Backcountry Beat, April 2023
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Friend —
Spring is here at last, bringing blue skies, early morning turkey hunts and rising rivers to western Montana.
The temptation to check out and hit the trail is real. But at BHA, we know that constant vigilance is critical. And right now, your voice is needed to oppose those who would steal one of our most important victories for conservation, public access and our public lands and waters.
We’re closely tracking four bills in the U.S. House of Representatives that take aim at the Land and Water Conservation Fund. H.R. 2207, H.R. 2158, H.R. 2169 and H.R. 2153 would entirely defund or severely limit the ability of the U.S. Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management to strategically acquire areas of important habitat and places key to public access using LWCF dollars.
For years, BHA members and supporters like you dedicated tens of thousands of hours of hard work on behalf of LWCF. BHA members helped achieve passage, in 2019, of the bipartisan Dingell Act, which permanently reauthorizes LWCF, and subsequently, passage of the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020. Advanced by three quarters of members of Congress and signed into law by President Trump, GAOA secures full, permanent funding for LWCF at $900 million annually, guaranteeing LWCF’s continued ability to conserve important habitat and recreational lands and waters all across America.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund exists today because we the people united – and worked together relentlessly – to secure a future for our public lands and waters and our hard-won outdoor opportunities.
So before you set off on your next outdoor adventure, please take 1 minute and stand up – once again – for LWCF. Land is out of the office this week, but I know he’d join me in exhorting us to come together, use our voices and fight for the places that challenge our bodies and feed our souls.
Take action now!
Katie McKalip
VP, External Affairs and Communications
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