With both chambers of Congress in recess and members back in their districts, August tends to be a slow month in Washington, D.C. Despite this, there are updates on our newest national monument, legislation that would incentivize public access to private land, and egregious proposed land transfers. When Congress returns in September we expect that they will attempt to pass their funding bills for the 2024 fiscal year as well as introduce much anticipated legislation to conserve and restore our public lands and wildlife.
Nevada Public Lands Could be Transferred by Congress
The Winecup Gamble Ranch, owned by Kroenke Ranches, is proposing to trade 235,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management lands in exchange for 85,000 of Kroenke’s private acres – in what would be a tremendous public loss of hunting opportunity in Elko County, Nevada. This 3:1 land transfer would require congressional legislation and would be the largest single transfer of public land in United States history. As a result, public lands hunters stand to lose access permanently to some of the best mule deer hunting – and best wildlife habitat – in northeastern Nevada.
No written proposal has been released. However, a presentation was shared earlier this month with the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners by representatives of the Winecup Gamble and Kroenke Ranches along with the Western Land Group. They also shared their intent to have legislation introduced to Congress in 2024 to facilitate the land transfer. So far, no members of the Nevada congressional delegation has indicated an intent to sponsor that bill.
This “non-proposal,” as the Winecup Gamble Ranch and Western Land Group calls it, currently suggests a land exchange that would be based on “fair market value to fair market value,” not “acre for acre.” This so-called “value based non-proposal” would leave the Winecup Gamble Ranch with continuous property surrounding what Nevada Division of Wildlife data shows is the highest density mule deer migration corridor in the region. Additionally, as of now 1:6 elk tags in this unit are reserved for landowners, but this expansion could result in 1:1 landowner tags to public draw tags.
BHA will be engaging heavily to ensure that we do everything we can as a conservation community to keep these public lands in public hands.
School Funding for Hunter Education and Archery Programs
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers has previously shared our concern and frustration regarding the Department of Education’s implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, or BSCA, passed last year, which due to the interpretation from the Department of Education has prohibited funds for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, from being used for “training in the use of a dangerous weapon.” As a result, some schools have withheld funding for the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) and hunter education programs.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers who helped to pass the bill say that the intent of the law is being misinterpreted. Many are calling on the Department of Education to reverse course. BHA is currently working with legislators in both chambers of Congress and partners across the hunting and shooting sports communities, with encouragement from the Department of Education, to ensure a swift and decisive legislative solution to clarify the law and return funding to these programs and educational opportunities that benefit millions of American youths – the next generation of sportsmen and women. BHA supports the introduced the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act (H.R. 5110) led by Rep. Mark Green (R-TN).
Importantly, we would like to see any potential legislative language refined to ensure that not only NASP and hunter education programs remain uncompromised in the implementation of the BSCA but also that programs like wilderness survival courses, JROTC and even butchering and cooking classes retain funding. Any legislative solution should fully encompass our community’s interests while being both unquestionably clear and decisive as a final solution to this issue.
National Monument Designated in Northern Arizona
On Aug. 8, President Biden used his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. Permanently conserving nearly 1 million acres of federal public land, including habitat for bighorn sheep, pronghorn, elk, mule deer and bison, this monument will continue to be managed by multiple-use agencies, with the state of Arizona retaining wildlife management authority.
The proclamation also recognizes the central role of the region’s wildlife to hunting and fishing as well as the importance of access to continue those traditions. Further, hunters and anglers and the Arizona Game and Fish Department will be represented on an advisory committee that will help guide management.
“Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument is a wild landscape that supports a world-renowned mule deer herd,” said Michael Cravens, vice chair of the Arizona chapter of BHA. “Declaring this iconic landscape a national monument, along with preserving recreational access and keeping authority over wildlife management in the capable hands of our Arizona Game and Fish Department, not only successfully protects this region from the adverse effects of uranium and hardrock mining; it also preserves the imperative connection that people have to the land.”
A 20-year mineral withdrawal has protected this important region since 2012 and was supported by BHA. In recent years BHA advocated for the Grand Canyon Protection Act led by Rep. Raul Grijalva and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, which would have made the mineral withdrawal permanent. Despite being passed multiple times by the House of Representatives in the 117th Congress, and receiving a markup in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, this legislation was never passed into law.
BHA and a consortium of groups and businesses recently released a report that outlines these principles and how national monuments can sustain important habitat and traditional hunting and fishing access. Read National Monuments: A Hunting and Fishing Perspective.
Read BHA’s press release here.
Legislation to Increase Investment in Public Access to Private Land
On Aug. 11, Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) introduced the Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act (H.R. 5186). This legislation would reauthorize the USDA’s Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP) and increase its funding from $50 million to $150 million over the next five years. VPA-HIP is the only federal program specifically designed to create opportunities for hunters and anglers on private lands. Currently demand from willing landowner participants far outpaces the program’s available funding.
VPA-HIP operates by extending competitive grants to state and tribal governments – grants that are used to incentivize private landowners to voluntarily allow public access. The Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act would triple the impact of this popular and widely utilized program. Since most sportsmen and women cite insufficient access as our biggest obstacle to getting afield, the impact of this increase would be incalculable.
Earlier this year this legislation was introduced in the Senate (S. 1161) led by Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Roger Marshall (R-KS). The Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act could be included in the new Farm Bill currently being deliberated by Congress. The expansion of VPA-HIP would enhance resources for private landowners who are voluntarily creating opportunities for wildlife-based recreation as well as provide technical assistance that fosters habitat stewardship and incentivizes restoration practices that directly benefit fish and wildlife.
VPA-HIP is not only widely recognized as one of the most effective public access tools in the United States; it also recognizes landowners working to improve habitat and incentivizes restoration and stewardship practices that benefit fish and wildlife.
Take action here to support public access to private land.
Read more in BHA’s press release here.
Action to Protect Nevada’s Ruby Mountains
On Aug. 23, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) delivered a letter to the Department of the Interior requesting a 20-year administrative withdrawal of nearly 350,000 acres of public lands and waters in northeast Nevada’s Ruby Mountains. This action would prohibit oil and gas leasing on more than 300,000 acres of the Ruby Mountains subdistrict of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and nearly 40,000 acres of the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
BHA is encouraged by this request and supports the permanent conservation of the Ruby Mountains given their irreplaceable value as a critical migration corridor for Nevada’s largest mule deer herd, expansive sage grouse habitat, and robust fisheries including unique Lahontan cutthroat trout. This 20-year withdrawal is a critical step that can be taken now to safeguard seasonal big game migration and other critical fish and wildlife habitats.
The Ruby Mountains Protection Act (S. 706) was reintroduced by Sens. Cortez Masto and Rosen earlier this year and would permanently withdraw these same public lands from oil and gas leasing. In May, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced that legislation with bipartisan support; however, Congress has long been unable to pass the bill into law.
Take action to support the Ruby Mountains Protection Act!
Read BHA’s press release here.