The British Columbia Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BCBHA) was established in February of 2014 to become the first official international chapter of Backcountry Hunters Anglers (BHA). The Alberta chapter joined in the spring of 2017 and a potential third Canadian chapter, Yukon, is building strong and should be announced soon. The vision of BHA is to truly be a continental conservation powerhouse.
Although the initiative to join BHA developed in the East Kootenay region of BC, we now have regional representation from around our enormous province and have established committees and directors in Region 2, Central BC, and the East and West Kootenay and are showing signs of growth in the north east and Vancouver Island. There is no better place in the world to be a hunter or angler than British Columbia.
Although we have abundant opportunity to go afield every day of the year, it is not only this quantity of opportunity we need to maintain. We need to maintain quality, wild opportunity. Opportunity with challenge, solitude, effort, peace and quiet, and wildness where we can get away from industrial activities and industrial strength recreation of our fast-paced society. Where wilderness is still the pristine legacy of nature. Where we can chase after childhood dreams of wild bulls, bucks and rams in mountains still wild.
We liked the BHA message and BHA's articulate way of expressing concerns for our wild public lands. This is why BC sportsmen and women joined BHA. Hopefully our efforts, combined and coordinated with the established conservation groups already standing up for wildlife and habitat in BC, amplifies this collaborative effort. Our membership has continued to grow, and we are now approaching 500 members.
BCBHA looks forward to sharing BHA’s strong conservation message on our public lands to ensure quality habitat, wildlife populations and the subsequent quality outdoor opportunities that result from good decisions for wildlife and habitat management in British Columbia.