Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) would like to offer our full support of SB 13-175 as currently written, which will permanently reauthorize the Habitat Stamp Program. The Habitat Stamp is a sportsmen-driven program that has protected more than 170,000 acres of habitat from development and which has provided public access to 68,000 acres for hunting and 26 miles of streams for fishing.
As a sportsmen conservation organization dedicated to protecting habitat and sporting opportunities that are free from the noise and disturbance of modern life, Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers recognizes the need for conservation funding programs, like the Habitat Stamp, which provide increasingly essential public access for sportsmen, protect large undisturbed tracts of core habitat where development pressures are greatest and which offers the same level of opportunity, freedom and solitude that Coloradan sportsmen and women have come to know.
Survey after survey shows that the number issue facing sportsmen is access, while the number issue facing wildlife is a loss of quality habitat to development and degradation. By permanently reauthorizing of the Habitat Stamp, we can ensure that both of these key issues continue to be addressed through conservation easements, access easements and fee title acquisitions when appropriate.
We believe that the proposed legislation will continue to ensure that proposals which offer the highest overall value of wildlife habitat and sportsmen access will continue to rise to the top, regardless of which species or sporting opportunity they might favor.
We believe this proposed legislation is a win-win for sportsmen, fish and wildlife alike and thus Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers would like to offer our full support of this legislation.
About Caitlin Thompson