Use 'em, don't lose 'em

Hunters & anglers protecting our public lands.

By Peak Design

August 13^th, 2018

Our friend Joel Caldwell (@joelwcaldwell) headed to Montana to work with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) in photographing some of the local conservation legends. In the words of BHA,

"The visionaries who gave us this great legacy of wildlands – individuals like Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold – realized something that sometimes is forgotten today: Without wild places for wild animals, there will be no place for sportsmen to hunt and fish."

"Now, more than ever before, we need wild lands: places to rekindle the fire at the heart of the human soul. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is a nonpartisan group of sportsmen and -women who are standing up for these places and for the outdoor opportunities they represent." Below are the portraits of a handful of these sportsmen and -women defending our public lands.

Jim Posewitz is an outdoorsman, author, and activist. According to Gordon Brittan, Professor of Philosophy at Montana State University, "No one has done so much to protect, and where necessary to restore, Montana’s great fish and game populations and the habitats that sustain them as Jim Posewitz....“Poz” has been the mighty voice of the Montana Conservation movement since the 1950s, and everybody who lives in this part of the country is in his debt.”

Yana Robertson is a traditional bow hunter, wildlife conservationist and graphic designer. The Robertson family business is making wooden longbows by hand.

Smoke Elser is a longtime outfitter and defender of public lands. “I started working as an outfitter in 1957 for a gentleman named Tom Edwards. He said he’d teach me all he could, but first I’d have to learn to defend the wilderness. Then in 1964, Tom went to Washington DC to testify before the signing of the Wilderness Act. He stood up and said,

I’m an outfitter. I don’t sell game. I don’t sell deer and elk. And I don’t sell fishing. What I sell is the hush of the land.

And that has stuck with me forever. We need to teach people to value wilderness. My wife and I ran this outfit since 1964. And we made a good living. But the value was not in dollars. It’s in 'the hush of the land.' We know what that sounds like. And it’s deafening. "

Eighty-five years ago Tony Schoonen Sr. was taken from an orphanage and raised on a cattle ranch in southwestern Montana's Madison County. Tony spent his childhood on the Big Hole River, gaining a lifelong appreciation for free-flowing water, boating, and fly fishing. Over the last forty years he's done as much for public stream access and public lands in the state of Montana as just about anyone.

At 88, he's still at it, "Back in '83 a wealthy rancher was stopping people from floating, thinking the river was his property. So we formed the Montana Coalition for Stream Access. After two years of fighting we finally got it through the legislature. The way the bill reads: any water capable of recreational use shall so be used by the public. Didn’t cover lakes, but opened up every stream, river and creek. Best access in the Union. In 1989, three of us formed the Coalition for Appropriate Management of the School Trust Lands. We wanted people to have access to these lands, but the legislature had a lot of cowboys and they thought the land was theirs, even though the state constitution says it's public. We managed to get the bill through, but it was weak and needed amending from public input. So myself and two buddies held meetings all over the state. Some people tried to intimidate us, but we got the damn thing through just the three of us. Opened up 5.2 million acres to the public!”

"In all my years I've never seen this much pressure on public lands. Christ, it's coming right out of Washington! Used to only be local, but big money has found Montana. It's in the state and national platforms—privatize it all. It's on a fast track and people don't realize it. Public lands are hard to win but easy to lose. Time to get off our asses or we're going to lose 'em”

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers seeks to ensure North America's outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, through education and work on behalf of wild public lands and waters. Visit their site to find out more about their work and how you can get involved.