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We check in with Josh Mills from Spokane, WA, who is taking home the first pair of custom Costa Sunglasses as the round one winner of our #PublicLandsProud photo contest.
1. You’ve shown us a favorite #PublicLandsProud moment, now tell us the story behind the picture.
We have a special region of Washington known as the Channeled Scablands that turns out is tremendous pheasant habitat. A great deal of the land that we hunt on is either BLM and or CRP land that has sportsmen’s access. We have walked this ground for over 40 years pursuing upland game with my dad and our dogs. Combined with gracious landowners who have given us access as well, the public access across the region we hunt gives us great opportunity for some great days afield.
2. How often do you visit these public lands and why is it so special to you?
My father have these particular tracts of land for close to 40 years and I’ve either been with him or had my own hunting license for over 26 years. The memories made are truly life long…I can put myself in each field, each canyon, each draw instantly in my mind. I remember my first pheasant. I remember coming up the breaks of the Snake River at 13-years-old and realizing how big this world really is. I remember missed birds, great shots, and dead tired dogs at the end of each hunt. I cant wait to share it with my two boys when they’re old enough to join themselves
3. If these public lands are lost, what do you and your fellow sportsmen stand to lose?
Access is elemental to the experience. Without public sportsmen’s access, hunting and fishing become a game with a steep entry fee. We live in a country so unique we don’t have to pay-to-play in the outdoors. Happiness is just a short drive away to the nearest river or tract of land where sportsmen’s access is secured for generations
4. When not out on public lands, where can we find you (job, family, volunteer, etc.)?
When not out hunting and fishing, I live in Spokane, Washington and work in advertising sales. I’m married to my beautiful wife, Kallie, and have two boys Carson and Mason. In the minutes of spare time, I serve on the board of directors of the Wild Steelhead Coalition and write a blog centered on fly fishing, hunting, and conservation, www.millsfly.blogspot.com
Show us your #PublicLandsProud moment and you could be featured on our blog, not to mention win a new pair of Costa Sunglasses.
On this day in 1937, one of the most important pieces of legislation in conservation history was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt—yep, that other Roosevelt—to dedicate excise taxes on guns, ammunition, and other hunting equipment toward funding conservation and habitat restoration throughout the country. Today, the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, more commonly named the Pittman-Robertson Act for co-sponsors Senator Key Pittman and Congressman Absalom Robertson, can be directly linked to the revitalization and survival of wild turkeys, whitetail deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, wood ducks, black bears, Canada goose, desert bighorn sheep, and mountain lions in our country.
At the height of commercial and market hunting, and just as several species were on the brink of being over-hunted to the point of extinction, this important bill helped to create a permanent source of funding for conservation in the U.S. Estimates show that Pittman-Robertson has brought in over $8 billion for conservation since 1939—that’s a lot of gear.
Over 4 million acres of sensitive habitat have been acquired with these funds, and the management of wildlife on another 40 million acres has been underwritten with money from P-R and state-funded matches. This funding also ensures that we’re using the best science to assess habitat risks and needs, easily making it part of one of the most successful conservation stories ever.
All of this, of course, has come on the backs of sportsmen and women everywhere. Every time we purchase the latest shotgun or bow, or stock up on ammo, we are essentially helping our own cause, but the effects of P-R funding extend far beyond sportsmen. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that “almost all the lands purchased with P-R money are managed both for wildlife production and for other public uses,” such as hiking, camping, birdwatching, and picnicking.
So, when you’re at the store stocking up for opening day, go ahead and buy that extra box of shells—it’s worth it. The decisions we make today, at the cash register and in Washington, will have lasting effects on our sporting traditions.
To address concerns over an unstable rainbow trout population in northwest Arizona’s Lees Ferry, a coalition of conservation and sportsmen’s groups and Marble Canyon fishing guides has submitted a list of recommendations to the federal and state agencies responsible for maintaining and improving the blue-ribbon fishery. The recommendations will be provided to the Bureau of Reclamation and National Park Service as they develop an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the adoption of a long-term experimental and management plan to determine Glen Canyon Dam operations and river restoration actions for next 15 to 20 years.
The coalition—which includes the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Trout Unlimited, the International Federation of Fly Fishers, Northern Arizona Fly Casters, Arizona Fly Casters, Desert Fly Casters, Anglers United, the Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife Conservation, and Marble Canyon guides and businesses—delivered the report titled “Lees Ferry Recreational Trout Fishery Management Recommendations: The voice of Lees Ferry recreational anglers, guides, and businesses” at the meeting of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group in Tempe, Arizona, last week. This group advises the Secretary of the Interior on matters related to the operations of Glen Canyon Dam.
Currently, dam operations have direct and indirect effects on rainbow trout in the 16-mile stretch of the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Marble Canyon—an area commonly referred to as Lees Ferry. Completion of the dam in 1964 created a unique tailwater rainbow trout fishery that has grown in importance and reputation locally, regionally, and nationally. But varying water releases from the dam are currently affecting the production and diversity of insects in the river, the survival of young trout, and the growth and condition of adults.
