News for Immediate ReleaseMarch 1, 2022Contact: Katie McKalip, 406-240-9262, mckalip@backcountryhunters.org Court rules unanimously that ‘non-navigable regulation’ is unconstitutional, voids existing closure certifications SANTA FE, N.M. – Today the New Mexico Supreme Court issued a ruling strongly in support of public access to the state’s waters when it unanimously struck down a regulation allowing landowners to close access to streams running through their properties. The New Mexico ...

News for Immediate ReleaseJuly 10, 2018Contact: Katie McKalip, 406-240-9262, mckalip@backcountryhunters.org MISSOULA, Mont. – Backcountry Hunters & Anglers today responded to President Trump’s pardon of Dwight Hammond and Steven Hammond, whose arson convictions sparked the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation in 2016 and helped advance current and ongoing fights over the future of American public lands and waters. BHA President and CEO Land Tawney issued the following ...

Montana members of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers attend anti-public lands conclave featuring lawbreaking Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy PARADISE, Mont. – Backcountry Hunters & Anglers members from Montana united in support of America’s public lands and waters this evening at an anti-public lands event headlined by scofflaw rancher Cliven Bundy. Billed as a property rights forum by an anti-public lands group, the Coalition of Western Property Owners, the gathering featured appearances by Bundy ...

News for Immediate ReleaseSept. 1, 2017Contact: Katie McKalip, 406-240-9262, mckalip@backcountryhunters.org BHA Launches ‘Public Lands Month’ to Celebrate Great Places to Hunt and Fish National Public Lands Day is Sept. 30; as hunting seasons begin across the country BHA stands strong in support of American public lands and waters MISSOULA, Mont. – In anticipation of National Public Lands Day, Sept. 30, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers today is kicking off a monthlong celebration of these ...

News for Immediate ReleaseAug. 24, 2017Contact: Katie McKalip, 406-240-9262, mckalip@backcountryhunters.org Secretary Zinke proposes ‘boundary changes’ to specific monuments, acknowledges broad public support for monuments system, Antiquities Act   [Above, a hunter and their dog hunt the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, credit: mypubliclands] MISSOULA, Mont. – An Interior Department report recommending ambiguous “boundary changes” to national monuments prized by sportsmen and ...

News for Immediate ReleaseAug. 18, 2017Contact: Katie McKalip, 406-240-9262, mckalip@backcountryhunters.org It’s Official: Oregon’s Elliott State Forest to Remain Publicly Accessible Gov. Kate Brown signs into law measure continuing state ownership of Oregon’s oldest state forest; work now shifts to decoupling Elliott from common school fund, addressing financial components of transfer   SALEM, Ore. – The Elliott State Forest will remain publicly accessible to hunters, anglers and other ...

News for Immediate ReleaseAug. 2, 2017Contact: Katie McKalip, 406-240-9262, mckalip@backcountryhunters.org  ‘What Happened to Ryan Zinke?’ BHA Launches Ad Campaign Public lands sportsmen and women hold the interior secretary accountable for conservation promises, spotlight administration’s misguided national monuments review MISSOULA, Mont. – U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s home state of Montana is the target of an advertising campaign launched today by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. ...

News for Immediate ReleaseJuly 20, 2017Contact: Katie McKalip, 406-240-9262, mckalip@backcountryhunters.org Sizable majorities in two key states – Arizona and Colorado – oppose drilling in fish and wildlife-rich refuge MISSOULA, Mont. – Polls commissioned in Arizona and Colorado by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers show strong public opposition to energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. In Arizona, 61 percent of voters opposed the proposal, along with 58 percent of ...

WASHINGTON – Following Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s announcement today of recommendations that would undermine Bears Ears National Monument in Utah – reducing the size of the monument and altering the current management paradigm – Backcountry Hunters & Anglers President and CEO Land Tawney offered the following response: “Over the course of more than a century, the Antiquities Act has proven one of our most potent mechanisms for permanently conserving important fish and wildlife habitat ...

MISSOULA, Mont. – Following comments by Rep. Mark Amodei that he won’t be reviving a controversial bill that would have transferred public lands in Nevada to state ownership, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers celebrated a win for public lands sportsmen and women while acknowledging that the battle over our shared lands and waters continues. Introduced by Amodei last year, the Honor the Nevada Enabling Act (H.R. 1484) would have legislated the transfer of millions of publicly owned acres to the ...