To view the full report, click here. Nearly 50 years ago a far-sighted, bipartisan group in Congress established the Land and Water Conservation Fund, tapping a fraction of the royalties from offshore oil and gas production to give all Americans a lifetime of outdoor recreational opportunity. Congress intended the Fund to be used for “preserving, developing, and assuring accessibility to … outdoor recreation resources … and to strengthen the health and vitality of the citizens of the United ...

The following Op:Ed was published by the Colorado Springs Independent on 1/7/15 Our country has an incredible and unmatched protected public lands legacy that allows hunters, anglers, hikers, backpackers, outfitters, equestrians and others the opportunity to experience parts of our country as they were in the days of Lewis and Clark and, more recently, Theodore Roosevelt. One such area is Browns Canyon, a scenic and rugged region in Chaffee County between Salida and Buena Vista on the ...

As 2014 came to an end there was some good news for hunters & anglers regarding the 50 year old Land and Water Conservation Fund.  Funding will continue for 2015 projects at the same level as last year - $306 million dollars.  But that is far short of what the fund is authorized to receive.  It covers only about one-third of the $900 million the fund should receive annually, according to the legislation.People ask, “What is the Land and Water Conservation Fund and what does it do”?  LWCF is ...

By Ed Putnam, Co-Chair, Oregon Backcountry Hunters & AnglersWell, Senator Wyden’s O&C Lands Bill failed to hop a ride onto a Defense spending package that’s steaming through Congress on its way to the President’s desk. Seems it was just too hot an issue to make the trip.The bill is a nice balance between conservation and timber harvest, but the timber industry doesn’t like it because it doesn’t cut enough board feet to provide the needed revenue, or provide enough protection from lawsuits. ...

By Idaho BHA member, Gary Lane Wild fish and Mitigation fish. One for the river, one for the bag. But you can’t have one without the other. What’s the difference? Wild fish are nature’s way of providing for free flowing rivers. Mitigation fish are man’s way of paying to artificially simulate nature, when barrier dams break the system’s conveyor belt. Wild fish make up nature’s original gene pool and are the seed source used to propagate mitigation fish via hatchery production.  Dilution of ...