The Colorado chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) appointed Jacob Kinnard to serve as an Assistant Regional Director for the Northern Front Range Group/region. 

Jacob has been fishing since he was a child, living across the street from the Yellow Breeches Creek in Mount Holly Springs, Pennsylvania. “Since moving to Colorado 22 years ago, I have been an obsessive fly-fisher and tyer,” Jacob said. “I fish mostly on the South Platte, Eleven Mile and Cheesman Canyons, but I have fished all over, from Maine to Indiana to Canada and Mexico. I started hunting three years ago, and have become equally obsessed. I’ve hunted rabbits, mule deer, and elk, but I am most passionate about pronghorn.”

He's also a long-time Trout Unlimited member and has participated in a number of their programs. He has led retreats at Ring Lake Ranch in Wyoming focused on fishing and religion. Jacob and his wife joined BHA four years ago and he’s since upgraded to Life Membership. “We did a BHA sponsored hunting weekend with Timber to Table Guide Service, and that got us completely hooked,” he explained. “I am moving toward retiring from teaching—I teach comparative religions, Hinduism and Buddhism mostly, and courses on religion and the wilds.”

“I long to be more involved on the ground, in the field, and to take my years of teaching experience and apply it to something I am fully engaged in,” Jacob added. “I think the work BHA does is urgent, as states and corporations blatantly engage in land grabs, and, at the same time, as fewer and fewer young people hunt and fish.”

Jacob fly-fishes on public waters whenever he can, and hikes several times a week in the vicinity of their small cabin on the south slope of Pikes Peak. “In my scholarship I write about the intersections of Buddhism and nature,” he emphasized, “including writing about the spiritual dimensions of fly-fishing and hunting. I am absolutely committed to public land.”

Over the course of 35 years in academics Jacob has organized many conferences and served on non-profit boards. “I have a great deal of public speaking experience,” he added. “I have worked with any number of higher education administrations, and I have served in leadership roles in the national professional organizations of my guilds. I am a good communicator and a clear writer, and I think I am adept at getting along with a wide variety of people (teaching kind of requires that!).”

Jacob is keenly aware that if young people don’t ever have the opportunity to hunt and fish they will not develop the connections to land and water that make them committed stewards. “I always tell my own students that I don’t fish to catch fish; I fish to be connected to fish, and to the whole riparian world, from bugs to beavers,” he said. “I would love to see more opportunities to get younger people out into the woods and onto our rivers. I think the hands-on experiences are vital for getting younger people interested and involved in the kinds of activities and projects that are at the heart of BHA.” 

As we all know too well, if students and other young people never actually have the opportunity to hunt or fish, they will never know the connections that lead to deep care for the natural world. “This is of course at the core of BHA’s mission,” Jacob explained. “I think I can help with this by applying my teaching skills—fundamentally bringing passion and knowledge together to get people engaged—and my writing skills to the task.”

Are you interested in serving on the Colorado BHA Chapter Leadership Team? Learn more about our volunteer opportunities here.

Founded by Mike Beagle, a former U.S. Army field artillery officer, and formed around an Oregon campfire, in 2004, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is the voice for our nation’s wild public lands, waters and wildlife.[1] With members spread out across all 50 states and 13 Canadian provinces and territories—including chapters in 49 states, two Canadian provinces and one territory, and Washington, D.C.—BHA brings an authentic, informed, boots-on-the-ground voice to the conservation of public lands. The Colorado BHA chapter was founded by David “Elkheart” Petersen (a former U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot) in 2005 (the first official BHA chapter)[2]

[1] David A. Lien. “Freedom & Fire: A Brief BHA History II.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 2/24/25.

[2] David A. Lien. “Where Hope Lives: A Brief BHA History.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 11/30/20.