Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcasts and Blasts

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. 

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.bhafundr...

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 Fe...

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 

R...

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...

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...

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

...

Chris kicks the show off with a tribute to Wendell Berry, who died this week at 92, and the language he gave hunters for understanding their place in the food chain. In conservation news, Governor Walz signs an executive order blocking mining near the Boundary Waters, juvenile silver carp are found closer than ever to Lake Michigan while the Brandon Road barrier sits idle under administrative review, and the Trump administration pressures the Park Service toward an unprecedented land exchange inside Yosemite. Policy Watch covers the Roadless Rule DEIS, the Travel Management rewrite, and a questionable 20,000-acre land transfer in...

Twenty-five years ago, the Forest Service made one of the most consequential land management decisions in its history: protecting nearly 60 million acres of national forest from new roads and logging. That protection — the Roadless Rule — is now on the chopping block, with the USDA formally proposing to rescind it and a public comment period open through September 21. In this episode, we sit down with Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, who helped write the rule from inside the Forest Service back in 2001 and has spent the decades since defending it.

Chris breaks down the real econ...

This week on The Backcountry Report, Chris covers major developments affecting public lands, waters and wildlife—from a massive expansion of hunting and fishing opportunities on national wildlife refuges to proposed changes involving tribal water rights and the future of NOAA's Arctic Report Card. The episode also examines the proposed repeal of the 2001 Roadless Rule, Vermont's primitive-camping updates, and border infrastructure construction in and around Big Bend National Park. Plus, hear how BHA volunteers removed a mile of obsolete fencing in Wyoming and learn how you can get involved in stewardship projects nationwide. 

 Show Notes

In this episode, we delve into the fascinating field of Human Dimensions in wildlife and natural resources management. Discover how this discipline is shaping informed decision-making among state and federal agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Whether you're already familiar with the Human Dimensions or hearing about it for the first time, you'll learn how it's helping to address some of our most pressing conservation challenges.

Guests Include

Josh Morse, PhD. University of Vermont

Jody Simoes, Ph.D. Human Dimensions Project Coordinator. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife

Shelby Perry...

In this episode of the Backcountry Report, Chris dives into the latest conservation news and boots-on-the-ground action from across the BHA community. We explore a surprising connection between air pollution and wildlife behavior, looking at how pollutants are degrading the natural "smellscape" that animals rely on to survive. Then, we break down urgent policy updates, including a critical public comment period on wetland drain tile setbacks and a major review of Wilderness Study Area management. Finally, we highlight inspiring volunteer efforts from Minnesota to California, featuring a partnership with the U.S. Marine Corps to deliver water to endangered...

In this first installment of our new Backcountry Conversations podcast series, we sit down with BHA Director of Development Trey Curtiss for a follow-up to Trey's popular April 2025 episode with Hal Herring — the one where he described killing an over-the-counter bull elk eleven years running on public land. A year later, the obvious question: did he find number twelve? Or did we jinx him with that episode? 

Trey walks through a general Montana season from archery to rifle. Along the way he gets into the things that actually make the difference back there — glassing timber, deciding where other hun...

Summer is in full swing, but fall is on the horizon. In this episode, we dive into major headlines impacting our public lands, from the reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments to a new lease sales in Ohio's only national forest. We break down what these policy shifts really mean for habitat, access, and long-term stewardship. Then, we share some hard-won conservation victories, preview upcoming BHA events, and hear from volunteers doing the essential on-the-ground work.

Show Notes:

Wayne National Forest Oil/Gas Leases: https://eplanning.blm.gov/Project-Home/?id=798d6bf4...

In Part II of our look at brook trout we are going to hear from fisheries managers and state officials from around the Northeast and learn how climate change is influencing brook trout management and fishing regulations.

Guests Include

Adam Kautza. Coldwater Fishery Resource Project Leader. MassWildlife.

John MaGee. Program Supervisor for the Inland Fisheries Division. NH Fish & Game

Mason Trumble. Deputy Commissioner - Environmental Conservation. CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection

Brian Eltz. Senior Fisheries Biologist. CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection

Fred Henson. Cold Water...

