Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) started around a campfire during March 2004, thanks to seven hunters and anglers, men and women, the “Gang of Seven.”[1] They were inspired by the political activism of Theodore Roosevelt, the Land Ethic of Aldo Leopold and the contemporary writings of hunting ethicist and renowned trad bow elk hunter David “Elkheart” Petersen.[2]

In my mind these three, along with BHA founder Mike Beagle and the Gang of Seven, are the Patron Saints of BHA. As Mike said in the inaugural (Winter 2004/2005) Backcountry Journal issue, “We are a growing group of conservation-minded hunters and anglers who have a deep attachment to the wonders of the natural world, particularly its wildlife, fish, and the backcountry environments that sustain them.”

In the words of Outdoor News publisher Rob Drieslein—BHA’s 2022 Ted Trueblood Award recipient—these Wilderness Warriors believe “in the holy trinity of public lands, habitat restoration, and environmental regulation. Those terms may offend some … but without them—and the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to accomplish them—we wouldn’t be enjoying the productive, great outdoors we have today.”[3]

Theodore Roosevelt

When contemplating 20^th century conservation history, it’s commonplace to start with Theodore Roosevelt for a multitude of well-known reasons, but for me it’s also personal, as many of my earliest hunting, fishing, and other outdoor adventures took place in northern Minnesota’s Superior National Forest, which Roosevelt established in 1909.[4] In the Fall 2012 Backcountry Journal I detailed some of TR’s conservation and other accomplishments (in “Hunting’s Roughrider”). This is an excerpt from that story.[5]

Conservation and democracy are among America’s most enduring principles, and each Memorial Day we take time to remember the millions of veterans throughout our nation’s history who have sacrificed so much to ensure that all of us have the opportunity to experience the benefits of both. In fact, no other nation enjoys the array of national parks, monuments, rangelands, forests, rivers, and wilderness as the United States, what historian Frederick Turner called the “greatest gift ever bestowed on mankind.”[6]

Most hunters, anglers, hikers, and sightseers don’t own an estate in Maine or a McMansion in the Rockies, but they have this birthright: an area more than four times the size of France. If you’re a citizen, you own it—about 640 million acres. The deed on a big part of this public land inheritance dates back to veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Theodore Roosevelt.[7]

Roosevelt led the Rough Riders’ charge up San Juan Hill, urged America to “speak softly and carry a big stick,” and during his tenure as commander-in-chief set aside over 125 million acres of land as national forests, more than quadrupling the size of America’s national forest system. TR personally established the first 21 forest reserves, which evolved into the present day 192-million-acre national forest system. He also established the U.S. Forest Service, authorized five national parks, 18 national monuments, and 51 national wildlife refuges.[8]

While on an 11-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon during 2012, I had the opportunity to experience one of the flagships of TR’s farsighted public lands legacy.[9] He protected many of the scenic wonders of the West using the 1906 Lacey Antiquities Act to set aside numerous national monuments. The Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona was one such scenic wonder.[10]

The Antiquities Act has been used by 18 presidents (as of 2024) to take swift action to protect Americans’ public lands when they are in jeopardy. This list of places saved by this law includes the Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Denali National Park, Devil’s Tower, Canyons of the Ancients, and Camp Hale for starters.[11]

President George W. Bush set aside the 124th national monument, 140,000 square miles of ocean acreage called the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument.[12] And when President Obama signed a proclamation in November 2011 declaring Virginia’s Fort Monroe a national monument, he joined the ranks of 15 (at the time) other presidents who have used the Antiquities Act to designate dozens of national monuments over the past century.[13]

National monuments receive less funding and afford fewer protections to wildlife than national parks, but they often allow hunting. For example, the following national monuments (among others) are open to hunting: Carrizo Plain and Giant Sequoia in California, Grand Canyon-Parashant in Arizona, Upper Missouri River Breaks in Montana, Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, Craters of the Moon in Idaho, and Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado.[14]

Roosevelt’s work paved the way for our country’s great and noble tradition of protecting wilderness and wildlife (and hence hunting and angling) via a growing system of national monuments, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, parks and preserves. Without these large swaths of protected public lands, hunting and angling as we know them may not have survived the 19th and 20th centuries.[15]

