Welcome to the January 2026 edition of BHA's State Policy Spotter – a high-level scan of state policy and legislation impacting our wild public lands, waters and wildlife across North America.

Welcome to the November 2025 edition of BHA's State Policy Spotter – a high-level scan of state policy and legislation impacting our wild public lands, waters and wildlife across North America.

A controversy over public lands’ management in Indiana’s 204,000-acre Hoosier National Forest turns out to be a microcosm of a burning (pun intended) national debate over using fire and targeted logging operations to create habitat for wildlife and a healthier, more diverse and more resilient forest.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is taking public comments on the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, which affects 45 million acres of our national forests. Why is this such a big deal? Why are we throwing this baby out with the bathwater? 

Join Hal and Trout Unlimited President and CEO Chris Wood, who knows this subject inside and out and was working for the U.S. Forest Service in the late 1990s--when the Roadless Rule was created after decades of study, conflict, watershed failures, and the quest for both balance and fiscal responsibility in public lands’ management.

Carmen is a field biologist dedicated to the study of lynx and other carnivores, living a life as a tracker, skier, deep observer, and a student of winter weather and tough terrain. Part of her personal mission is to make sure that more people like herself, who love wildlife and wild places, can find their way to careers as field biologists and researchers and help provide the understanding to make sure it all goes on into a challenging and uncertain future.