A major CWD study reveals new transmission risks. The Forest Service proposes a rule that weakens public input. We track urgent conservation funding in Congress, new grazing directives, and state-level fights in PA, OR, and CO—where the Roan Plateau is under threat. Plus, boots-on-the-ground updates from Idaho and New Mexico.

Show Notes:

Forest Service Directive Overhaul: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/01/2026-13281/organization-functions-and-procedures-public-notice-and-comment-for-standards-criteria-and-guidance

CWD Study: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeb7613

Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part...

In this launch episode of the Backcountry Report, BHA introduces its new Podcasts & Blasts feed, covers major conservation headlines — from a federal order loosening motorized access and attacks on the Roadless Rule to wetlands funding, the America the Beautiful/Legacy Restoration Fund, Potential for Sunday hunting in Massachusetts, California MPA petitions, and a Montana corner‑crossing lawsuit — highlights grassroots stewardship wins and upcoming BHA events, and more. 

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 PU...

Today, we're diving into the world of brook trout -- how they're being affected by our changing climate, and what that means for the future. We are also going to take some time to appreciate this incredible species. Ongoing research here in the Northeast is revealing some amazing insights into the resilience and adaptability of these beloved fish.

Guests Include:

Adam Kautza. Coldwater Fishery Resource Project Leader. MassWildlife.

Stephen Jane, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Fellow. University of Notre Dame

Benjamin Letcher, Ph.D. Ecologist. USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center.

...

It's MEMBER APPRECIATION WEEK at Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. And for our podcast listeners who aren't already  members, we're giving you a special chance to become one. For the month of June, use discount code BLAST10 at checkout for 10% off all Individual & Family Memberships*. Join today, fuel BHA's conservation work and enjoy the many other perks of being part of our community. Thanks for being a BHA member! 

*does not apply to Gift Memberships

Today's episode:

In this episode of the Conservation Cooperative, we're looking at how roads impact wildlife and the role that wi...

Inside a new economic assessment of federal public lands

For a lot of us, public lands are deeply personal. They're where we learned to hunt, where we camp with our families, where we go to breathe a little easier and remember what matters. But increasingly, the future of those lands is being debated in terms of economics, efficiency and ownership — and those conversations are getting louder across the West.

On this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers podcast, we sit down with BHA's Regional Stewardship and Habitat Connectivity Manager, Dre Arman, to unpack a new ec...

Today, the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers podcast is sharing the second episode of the Conservation Collective, where they're talking striped bass, the most sought after fish on the eastern seaboard. Often described as "everyman's fish" it's pursued by an extraordinarily wide range of anglers. Those anglers could be shorebound, or they could be on a million dollar center console. A lot of people also fish for stripers, NOAA estimates over 20 million trips a season, and so, the fishery has a significant cultural and economic impact up and down the coast. Once hailed as a conservation success story, now, the future...

While BHA's Podcast & Blast takes a moment to plan its next steps, we're sharing the first episode of our Conservation Cooperative podcast (recorded previously), which looks at a scenario playing out across North America -- one that the New England Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) has been grappling with for a few years: the rapid development of recreation trails and their encroachment on wild places. We'll explore some of the factors that are driving trail development in the state of Vermont and how it impacts the conservation of our wildlands and wildlife. While we explore the issue in...

While BHA's Podcast & Blast takes a moment to plan its next steps, we're sharing the first episode of our Conservation Cooperative podcast (recorded previously), which looks at a scenario playing out across North America -- one that the New England Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) has been grappling with for a few years: the rapid development of recreation trails and their encroachment on wild places. We'll explore some of the factors that are driving trail development in the state of Vermont and how it impacts the conservation of our wildlands and wildlife. While we explore the issue in...

After nearly a decade behind the mic and more than 225 episodes digging into the people, places and fights that define our public lands and waters, Hal Herring is stepping away from BHA's Podcast & Blast and onto his next adventure.

For this final episode, we turn the microphone around. Hal joins former BHA Vice President of Communications and longtime Podcast & Blast producer Katie McKalip, along with BHA Brand and Editorial Manager Zack Williams, for a conversation about how the show came together, what made it matter and a few of the moments they'll carry forward. What emerges is...

