There had to be a solution. A timber company called Pope Resources – the largest landowner in the region – wanted to sell off thousands of acres of its holdings at the eastern end of Swift Reservoir, along the southern slopes of the spectacular Mt. St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington. The timberland was worth millions and would be worth even more if developed into as many as 395 20-acre lots. The problem? Such development would forever change a working forest – one producing more than ...

If a single landscape can embody the true wonder of the Land of Enchantment, it is the Valles Caldera National Preserve, in the Jemez Mountains of north-central New Mexico. The caldera is the result of an ancient volcanic eruption that created a yawning high-altitude system of richly-grassed valleys over 13 miles wide, with a high point of 11,253 feet at Redondo Peak. The preserve is managed by the National Park Service and is open to some of New Mexico’s most breathtaking big game hunting ...

The Rensselaer Plateau in eastern New York state holds the state’s fifth largest stretch of forestland, surprising in its vastness of more than 100,000 acres. Wildlife abounds, with game species such as grouse, whitetailed deer, black bear and wild turkey thriving, along with a host of creatures rare in the East: fishers, bobcats, moose, a life list of migratory songbirds.   This near perfect example of a robust northern mixed hardwood – sugar maple, red oak, yellow birch – and conifer ...

Idaho BHA co-signed a letter to the North Fork Ranger District of the Salmon-Challis National Forest (SCNF) regarding the Hoodoo Airstrip Maintenance Project.  The Hoodoo airstrip is an existing airstrip just outside the border of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The Hoodoo airstrip is currently in need of maintenance to make it safe to use.  Idaho BHA co-signed the letter along with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and the Idaho Wildlife Federation which ...

BHA’s Largest Fly-In Targets an Important Conservation Fund, LWCF Last week, BHA chapter members from across the nation gathered in Washington, D.C., to advocate for the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, America’s most popular and successful conservation program. The diverse group of 30 BHA members, who traveled to D.C. from destinations as diverse as Oregon and Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Mexico, were ecstatic to tell their LWCF stories and share their experiences with ...