There is no opportunity for productive fishing or hunting if there is no productive habitat in which to sling a line, spot and stalk or swing an over-under. Bottom line.
This basic fact has been a part of the American sporting consciousness since Theordore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold inscribed it, if not before. It’s a cornerstone of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.
Public lands provide the best habitat
In the West, the vast majority of the productive stream and upland habitat we have left is found on public lands. Most of these lands are managed for multiple uses, including energy development that, if not done responsibly, can degrade or eliminate habitat.
Healthy, productive habitat is the critical variable for species viability. Without sufficient room to roam and large tracts of unpolluted areas of water and land, our most popular fish and game species start to go away. Of the 28 trout species and subspecies native to the Lower 48, three are now extinct and six are listed as threatened or endangered. Excluding the extinct trout species, 52 percent now occupy less than 25 percent of their historical habitat and are at high risk from at least one major threat.
Nearly all native trout — 92 percent — face some level of risk.
Anglers and hunters stand for protections
It’s a lot more difficult –– and exponentially more expensive –– to try to restore degraded habitat than it is to protect it in good working condition in the first place. We need to better protect public lands strongholds for fishable and huntable species.
Many anglers and hunters have accepted the challenge of better conserving our best remaining hunting grounds and trout streams by supporting laws, policies and administrative actions that do just that. One such action, taken by eighteen presidents over the past 119 years, nine Democrat and nine Republican, is the designation of national monuments.
The authority for presidents to designate national monuments is provided under the Antiquities Act, passed by Congress and signed into law in 1906. The Act gives presidents the ability to permanently protect extraordinary geologic, cultural, historic and ecological resources on federal public lands and waters from new development (valid existing use permits and mineral claims are not affected).
Under all such designations on Bureau of Land Managment and Forest Service lands, management of fishing and hunting is retained by state fish and wildlife agencies.
Such protections are supported broadly by the public. Eighty five percent of western voters support creating new national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges and tribal protected areas to protect historic sites or areas important for outdoor recreation.
But new legislation has been introduced in both houses of Congress that would strip away a president’s authority to establish national monuments. Meanwhile, states have sued to gain control of millions of acres of federal lands, which could lead to their sale and a loss of public access.
Both of these ideas are bad for anglers and hunters who live in the West, and for those who visit to hunt and fish there.
Protective designations such as Wilderness and national monuments have, for decades, helped better protect areas of public lands that are vital and popular for hunting and fishing, including the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana, Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico, Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in California and Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado.
The sell-off or disposal of federal public lands undermines our outdoor traditions and threatens rural economies. These lands belong to all Americans and provide vital access for anglers, hunters, campers and outdoor enthusiasts. Sixty five percent of Westerners oppose transferring ownership of national public lands to states.
Striving towards durable protections
It’s hard to exaggerate the importance of public lands for fishing and hunting in America.
Our nation needs domestically produced energy and critical minerals, no question. But we also need native fish and wildlife, in populations robust enough to permit us to sustain our sporting heritage. As the Trump administration outlines its plans for public lands, it will be important for all who fish and hunt to pay attention, and let the president know when his policies could hurt our last, best places to hunt and fish –– and a constituency that contributes, as of 2022, nearly $400 billion to the nation’s economy.
If we are careful about where and how we develop our mineral, oil and gas and timber resources, prioritizing areas for such development that do not have high habitat or water source values –– and doubling down on strong, durable protections for those public lands with the highest habitat and fishing and hunting values –– we can look forward to sharing the thrill of casting to native trout and filling freezers with all-natural bird and game meat with our children, and theirs.