The annual Colorado College State of the Rockies Project polls show that well over 90 percent of sportsmen and women in six Western states agree with the statement that “our national parks, forests, monuments, and wildlife areas are an essential part of … [our] quality of life.” If we follow closely in TR’s footsteps, wildlands and wildlife will continue to survive and thrive, and future generations of hunters, anglers, and others will experience wilderness and wildlife as we have. As TR said, “Those of us privileged to take to the field are entrusted by fate and circumstances to hold and nurture the hunter’s legacy.”[16]

During November 2022 BHA Podcast & Blast host Hal Herring (also BHA’s 2016 Ted Trueblood Award recipient) interviewed prominent historian Douglas Brinkley, author of Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America among multiple other titles. As Hal said about the interview later, “That was quite an experience to interview the main man!” Some additional Brinkley interview insights and information are included below.

“Douglas Brinkley is the preeminent scholar and writer on the history of America’s public lands and conservation movement. Among his seven bestselling books of history are Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America (2010) and Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America (2016). His new book in this series, Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening, will be available before Dec. 1, 2022.”[17]

I’ve read Brinkley’s TR and FDR books (highly recommend ’em) and will be ordering Silent Spring Revolution soon. Incidentally, BHA’s “Jim Posewitz Digital Library: Required Reading for Conservationists” also includes Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. As explained by former BHA intern Maddie Vincent, “The book details the deadly impacts of DDT and other pesticides on American ecosystems, successfully putting together numerous case studies into an unprecedented summary and call to action.”[18]

Related/Additional Information

-David A. Lien. “Stalking Wildness: BHA’s Wilderness Warriors.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 2/13/24.

-David A. Lien. “Guest opinion: Selling off our public lands is a bad idea that won’t die.” VailDaily: 1/29/23.

-Hal Herring. “BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 144: Author and Historian Douglas Brinkley.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 11/8/22.

-Maddie Vincent. “Silent Spring By Rachel Carson.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 6/10/20.

-Zack Williams. “The Wilderness Warrior By Douglas Brinkley.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 4/8/20.

-David A. Lien. “Teddy rolls over in his grave.” The Durango Telegraph: 2/16/17.

-David A. Lien. “Selling public lands bad for hunters/anglers.” Grand Rapids (Minn.) Herald-Review: 7/25/14.

-David A. Lien. “Hunting ethics & fair chase.” Colorado Outdoors: 6/30/14.

-Laura Ross (ed.). A Passion To Lead: Theodore Roosevelt In His Own Words. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2012.

-David A. Lien. “Hunting’s Roughrider.” Backcountry Journal: Fall 2012.

-Douglas Brinkley. Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2016.

-Douglas Brinkley. The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt And The Crusade For America. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009.

-“2021 Rendezvous Recap-Campfire Stories: Hal Herring.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 9/1/21.

-“The future of the American public lands is as important to our nation as the Bill of Rights or the Constitution itself.” –Hal Herring, Field & Stream contributing editor, host of BHA’s Podcast & Blast and BHA’s 2016 Ted Trueblood Award recipient.[19]

-https://douglasbrinkley.com/

Aldo Leopold

Much like Theodore Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold’s conservation-related achievements are legendary and well-known among hunters, anglers, and others who value our “wild public lands, waters, and wildlife.” In the summer of 1922, Leopold traveled on horseback up into the headwaters of New Mexico’s Gila River and proposed to his bosses at the Forest Service that 500,000 acres of that rough country be set aside as roadless wilderness. Thus was born America’s first—the world’s first—designated wilderness.[20]

In 1935 Leopold was one of the eight founders of The Wilderness Society. He was there when, at a meeting of its leaders in 1947, the organization resolved on the need for a federal law to preserve wilderness areas and set in motion the campaign that led, 17 years later, to enactment of the 1964 Wilderness Act.[21] In a June 2014 Colorado Outdoors story (“Keeping the ‘hunt’ in hunting”) I summarized some of Leopold’s legendary conservation contributions and accomplishments.[22]

