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February 15, 2013
by Big things often times have small beginnings. What started out as a discussion in a University of Montana law class has led to a big event in the Montana Legislature: An Access Rally in support of HB 235 on Monday, February 18th, starting at 2 p.m. at the Montana State Capitol in Helena.
HB 235, the Corner Crossing bill that would have opened up about 1.3 million acres of public land to hunters and recreationists met a rather anti-climactic death recently. Rather ignominiously, the bill was tabled on a party line vote, with all Republicans (including the co-sponsor, Representative Kreyton Kerns) voting against it.
[ Read Full Post ]January 24, 2013
by Who ever said that hunting isn’t a contact sport has never spent any time at the Montana Legislature. There are over 200 bills and bill draft requests that deal with hunting, angling, access, and conservation issues this year. They range from the absurd, like the attempts to stop bighorn sheep transplants (Senate Bill 83) to the enlightened.
Access issues in Montana are often contentious and can even involve the county sheriff. Accusations between landowners, sportsmen, and outfitters provide some of the most acrimonious political battles in the state.
[ Read Full Post ]January 11, 2013
by Ten bills were introduced on the first day of the 113th Congressional session that deal with firearms. Most of those seek to ban certain modern sporting rifles and restrict magazine capacity. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings it shouldn’t be a surprise to see gun bans and other anti-gun legislation being brought forward. It’s also no surprise that Second Amendment advocacy groups are fighting hard to stop this new legislation.
But there’s another facet to this story we all must consider: how all of these severely restrictive guns laws, if passed, would influence our public land access and conservation funding. Most folks don’t seem to realize that banning AR-15s would severely erode funding for popular access programs paid for by Pittman-Robertson funds.
[ Read Full Post ]December 12, 2012
by There must be something strange in Utah water. The powers that be seem to have some problems with public land, especially land the public actually likes to use.
Case in point: There’s currently a proposal to link together seven ski resorts outside of Salt Lake City in the Wasatch Mountains called Skilink. The problem is; it’s public land, and it’s used pretty heavily by hunters, fisherman, hikers, bikers, and hippies. Only 30 acres would be given up in this deal, but it's a crucial 30 acres that would cut off access to a much larger area.
The U.S. Forest Service has limited development along this stretch of the Wasatch Front because it supplies drinking water to Salt Lake City. This area provides roughly 60 percent of the drinking water that the big city by the salt lick consumes.
[ Read Full Post ]November 28, 2012
by Ten bucks. That’s what killed the progressive, popular, good-government Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 yesterday.
Ten bucks, or the increase of the cost of a federal duck stamp from $15 to $25.
But that $10 created a partisan divide large enough to kill something that hunters and anglers have been asking for: congressional help to provide public access to public land, end the nonsense of lead-ammo restrictions, and allow a few polar bears to be liberated from their importation purgatory.
[ Read Full Post ]November 13, 2012
by One of the biggest bills in a generation comes up for a cloture vote in the U.S. Senate this Thursday. That means there must be 60 Senators who think that a bill widely praised by the NRA, Boone and Crockett Club, and just about every big sportsman’s organization should pass without bogging down in the time-tested stall tactics our elected officials like to engage in.
We’ve covered the details of the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 here before, but now that the election year frivolity is over, it’s time for Congress to get back to business. Before the Senate broke in October for some much-needed time away from lobbyists to campaign, the Senate voted on another procedural motion on this bill. The motion passed 84-12. That’s a commanding margin of victory for anyone who’s worked in the politics of outdoors recreation.
[ Read Full Post ]November 2, 2012
by At 6,800 feet, I’m looking for sign of a legal bull on the broken ridge across the canyon in front of me. There are monsters in here. Heavy-antlered bulls, broad-shouldered wolves, and grizzly bears that can take out an NFL center in one swipe. It’s rugged, steep country jammed up against the backbone of the world. I’m hunting tiny islands of habitat swallowed by ridges of nothing but blowdown timber, ice, and mud. A friend looked at me the other day and said, “This is fun to you?”
Yes, it is.
I have a couple of recognitions on this deep-country elk hunt. First is the reminder that elk don’t like roads. Specifically, they don’t like you in your truck on roads. They run away, driving deeper into the muck and maze of rotten timber. Second, I’m happy to get away from election-season media. We are inundated with one angry, dishonest political ad after the other. Out here, it’s silent and peaceful.
But after the general election on November 6 ends, we’ll still be immersed in political hi-jinx. It’s called the “lame-duck” session of Congress, the final hurrah for those voted out of office. A lot of nonsense happens in these lame-duck sessions, largely because many participants have nothing left to lose.
[ Read Full Post ]September 28, 2012
by Last week, the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 came up for a vote on Unanimous Consent. For those of us who don’t spend our lives glued to C-Span or reading the Congressional Record, that means that a vote was held to pass a piece of legislation out of the Senate without going through a bunch of committees and other folderol.
Under the rules of the Senate, all 100 Senators needed to vote yes in order to move this bill forward. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) stood up and said no.
Unfortunately, election-year politics sunk the timely passage of this bill. The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 is a kind of “best of” mix tape of bills and reauthorizations of conservation programs that were penned by Republicans and Democrats alike.
[ Read Full Post ]September 14, 2012
by I’m a public-land junky, and I’m proud of it. I hunt both private and public lands, but the public ground is special, no matter how crowded it might seem at times. Public land has been one of the greatest gifts this country has given to hunters and anglers. It’s also the legacy of conservation started by Theodore Roosevelt. TR created what became the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. His far-sighted vision has ensured that places like the Roan Plateau, Boundary Waters, and Bob Marshall remain as they have been since humans started making trails in them.
I value the jobs created by public lands, and the lifestyle that rural Americans enjoy due in large part to access to this great legacy. I value the wildlife and the amazing hunting and fishing opportunities I am afforded because of these public lands.
[ Read Full Post ]September 10, 2012
by Archery season is in full swing throughout the West. This time of year I curse my love of fine walnut and blued steel over compound bows. To be sure, I lose six weeks of hunting opportunity here in Montana by not picking up a bow and chasing elk during the rut. One day though, hopefully soon, I’ll take up the challenge.
Archery season is also when we start to hear more and more about lost access to public lands. That’s no different this year. Recently, Southwick and Associates, a firm that specializes in measuring participation in and attitudes toward hunting, angling, and the shooting sports, released a survey that showed 23% of America’s hunters and anglers have lost access over the last year. The report is eerily similar to what I’ve heard throughout Montana when it comes to decreased access for hunters and anglers:
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