PA, July 9, 2025 – This morning, at a small ceremony near the state capital, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law House Bill 1431. At last the ban on Sunday hunting has been lifted in Pennsylvania – a hard-earned victory for which Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and its Pennsylvania Chapter should take pride. History The inability to hunt on Sundays in Pennsylvania dates to the days when Ulysses S. Grant was president. Back then, it was one of many “Blue ...

Colorado BHA Chapter Rallies Conservationists From Across the State (& Nation) for Flood the Lines Day “This is why BHA was built. For this opportunity. For this fight!”[1] Months before the June 2025 culmination and defeat of Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s relentless attempts to sell off millions of acres of our great public lands estate the Colorado chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) was sounding the alarm and preparing for battle. During the first week of April BHA members from ...

  Stewardship in Action: Fence Removal, Field Education, and Sweat Equity  On the Thursday leading into Rende 2025, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and the Missoula BLM field office kicked off the weekend with a boots on the ground stewardship project. Twenty-five volunteers and four BLM staff headed up the Blackfoot River, just east of Missoula, to remove half a mile of old fencing along Belmont Creek.     Over coffee and a light breakfast, the BLM's Assistant Field Manager gave a ...

Mountains to Sound Greenway Trailfest RECAP This weekend, BHA members teamed up with the Mountains to Sound Greenway crew to give some love back to the Cheese Rock Trail near Cle Elum. Together, we added supports and tie-backs to about 30 feet of trail, plus fresh gravel to improve drainage and protect against erosion — helping keep this beautiful trail open and accessible for everyone. 🛠️ After the work was done, our board members Justin, Clarence, and Tom set up outside Dru Bru to talk ...

June 28, 2025 - 8 BHA members based out of the Whitefish/Kalispell area of the Flathead Valley, MT, volunteered their Saturday to hike, sweat and build up "conservation Karma" for the coming hunting season. Volunteers collaborated with USFS in clearing trail 171 - Ingalls to Sylvia Lake, just West of the popular campsites and water access surrounding Tally Lake. Beyond the 4 miles of public land that was improved through these efforts, volunteers enjoyed a day of mountain views and ...

“Public lands are not to be gifted to foreign mining billionaires.” Duluth News Tribune: 6/29/25. On May 29 in Colorado, I met Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) advocate and Ely resident Becky Rom, the national chair of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. She and her team attended the Outside Festival in Denver — for good reason. “Attendance at the four-day event … drew 35,000 people, nearly doubling attendance from the debut event last year,” the Colorado Sun reported. Rom ...

Nine months after Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southern Appalachians, contractors hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continue to rip through critical aquatic habitats in the name of storm debris removal. The most recent victim of this ongoing and unwarranted natural disaster, a .75-mile stretch of Little Rose Creek, located within the Pisgah Gamelands in Mitchell County. Originating up near the Blue Ridge Parkway, Little Rose is a known site for native Southern Appalachian ...