In 1905 Theodore Roosevelt said, “The genuine sportsman is by all odds the most important factor in keeping wild creatures from total extinction.” As explained by Leopold, in Game Management (1933), because of the “Roosevelt Doctrine” of conservation the “game hog” and the “market hunter” were “duly pilloried in the press and banquet hall, and to some extent in field and wood, but the game supply continued to wane.”[23]

In 1928 Leopold had accepted a position with the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI), which offered to fund a national survey of game conditions. Although the mission sounds tame today, it represented the nation’s first systematic effort to bring scientific principles to bear on the study of wild game.[24] In 1933 the University of Wisconsin made Leopold the country’s first Professor of Game Management.[25]

In the late 1800s many states formed wildlife agencies charged with enforcing game laws, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that Aldo Leopold basically invented the field of scientific wildlife management at the University of Wisconsin, which spread to universities across the country. Many students were trained in the principles of wildlife management and state agencies hired them.[26] During the late 1950s and early 1960s one such student was Jim Posewitz, and in Beyond Fair Chase Posewitz lists five important things about our role as hunters:

• The opportunity and privilege to hunt is ours by virtue of our citizenship.
• The animals we hunt are the result of conservation efforts of recreational hunters who stopped market hunting and commerce in wildlife.
• These early hunters began the restoration and conservation of wildlife that continues to this day.
• We have a responsibility to future generations to see to the conservation of the animals we hunt.
• We have the responsibility to be safe and ethical hunters.[27]

The single most critical element facing the future of hunting is the continued public acceptance of recreational hunting. When hunting is viewed as a fair and ethical endeavor in support of science-based game management programs, the voting majority (non-hunters) accept hunting. When hunting is viewed as unfair, unethical, and disrespectful to wildlife, these favorable attitudes turn against hunting.[28]

Great hunter-conservationists like Theodore Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold, and Jim Posewitz (among others discussed herein and elsewhere) have laid the foundation for our present-day ethical, fair chase hunting practices and related laws and regulations. It’s up to us to follow in their footsteps and continue their work, so that we may always keep the “hunt” in hunting.[29]

It would be borderline heresy to end without mentioning Leopold’s seminal book, A Sand County Almanac. “While many hunter-conservationists have shelves of books about the outdoors, if you want only one book on that topic, ‘A Sand County Almanac’ should be your choice,” Greg Hoch wrote in the January 6, 2017, Outdoor News (in “Conservation’s father: Leopold revisited”). “It was in this book that Leopold developed ‘the land ethic.’”[30]

“Published posthumously in 1949, Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac is as close to a bible for conservationists as any work can be,” BHA North American Board Chair Ted Koch explains. “In it he discusses things like a ‘land ethic,’ which simply says: ‘A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.’”[31]

Related/Additional Information

-Patrick Durkin. “Sand County Almanac Links Bowhunting, Conservation.” Bowhunting.com Blog: 5/15/20.

-Ted Koch. “A Sand County Almanac By Aldo Leopold (New Edition!).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 4/20/20.

-Zack Williams. “Rifle In Hand By Jim Posewitz.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 4/6/20.

-Janine Pumilia, editor emeritus. “For Love of the Land.” Northwest Quarterly: Autumn 2019.

-Todd Wilkinson. “Natural Truths: Channeling The Wisdom of Aldo Leopold—Seventy years after A Sand County Almanac was published, what would 'the godfather of modern ecological thinking' say about battles over predators, recreation and environmental justice?” Mountain Journal: 4/19/19.

-“Land Tawney’s Personal Message From Aldo Leopold’s Shack.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 12/27/18.

-David A. Lien. “Keeping the ‘hunt’ in hunting.” Colorado Outdoors: 6/9/14.

-PJ DelHomme. “The Top 20 Books for Hunters and Anglers.” Outdoor Life: 12/21/11.

-Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time.

-Aldo Leopold Foundation: https://www.aldoleopold.org/

-The Jim Posewitz Digital Library.

