Open Country

Join the fight to access your public lands

Video: Meet the Duck Hunting Queen of Plaquemines Parish
By Alex RobinsonApril 22, 2020
Albertine Kimble takes us on a duck hunt through the biggest wetlands conservation issue of our time
Should Public Lands Remain Open During the Coronavirus Crisis?
By Alex RobinsonApril 17, 2020
So why not just close them all? If there is any COVID-19 risk associated with public-land use, why not mitigate it? In short, it’s because that’s not how the management of public lands is supposed to work. Our public lands are vast and diverse, and so are the communities that rely on them. What works in one place will fail in another. Management decisions are supposed to based on the best science available, they are supposed to consider all stakeholders—especially local ones—and they are supposed to conserve the resources while also allowing access to them.
What’s Gained and Lost by Privatizing River Access?
By Christine PetersonApril 13, 2020
In the West, where the water is for fighting and the whiskey is for drinking, we take a look at what's gained and lost by privatizing river access
Will Yellowstone Park Close to Public Visitation?
By Andrew McKeanMarch 23, 2020
The National Park Service is reportedly considering a request from public-health officials in neighboring Park and Gallatin counties in Montana to close Yellowstone Park. They said that by encouraging visitation to Yellowstone during the COVID-19 outbreak, the public—locals and visitors—could be endangered by inadvertent transmission of the virus.
Illinois Closed State Lands to the Public Due to COVID-19
By Joe GenzelMarch 18, 2020
IL is denying patrons access to all public lands due to COVID-19.
Lawyers, Trout, and Money—The Crazy Story Behind the Water Access Battle in New Mexico
By Christine PetersonMarch 13, 2020
Can we wade and fish public waters that run through private land in New Mexico? That will be up for the courts to decide.

WHAT WE DO

In order to hunt or fish, you need a place to do it, and Open Country is committed to sportsmen's access—getting it, keeping it, defending it, and celebrating it—so that you always have that place.