Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcasts and Blasts

This week: federal plans that could reshape public-land management and public input, a new refuge initiative, the latest on Big Bend's border wall, Block Island's deer debate, New York's first wild-deer CWD case since 2005, and policy updates from Colorado, Massachusetts, and Alaska. Plus, a look at how BHA's Armed Forces Initiative builds connection and purpose through the outdoors. Show Notes:  DOI Strategic Plan: https://www.doi.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2026-11/doi-strategic-plan-2026-11-10.pdf  BLM Proposed Rule Information and Comment Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/document/BLM-2026-0298-0001  USFWS Rooted in Purpose: https://www.fws.gov/initiative/rooted-in-purpose  New York DEC and CWD Case: https://dec.ny.gov/news/press-releases/2026/11/dec-announces-chronic-wasting-disease-found-in-livingston-county-wild-deer  Proposed Ambler Road Hunting and Trapping Closures: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/bha-opposes-proposed-ambler-road-hunting-and-trapping-closures-speak-up-before-november-16  BHA AFI Should to Shoulder Sweepstakes: https://go.bhafundraising.org/shouldertoshoulder/Campaign/Details  Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.  BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.  Follow us:  Web: www.backcountryhunters.org  Instagram: @backcountryhunters  Facebook: @backcountryhunters 

  We've got a special episode for you today. Believe it or not, we've been doing Conservation Cooperative for a year now! So, it's a great time to look back at some stories, do some updates, and hear some audio from some of our guests this year. Guests Include Krysten Schuler, PhD. Department of Public & Ecosystem Health. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Ben Gahagan, PhD. Recreational Fisheries Program Leader. Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Meredith Naughton. Recreation & Wildlife Researcher Benjamin Letcher, Ph.D. Ecologist.

From the fight to keep Texas's Cutoff open to the public to Forest Service changes and shoreline access in Washington, this episode covers the issues shaping access to public lands and waters. Plus: Massachusetts ballot questions, Indiana's waterfowl-hunting mentorship, and hands-on fence work for wildlife in Wyoming.  Show Notes:   Washington Shoreline Access: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/shoreline-access-and-management   BHA Events Calendar: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/Events    Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.     BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.     Follow us:  Web: www.backcountryhunters.org  Instagram: @backcountryhunters  Facebook: @backcountryhunters   

BHA Senior Habitat Stewardship Manager Bard Edrington V joins Backcountry Conversations to talk fence removal, wildlife migration, and the music that comes from time spent on public land. Bard shares what BHA's stewardship team has accomplished across the West, previews the upcoming BHA documentary Tangled Country, tells the story of Aldo Leopold's cabin in northern New Mexico, and plays an original song written on Leopold's front porch. Don't miss this Backcountry Conversation with a guy who represents the heart and soul of the BHA community.  BHA Stewardship Bard Edrington V – About Aldo Leopold House – Recreation.gov More to come on Tangled Country

This week on the Backcountry Report: updates on public-land access, clean water, wildlife habitat, and conservation policy—from the Chesapeake Bay and Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley to the Brooks Range and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Plus, hear how BHA members and partners are adding public land in Ohio and getting hands-on in Illinois, Idaho, and Minnesota.   Show Notes:   Backcountry Conversations Episode 3 https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/whats-at-stake-with-the-arctic-mine-project  What's at Stake with the Arctic Mine Project/Ambler Action Alert: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/whats-at-stake-with-the-arctic-mine-project  Trick Your Basecamp Sweepstakes: https://go.bhafundraising.org/trickyourbasecamp/Campaign/Details Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.  Follow us: Web:  www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters  Facebook: @backcountryhunters     

    This is Part II of or our two part look at Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) preparedness and prevention in the Northeast. In this episode we will hear from the leading experts on how a number of different states, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachusetts, to be precise, are positioning the state wildlife agencies to be prepared for Chronic Wasting Disease. Guests Include Krysten Schuler, PhD. Department of Public & Ecosystem Health. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Martin Feehan, PhD. Deer & Moose Project Leader. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife Dylan Ferreira. Principal Wildlife Biologist, Deer & NE Cottontail Rabbits. Rhode Island Fish & Wildlife Nathan Bieber. Wildlife Biologist, White-tailed Deer. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Nick Fortin. Wildlife Biologist - Deer & Moose Project Leader. Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department Show Related Links Cornell Wildlife Health Lab

