September is Public Lands Month, and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers members are uniting to celebrate, defend and enhance through sweat equity North American public lands and waters.
“Public Lands Month gives sportsmen and women a way to rally in support of the places and opportunities central to our outdoor traditions,” said BHA President and CEO Land Tawney. “Hunting seasons are getting underway, and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers members are coming together to defend traditions unique to our North American culture.”
Throughout the month of September, BHA members will be gathering across North America at chapter work days, pint nights, storytelling events and public lands hunts. Highlights include
- Public lands work projects scheduled across the state of Texas;
- A sporting clays shoot-out in Sylmar, California;
- A slate of field projects spearheaded by BHA college clubs on national wildlife refuges and other public lands all over the U.S.
BHA has released a Facebook profile frame to commemorate Public Lands Month, and public landowners are documenting their outdoor experiences in social media using the hashtags #PublicLandsMonth and #BackcountryHuntersandAnglers. BHA’s annual Public Lands and Waters Photo Contest, sponsored in 2018 by Orvis, kicks off today and runs through mid-November.
“Theodore Roosevelt once said, ‘Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act,’” Tawney continued. “His words speak to the heart of who we are at BHA. Our members never hesitate to raise our voices and plant boots on the ground on behalf of what’s important. Roosevelt also espoused the ‘strenuous life.’ Not only will we be giving back; we also will be getting our boots dirty on the 640 million acres that belong to all of us.”
BHA policy priorities currently include ensuring reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the most successful conservation and access program in the U.S., which will expire on Sept. 30 without action by Congress. BHA recently released a report on pending and successful LWCF projects, “From Your Backyard to Deep in the Backcountry.”
BHA launched Public Lands Month in 2017. National Public Lands Day in 2018 is Saturday, Sept. 22.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is the voice
for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife.