BHA R3 Coordinator Trey Curtiss has joined the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports Implementation Workgroup. Made up of state agency and conservation group R3 (recruitment, retention and reactivation) experts, the workgroup serves to help reverse the general decline in hunting and shooting participation in recent years by implementing the actions outlined in the National Hunting and Shooting Sports Action Plan and advancing best practices for R3 efforts across agencies and conservation organizations.

Samantha Pedder, director of operations for the council, commented “the success of R3 efforts in the future, from state-focus to national will depend on all of our organizations working on solutions, together. California, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and so on - BHA members are already at the table helping to advance state R3 efforts and this workgroup presented the perfect opportunity to include BHA at the national level as well. We are excited to work with them and all of our other partners to move R3 forward.”

Curtiss notes the enthusiasm he has for this cause. “I was very fortunate to grow up in a hunting family that offered mentorship to walk me through the basic tenets of hunting,” said Curtiss, a native Montanan and lifelong sportsman. “I know that getting started is often frustrating, as convoluted as hunting may seem, but it’s imperative that we offer resources to get more people involved with wildlife management and conservation funding. I’m excited to work alongside and learn from other R3 professionals on how we can collectively promote and further R3 efforts from within BHA and across all of our partnerships.”

Tim Brass, BHA director of state policy and field operations affirmed that “over the years, BHA’s growing base of dedicated volunteers and leaders shows that we are collectively committed to introducing, supporting and mentoring the next generation of hunters and anglers. By helping build community and teaching new hunters needed skills, we will help support a new generation of hunters, shooters and anglers who share our passion for conservation. We’re committed to be a part of the collective R3 effort and look forward to working with more with those involved in CAHSS to ensure every American has the opportunity to hunt, shoot and fish.”

AT BHA, the conservation ethic that many of us share has been built through mornings spent casting to rising trout or full days spent with the family in a duck blind. We are committed to ensuring every American has the same outdoor opportunities that we’ve enjoyed, and because of that, we’re committed to lowering the barriers of entry to hunting, angling and other public land pursuits. It is through efforts like these that we can keep our traditions alive – and help maintain our wildly successful North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, which depends on healthy participation in hunting and shooting sports. 

To learn more about BHA’s R3 efforts, become an R3 leader or find an event near you, visit BHA’s website or listen to BHA’s Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring as he talks with Curtiss and Pedder, as well as Mark Norquist of Modern Carnivore and a BHA MN chapter board member.

To learn more about the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports, visit their website here.

The Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports serves to ensure the support for and active participation in hunting and the shooting sports for future generations.

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers seeks to ensure North America's outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, through education and work on behalf of wild public lands and waters.