David “Elkheart” Petersen

Every new Colorado BHA chapter leader receives a signed David Petersen book along with this short note. “As you may (or may not) know, David Petersen (a former U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot) founded Colorado BHA (the first BHA state chapter) in 2005, a year after Mike Beagle (a former U.S. Army field artillery officer) and the ‘Gang of Seven’ stood around the first BHA campfire in southern Oregon during March 2004.”[32]

“David’s writings form the ethical foundation of BHA. ‘The three-part formula for assuring a rich elk hunting future … could hardly be simpler,’ David explained in a 2013 Traditional Bowhunter story (‘The Future of Elk Hunting’), ‘Those three essential elements are: habitat, habitat, and habitat.’”[33]

“In 2010 David was honored as Sportsman-Conservationist of the Year by the Colorado Wildlife Federation. In 2012 CWF added to that honor with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2013, Petersen received the BHA Chairman’s Award for outstanding service to the group. From the press release for that honor: ‘David Petersen is a hunter-conservationist who has been actively involved in BHA since the first year (2004) it was formed. David’s many books and other writings related to hunting and conservation form the ethical foundation of BHA.’”[34]

“As explained by Durango Herald columnist Jonathan Romeo (in ‘David Petersen, Durango author, is ready to hunt–ethically,’ 9/11/16): ‘Outside a small cabin hidden by ponderosa pines and groves of aspen stands northeast of Durango, David Petersen … is focused on one thing: September … Each fall … Petersen roams the San Juan Mountains, armed only with a long bow … Like many hunters or anglers who depend on a healthy environment, Petersen became a prominent voice in conservation efforts, playing a huge role in Trout Unlimited and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.’”[35]

In an October 2012 Colorado Springs Independent op-ed (“Hunting Hero”) I added: “David worked tirelessly for five years as public lands director for Trout Unlimited’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Project … [and] served on Colorado’s Roadless Areas Review Task Force.”[36] I first met David at a Colorado Roadless Areas Review Task Force public meeting in Pueblo during January 2006 and not long after (July 2006) joined David on the Colorado BHA chapter leadership team—just the two of us at the time—as Front Range Director.[37]

In a January 2014 Colorado Outdoors story (“Hunting With A Man Made of Elk”) I wrote about hunting with David during October 2011. “After several days of dawn-’til-dusk hunting without success, Monday (October 17) evening I drove over to David Petersen’s cabin to discuss our hunting strategy for the morning. We planned to meet before sunup, then walk and stalk into a rapidly regenerating burn filling in with aspens to a place where we could watch the surrounding ridges for elk feeding or heading to their bedding areas. David knew the area well and was confident we’d see elk.”[38]

“With the first hints of dawn illuminating the eastern horizon, we quietly entered the regenerating aspens. After finding a good location to survey the surrounding ridges, we sat, watched, and listened for half an hour—with David about 50 feet away, monitoring the opposing ridgeline—before a 5x4 bull headed our way. David saw him coming, and I heard it, but expected he’d skirt around to either side of us. Instead, he nearly ran us over, then veered hard left toward David’s ridge (after getting to within about 75 feet), where I shot him at 75 yards, broadside.”[39]

“My first shot slowed the bull down, but you don’t stop shooting while an elk still has its feet. It took a couple more to finish the job, and then silence, accompanied by the ‘storm of conflicting emotions’ Edward Abby described as being at the heart of the hunt. David and I patiently wait for a several minutes before heading over to the downed bull. As we approach, David gives the elk a gentle poke. Nothing. Its eye is already glassing over. Dead.”[40]

Like David wrote in his book Racks: A Natural History of Antlers and the Animals that Wear Them, “I remember being simultaneously elated and saddened when I approached the suddenly stilled form—an emotional conflict I have since come to know well, and which I often hear thoughtful hunters echo.”[41] As David’s writing and philosophical mentor Edward Abbey once phrased it, “Hunting is one of the hardest things even to think about.”[42]

The sun crested the towering mountainside east of us not long after we reached the downed bull, setting the local scenery ablaze in a kaleidoscopic of fall colors bathed in golden light. I’ve shot multiple bulls since then, but I’ll never forget elk hunting with “Elkheart” on that picture-perfect October morning in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado.[43]

Related/Additional Information

-David “Elkheart” Petersen (founder of the first BHA state chapter, in Colorado, and a former U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot) books.