The trout in Lees Ferry have experienced several significant population swings over the years, which has been bad news for local guiding and lodging businesses that depend on a reliable sport fishery. “Currently, the Lees Ferry trout fishery is ecologically unstable,” says John Hamill, Arizona field representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “Rainbow trout are exhibiting strong natural recruitment, but these populations aren’t fully supported by the amount and diversity of food in the river. Scientific studies also suggest that food supplies are also limiting to native fish populations downstream in Grand Canyon National Park.”
“Our goal is to make sure the trout fishery gets a fair shake in the EIS process,” Hamill says.
Here’s a summary of the recommendations:
These recommendations aim to boost the Lees Ferry fishery without detriment to downstream resources. “Our recommendations will improve the quality of the trout fishery and benefit many other Colorado River resources below Glen Canyon Dam,” says John Jordan, conservation chair for Arizona Trout Unlimited. “We expect these steps to support the recovery of the endangered humpback chub, the improvement of camping beaches in Grand Canyon National Park, the development of hydropower generation, and the protection of archaeological sites.”
In an increasingly crowded and pay-to-play world, America’s 640 million acres of public lands – including our national forests and Bureau of Land Management lands–have become the nation’s mightiest hunting and fishing strongholds. This is especially true in the West, where according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 72 percent of sportsmen depend on access to public lands for hunting. Without these vast expanses of prairie and sagebrush, foothills and towering peaks, the traditions of hunting and fishing as we have known them for the past century would be lost. Gone also would be a very basic American value: the unique and abundant freedom we’ve known for all of us, rich and poor and in-between, to experience our undeveloped and wild spaces, natural wonders, wildlife and waters, and the assets that have made life and citizenship in our country the envy of the world.
A big game hunter’s bucket list might include a trip to the slopes of Alaska’s Brooks Range for Dall sheep or an excursion deep into the southwestern desert for beautiful little Coues deer. But, one thing is certain: That list will hold a hunt for big bull elk, and there is no better place to do that than on high-country public lands in Colorado.
In Part Six of our series, we head to the north-central part of Montana.
Thousands of years ago, the Missouri River in Montana ran north of where it is today. As the ice ages ended, the river took a new course below the Bears Paw Mountains, near the present-day town of Havre, cutting a wide channel through the fine clay soils of the plains. Rain and snow have since carved the earth into a vast and twisted maze of coulees and canyons, some of them hundreds of feet deep, marked by cliffs of yellow sandstone and weathered buttes, steep slopes of scree and gumbo soil.
The Breaks were one of the last places to be settled in the West. Much of the land went unclaimed while the region was homesteaded. A lot more of the land was abandoned later, when fierce winters and seemingly endless droughts forced even the toughest families to leave.
Today, most of the Missouri Breaks is public land in the care of the Bureau of Land Management. American hunters know it as perhaps the most unique and legendary elk, mule deer, and bighorn sheep country in the world. If you’ve never seen it, ponder this: Mountain hunters are accustomed to going up into the hills to seek their quarry. In the Breaks, you hike down, eventually reaching the big river itself. This is the home of the second-largest elk herd in Montana and some of the West’s biggest trophy bulls.
Nothing comes easy here. There’s galling heat, clouds of mosquitoes, and big rattlers during bugling season. Sometimes in September there’s snow or gumbo mud that will defeat the most determined off-roader. By November, there’s howling blizzards and subzero temperatures. Here, you pack meat uphill and risk missing that one coulee that leads back to the truck. It’s a tough place, and that’s the way Missouri Breaks hunters like it.
So, imagine their dismay at hearing the Breaks are in the crosshairs of the movement to transfer public lands into state—and possible private—ownership. On June 24, 2014, the Montana GOP announced that it had taken a position of “shifting public land management away from Washington, D.C., control,” and interest in private ownership of Missouri Breaks land remains at a record high.
A Texas family recently purchased more than 300,000 acres in the area for hunting purposes. The once-abandoned and unclaimed lands, now rich with big game, solitude, and adventure, are the on-the-ground equivalent of diamonds and gold. If transferred to the state of Montana, these lands could be sold and closed forever to the average American sportsman.
Five individual bills were introduced into the Montana legislature in 2015, and all sought to eliminate or undermine America’s public lands legacy. Rank-and-file sportsmen reacted strongly to these proposals and several hundred of them rallied at the Montana Capitol in opposition to the seizure of public lands. In the end, the voice of sportsmen carried the day, and lawmakers put a stop to every land seizure bill under consideration.
We won this round, but those who want to seize your outdoor riches and opportunities for great adventure will be back with new proposals aimed at eliminating America’s public lands legacy. Sportsmen must be prepared to fight another day.
Here are three ways you can support sportsmen’s access on public lands.
Stay tuned. In the rest of this 10-part series, we’ll continue to cover some of America’s finest hunting and fishing destinations that could be permanently seized from the public if politicians have their way.
Theodore Roosevelt’s experiences hunting and fishing certainly fueled his passion for conservation, but it seems that a passion for coffee may have powered his mornings. In fact, Roosevelt’s son once said that his father’s coffee cup was “more in the nature of a bathtub.” TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to bring together his two loves: a strong morning brew and a dedication to conservation. With your purchase, you’ll not only enjoy waking up to the rich aroma of this bolder roast—you’ll be supporting the important work of preserving hunting and fishing opportunities for all.
$4 from each bag is donated to the TRCP, to help continue their efforts of safeguarding critical habitats, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations.
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