WASHINGTON – Following a hearing today by the Senate Agriculture Committee to advance the nomination of former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue as Agriculture secretary, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers President and CEO Land Tawney emphasized the USDA’s role in facilitating public access to privately owned lands and managing America’s national forests and grasslands: “Only a sportsman can fully grasp the fundamental importance of the Agriculture Department to our nation’s proud traditions of ...

TODAY: BHA President and CEO to answer questions from media, grassroots on budget proposal, negative repercussions for wildlife, public lands, hunting and fishing MISSOULA, Mont. – Following the release by President Trump of a budget proposal that sharply reduces key agency funding, eliminates important staff positions and cuts programs important to public lands and sportsmen, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers strongly criticized the proposal and called on members of Congress to undertake swift, ...

  Pictured: Pronghorn at rest, Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge. Tom Koerner, USFWS MISSOULA, Mont. – America’s national wildlife refuges have provided generations of sportsmen with equal opportunity, easy access, public lands hunting and fishing, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers stated today, the 114th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System. “Hunters and anglers are at the heart of our nation’s wildlife refuge system,” said BHA President and CEO Land Tawney. “One of our greatest ...

WASHINGTON – Following Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s signing late yesterday of a secretarial order expanding public access and hunting and fishing opportunities on U.S. public lands, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers President and CEO Land Tawney offered the following response:   “On his first day as Interior secretary, Mr. Zinke undertook quick action on behalf of our nation’s public lands, the outdoor opportunities they offer and the economic security they provide,” said Tawney. ...

WASHINGTON – Approximately 100,000 acres of Oregon public lands backcountry – including riparian wildlife habitat and a unique steelhead fishery – will be permanently conserved if legislation introduced today in Congress becomes law, announced Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. The Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary Act, sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, would permanently safeguard the Steamboat Creek basin, a tributary of the North ...