-“On The Wild Edge: Hunting For A Natural Life” Documentary (a film by Christopher Daley) about David Petersen: https://youtu.be/-IE58L4bqEA 

-“Reading Petersen’s books led me to BHA.” -Colorado BHA Co-Chair Don Holmstrom (4/27/22).

-David A. Lien. “Conservation (& Conciliation).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 9/15/21.

-David A. Lien. “Where Hope Lives: A Brief BHA History.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 11/30/20.

-Tim Brass, former BHA State Policy and Field Operations Director. “A Hunter’s Heart: Honest Essays On Blood Sport By David Petersen.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 7/2/20.

-Mark Kenyon. “4 Books Every Whitetail Hunter Should Read.” MeatEater: 6/18/20.

-Jonathan Romeo. “David Petersen, Durango author, is ready to hunt–ethically: New documentary provides rare intimate view into local author’s life.” The Durango Herald: 9/11/16.

-David A. Lien. “Hunting With A Man Made of Elk.” Colorado Outdoors: 1/23/14.

-David A. Lien. “Backcountry Turkey Hunt.” Colorado Outdoors: 12/5/13.

-Scott Willoughby. “Guardian of the outdoors: David ‘Elkheart’ Petersen continues his efforts to keep backcountry area pristine.” The Denver Post: 6/12/13, p. 7B.

-PJ DelHomme. “The Top 20 Books for Hunters and Anglers.” Outdoor Life: 12/21/11 (featuring two BHA stalwarts—David Petersen and Jim Posewitz).

-David “Elkheart” Petersen and Keith Curley. “Where The Wild Lands Are: Colorado.” Trout Unlimited: 2009.

-“The world to be viewed along the shaft of one of Petersen’s arrows is beautifully complex, full of shadow, light and grace.” -Terry Tempest Williams[44]

Mike Beagle And The “Gang of Seven”

During February 2005 I joined Backcountry Hunters & Anglers after being contacted by BHA founder Mike Beagle. More recently, before transitioning to working for the Bureau of Land Management during 2023, former BHA Policy & Government Relations Vice President John Gale summed up my thoughts on joining our BHA tribe, some 19 years ago now.[45]

“While I wasn’t around the formative Oregon campfire that sparked BHA into existence,” John said, “as soon as I smelled the smoke, I knew where I wanted to be.”[46] The good folks at Field & Stream apparently smelled the smoke too and started featuring “Gang of Seven” leaders and their BHA-related conservation work during 2006 and 2007. First up was Mike Beagle, who was a F&S “Conservation Hero of the Week” during June 2006.

“Two springs ago in the foothills of Oregon’s southern Cascades, Mike Beagle called his friends to a meeting because he was concerned about the rapid loss of wild places,” F&S writer Catherine DiBenedetto explained. “Today, largely through word of mouth and op-ed pieces sent to newspapers around the nation, the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers have grown into 23 states. ‘In a society that believes in the easy way,’ says Beagle, ‘we are insisting on the value of places that are anything but easy.’”[47]

In the October 2007 F&S issue, “Gang of Seven” alum Brian Maguire was recognized as one of Field & Stream’s “2007 Heroes of Conservation.” “Throughout the 1980s, my dad and I would go hunt a place we’d loved and find it leveled. Imagine these cathedral old-growth forests, and one day you see Boundary Clear-Cut signs stapled to the trees,” Brian said. “That was just—well—I got torched. So, I started getting active.”[48]

“As I was doing all this, I started running into other concerned hunters,” he added. “A few of us decided to meet—Mike was an ex-U.S. Army officer, Tony worked for a phone company, Michelle was with a law firm. We sat on Mike’s porch for two days, listening to turkeys gobble and hashing out the beginnings of a sportsmen’s group that would push wilderness protection. With BHA, I now had the leverage to advocate for my area.”[49]

“And when I asked Larry Sowa, the Clackamas County commission chair, to write U.S. senators Wyden and Smith to add these lands to the wilderness bill, he said, ‘If hunters want them protected, I want them protected,’” Brian explained. “When it comes to protecting wilderness, that boots on the ground knowledge of the land is so important—and sportsmen, we’re the ones who have it … We know these places, so we’re the ones who can save them.”[50]