In this episode of the Backcountry Report, we cover proposed data centers on federal lands, a new hunting-and-fishing executive order, the final push to defend the Roadless Rule, and a collaborative public-lands bill in Montana. Plus, hear how BHA chapters celebrated Public Lands Day with habitat education, cleanup and wildlife-friendly fencing projects, and a rally for public water access.  Show Notes:  Help Us Get to 1 Million Signatures and Save Our Public Lands - https://www.savepubliclands.us/  Roadless Rule: A Closer Look at the Record: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/roadless-rule-a-closer-look-at-the-record  Roadless Rule: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/maintain-national-forest-roadless-areas/  Reinvigorating America's Hunting Heritage Executive Order Breakdwon: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/Portals/0/Documents/BHA_Explainer_ExecutiveOrder14429.pdf  Trick Your Basecamp Sweepstakes: https://go.bhafundraising.org/trickyourbasecamp/Campaign/Details  Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.  BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us:  Web:  www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters  Facebook: @backcountryhunters 

This week on Backcountry Conversations, host Trey Curtiss is joined by two BHA staffers: Mary Glaves, BHA's Alaska Program Manager, and Jack Polentes, who works on federal policy out of Washington, D.C. They recently joined members of BHA's Alaska chapter on a five-day, roughly 53-mile float down the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River to document a landscape at the center of one of Alaska's biggest conservation fights: the proposed Ambler Industrial Road. The 211-mile, gated industrial road would run west from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler mining district, crossing 11 major rivers and requiring more than 2,900 culverts across permafrost. Mary and Jack describe the drive north from Fairbanks, a moving launch ceremony on the river, finding safe gravel-bar camps during a a 24-hour rainstorm that flooded the river, and the signs of development they saw along the way, including 37 helicopters in five days, freshly cut landing zones near a proposed bridge site, and a reactivated mining camp. The conversation also covers what they heard from the people who live, work, and hunt in the region, including trappers and residents in Bettles and Evansville, a longtime big-game guide, and even a career mining surveyor who called the project "in the wrong place." Their concerns range from disrupted moose hunting and risks to bush-plane traffic to the road's lack of public access and a proposed hunting and trapping ban along the corridor. Jack contrasts these on-the-ground views with the conversation in Washington, D.C., where he sees a wide disconnect. Both guests explain why this corner of the Brooks Range deserves national attention and how listeners can stay informed and speak up, including through the Hunters & Anglers for the Brooks Range coalition and by taking action today at BHA's Safeguard the Brooks Range campaign.

In Episode 7 of the Backcountry Report, Chris reports from the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Annual Meeting and covers major conservation news, including Minnesota's Boundary Waters mining debate, NOAA's revised recreational fishing data, proposed Clean Water Act changes, and the future of the Roadless Rule and Forest Service travel management. The episode also features updates from Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, and Texas, plus ways to support public lands during Public Lands Month.  Show Notes:  Help Us Get to 1 Million Signatures and Save Our Public Lands - https://www.savepubliclands.us/  Roadless Rule: A Closer Look at the Record: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/roadless-rule-a-closer-look-at-the-record  Roadless Rule: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/maintain-national-forest-roadless-areas/  Travel Management: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/speak-up-for-responsible-travel-management-on-our-national-forests/  Outdoor Life - EPA to Reopen Comment on Clean Water Act Rewrite That Could Leave 80 Percent of U.S. Wetlands Unprotected https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/epa-wotus-public-comment/  Colorado's Ammendment 83 - https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/amendment-83-colorados-right-to-hunt-and-fish Texas BHA Adopt-An-Access Initiative: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/texas-bha-chapter-and-tpwd-enter-agreement-for-adopt-an-access-initiative  Forged & Found Online Auction - https://go.bhafundraising.org/forgedandfound26/Campaign/Details  Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.  BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.  Follow us:  Web:  www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters  Facebook: @backcountryhunters 

In this episode we are going to explore Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) preparedness and prevention in the Northeast. As you might know, the Northeast is currently the last CWD free region in the country. We'll hear from experts in zoonotic disease and learn some of the ways that state agencies and BHA are working to protect our wild deer herds and quite possibly the future of deer hunting and conservation as we know it in the Northeast Guests Include Krysten Schuler, PhD. Department of Public & Ecosystem Health. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Mike Woods. New England BHA Chapter Chair. Show Related Links Cornell Wildlife Health Lab