WVBHA 2024 State Legislature Update   The 2024 West Virginia state legislative session is about two-thirds done. Your local chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers has been monitoring the session for issues that impact our public lands, waters, and wildlife. After a quiet start, there are a few bills to watch. Legislative action will accelerate as the session winds down, so stay tuned to this blog for more updates.  CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW! We can start with the good news! Senate Bill ...

  When the New River Gorge National Park & Preserve redesignation went into effect hunters were left holding the short straw as we were now permanently excluded from 4,385 acres of what was once public hunting access. “We had public hearings and we heard everybody and the hunting community came out forcefully, especially those who hunted portions of the area,” said Senator Capito.   Both Senators Manchin and Capito recognized this issue and have been working with other parties to add land ...

    2022 was a good year for the West Virginia BHA Chapter. Policy and legislative issues were the primary focus rolling into the year and the chapter did an excellent job keeping members privy to possible bills that could impact hunting, fishing, and public lands. Many of these legislative proposals aim to turn our public hunting lands into recreational OHV areas.  While we are not opposed to the state and private motorized recreation groups procuring new public lands or access agreements ...

West Virginia Backcountry Hunters and Anglers needs you to stand up for our public lands! A series of bills have been introduced for a comprehensive motorized recreation program on our public lands under the pretense of a “wildlife viewing” stamp that would provide off-road access on our Wildlife Management Areas, State Forests and State Parks from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year. This disguised motorized recreation program would turn West Virginia’s public wildlife habitat and hunting ...

Quality public hunting and fishing access consistently tops the list of issues outdoorsmen and women expect Backcountry Hunters & Anglers to help tackle.  The need for recreational access only continues to escalate as the supply of open lands is strained by changing land use patterns and growing development pressures for undeveloped lands and waters.  Limits on supply are being coupled with exploding demand as the pandemic-induced participation increases in hunting, fishing, shooting and ...