“Like all sportsmen, the six winners of this year’s Heroes of Conservation Awards understand we have to fight for wild places to hunt and fish,” the F&S editors said. “What makes these people unique is that they are on the front lines of the war for habitat, and their efforts have produced extraordinary results that benefit us all. The work they do is thankless and endless, and even gets in the way of their hunting and fishing, but they are all driven by an intimate relationship with the outdoors …”[51]

Summarizing Brian’s work F&S added, “Disturbed by the disappearance of his hunting grounds, Maguire cofounded the group Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) to lobby for their protection. After 10 years he got 16,496 acres of winter ranged added to the 2007 Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act.”[52]

In the words of Outdoor News publisher Rob Drieslein, “casters and blasters are the nation’s first environmentalists.”[53] Rich Landers—BHA’s 2015 Ted Trueblood Award recipient—adds, “Any sportsman who isn’t an environmentalist is a fool.” Steven Rinella—BHA’s 2019 Ted Trueblood Award recipient—said, “It’s inspiring to spend time around hunters and anglers who are willing to fight on behalf of our public lands and outdoor heritage. That’s why I continue to support Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.”[54]

To all the inspired, fire in the belly BHA and other Wilderness Warriors—the “Patron Saints” of hunting, angling, and conservation—out there (past, present, and future), we salute you and your efforts on behalf of our “wild public lands, waters, and wildlife.” Hunters, anglers, wildlands, and wildlife need many more like you.

Related/Additional Information

-David A. Lien. “Stalking Wildness: BHA’s Wilderness Warriors.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 2/13/24.

-David A. Lien. “Public Lands (& Freedom) Unite Our Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Tribe.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 1/5/24.

-David A. Lien. “A Hunter-Angler (Hell-Raisin’ & Habitat Savin’) Guide To Winning: Colorado BHA Examples (Browns Canyon & Camp Hale).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 10/23/23.

-E. Donnall Thomas Jr. How Sportsmen Saved the World: The Unsung Conservation Efforts of Hunters and Anglers. Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2010.

-The Jim Posewitz Digital Library: Required Reading for Conservationists.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 4/3/20.

-BHA’s Podcast & Blast: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/bha_podcast

-Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Backcountry College.

David Lien is a former Air Force officer and co-chairman of the Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. He’s the author of six books including “Hunting for Experience: Tales of Hunting & Habitat Conservation.”[55] During 2019 he was the recipient of BHA’s Mike Beagle-Chairman’s Award “for outstanding effort on behalf of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.”[56]

[1] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/about

[2] David A. Lien. “Hunting’s Roughrider.” AmmoLand.com: 5/31/12.

[3] Rob Drieslein. “Outdoor Insights.” Outdoor News: 4/1/11, p. 3.

[4] David A. Lien. “Local View: Mining-threatened Boundary Waters remains a top priority.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 3/8/24.

[5] David A. Lien. “Hunting’s Roughrider.” Backcountry Journal: Fall 2012.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] “Local author recounts hiking and rafting the Grand Canyon.” Grand Rapids (Minn.) Herald-Review: 12/23/12, p. 4A; “Exploring (and Rafting) the Grand Canyon.” Pikes Pique: August 2012, p. 5.

[10] David A. Lien. “Hunting’s Roughrider.” Backcountry Journal: Fall 2012.

[11] Ibid.

[12] https://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/education/center.html; https://marinesanctuary.org/mokupapapa-discovery-center/

[13] David A. Lien. “Hunting’s Roughrider.” Backcountry Journal: Fall 2012.

[14] Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. “Hunting National Monuments.” BHA National Monument Hunting & Fishing Maps (for six Western national monuments): 2017.

[15] David A. Lien. “Hunting’s Roughrider.” Backcountry Journal: Fall 2012.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Hal Herring. “BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 144: Author and Historian Douglas Brinkley.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 11/8/22.

[18] Maddie Vincent. “Silent Spring By Rachel Carson.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 6/10/20.

[19] Will Bostwick. “The New Documentary ‘Public Trust’ Is a Call to Action: By highlighting three potent public-lands battles, the film asks audiences to take a stand in a political moment that threatens the future of American conservation.” Outside: 2/19/20.

[20] The Aldo Leopold Foundation (3/6/24).

[21] Campaign for America’s Wilderness. “Aldo Leopold: Architect of America’s Wilderness System.” Your Wilderness: July 2007.

[22] David A. Lien. “Keeping the ‘hunt’ in hunting.” Colorado Outdoors: 6/9/14.

[23] Douglas Brinkley. The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt And The Crusade For America. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009, p. 715.

[24] E. Donnall Thomas Jr. How Sportsmen Saved the World: The Unsung Conservation Efforts of Hunters and Anglers. Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2010, p. 101.

[25] E. Donnall Thomas Jr. How Sportsmen Saved the World: The Unsung Conservation Efforts of Hunters and Anglers. Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2010, p. 103.

[26] Bob Zink. “A Short History of deer in North America: Part II.” Outdoor News: 2/17/12, p. 14.

[27] Paul Smith. “Hunting safety—and ethics—first.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 9/15/10.

[28] David A. Lien. “Keeping the ‘hunt’ in hunting.” Colorado Outdoors: 6/9/14.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Greg Hoch. “Conservation’s father: Leopold revisited.” Outdoor News: 1/6/17, p. 21.

[31] Ted Koch. “A Sand County Almanac By Aldo Leopold (New Edition!).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 4/20/20.

[32] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/about

[33] David Petersen. “The Future of Elk Hunting.” Traditional Bowhunter magazine: December/January 2013, p. 69.

[34] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/co_bha_award_winners

[35] Jonathan Romeo. “David Petersen, Durango author, is ready to hunt–ethically: New documentary provides rare intimate view into local author’s life.” The Durango Herald: 9/11/16.

[36] David A. Lien. “Hunting hero.” Colorado Springs Independent: 10/3/12.

[37] Ed Dentry. “Backcountry Power.” Rocky Mountain News: 9/5/06.

[38] David A. Lien. “Hunting With A Man Made of Elk.” Colorado Outdoors: 1/23/14.

[39] Ibid.

[40] Ibid.

[41] David Petersen. Racks (“Hunter as Naturalist: An Oxymoron?”). Durango, Colorado: Raven’s Eye Press, 2010.

[42] David A. Lien. “Hunting With A Man Made of Elk.” Colorado Outdoors: 1/23/14.

[43] Ibid.

[44] David Petersen. Going Trad: Out There With Elkheart. Durango, Colorado: Raven’s Eye Press, 2013.

[45] David A. Lien. “Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Policy & Government Relations VP John Gale Transitions To Bureau of Land Management.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 11/6/23.

[46] Thomas Plank. “Longtime Policy Expert John Gale to Leave Backcountry Hunters & Anglers for Senior Position with the Bureau of Land Management.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 10/23/23; David A. Lien. “Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Policy & Government Relations VP John Gale Transitions To Bureau of Land Management.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 11/6/23.

[47] Catherine DiBenedetto. “Conservation Hero of the Week: Defending the Backcountry-Mike Beagle, Eagle Point, Oregon.” Field & Stream: 6/12/06.

[48] Editors. “2007 Heroes of Conservation: The Wilderness Protector-Brian Maguire.” Field & Stream: October 2007, p. 79.

[49] Ibid.

[50] Ibid.

[51] Editors. “2007 Heroes of Conservation.” Field & Stream: October 2007, p. 77.

[52] Editors. “2007 Heroes of Conservation: The Wilderness Protector-Brian Maguire.” Field & Stream: October 2007, p. 79.

[53] Rob Drieslein. “Support Minnesota’s public lands and waters at State Capitol rally on Thursday, Feb. 7.” Outdoor News: 2/1/19.

[54] Katie McKalip. “BHA Rendezvous Smashes Attendance Numbers, Breaks Fundraising Records.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 4/7/16.

[55] https://outskirtspress.com/huntforexperience

[56] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/co_bha_award_winners