In this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast, host Hal Herring speaks with investigative journalist Andrew Becker about the complex and increasingly contentious issue of stream access in Utah. Centered around Becker's deep-dive reporting for The Drake, the conversation explores how a state that is roughly 75% public land can still have most of its fishable water flowing through private property.

Becker traces the issue back to Western settlement, including the belief that water is a shared public resource. From the Equal Footing Doctrine and questions of navigability to Utah's modern walk-in access program, the episode unpacks...

On this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast & Blast, Hal Herring sits down at his home in Augusta, Montana, with singer-songwriter and wilderness mule packer Jackson Holte.

Jackson talks about how long days in the wilderness shape his music, how silence and hard work inform art, and why public lands and access matter so deeply to who we are and how we live. From packing strings in the Bob Marshall to writing songs that carry that landscape forward, this is a conversation about craft, heritage, and the freedom worth sustaining.

https://www.i...

BREAKING: Since this interview was recorded, a new attempt to permit a copper-nickel mine upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is underway. On Monday, Jan. 12, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn) introduced HJ Res. 140, which would lift the federal moratorium on mining in the Rainy River Watershed, just upstream from the wilderness border. Tell your elected officials to vote NO on HJ Res. 140 and any similar actions taken in the Senate, and call your elected officials directly on the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a 1.1-million-acre expanse of lakes, rivers, and boreal forest—ac...

It was the late spring of 1932 when Idaho outfitter Jim Renshaw first saw the upper Selway River from the back of a horse. The packstring was led by his father, Alvin, who had been working for the U.S. Forest Service since he was 13 and had bought the Pettibone Ranch, deep in the wilderness, where Bear Creek drops into the Selway River.

Jim Renshaw was two months old at that time. For the next 16 years, he, his mother and father, and two sisters lived at the Pettibone Ranch, guiding hunters in the fall and fishermen and wilderness...

On this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast and Blast, host Hal Herring sits down with Josh Jackson, author of The Enduring Wild and founder of The Forgotten Lands Project. Jackson's journey into California's Bureau of Land Management landscapes reveals the forgotten backbone of conservation — the so-called leftover lands that belong to all of us, yet are loved by too few. Through photography, storytelling and hard-earned curiosity, this conversation explores why these places matter, why they're vulnerable, and why building a broader coalition of people who know and care about them may be one of the most important co...

Hunters and anglers across the country may never set foot on Alaska's Dalton Highway—but what's unfolding there affects every American who cares about public land. In this episode, Hal Herring sits down with fisheries ecologist and writer Dr. Kevin Fraley to unpack a sweeping threat to some of the most accessible caribou and fishing country in the entire state. A new push in Congress aims to throw out the Central Yukon Resource Management Plan—a plan built over a decade with input from hunters, anglers and local stakeholders—and potentially reopen millions of acres around the Dalton to indust...

BHA's new President & CEO Ryan Callaghan probably needs doesn't need an introduction. But you may be wondering what he and BHA are planning for the future, why now is such a critical moment in the history of public lands and waters, and how and why you should get involved with BHA. 

Here's your chance to learn the answers to those questions and a whole lot more as Cal sits down with Podcast & Blast host Hal Herring for a conversation you don't want to miss. 

During the 2025 fight against the mass sell-off of America's public lands, Utah-born cowboy, big game guide, and U.S. Army veteran Braxton McCoy seemed to be everywhere, from his barrage of fiery commentary on X to the Tucker Carlson and Shawn Ryan podcasts, to addressing public meetings across the West. He was the most powerful and tenacious conservative voice of the pro-public lands movement.

He hasn't let up, and he never will.

Join us for the story of a true American original, a soldier who suffered catastrophic injuries in a suicide bomb attack in Ramadi...

A controversy over public lands' management in Indiana's 204,000-acre Hoosier National Forest turns out to be a microcosm of a burning (pun intended) national debate over using fire and targeted logging operations to create habitat for wildlife and a healthier, more diverse and more resilient forest.

From the 1960s to 80s, The U.S. Forest Service, in the grip of the so-called "timber beast" style of management, clear-cut millions of acres of publicly owned forestland, leading to widespread loss of wildlife, sediment-filled streams, and a furious backlash from conservationists. A barrage of successful lawsuits from environmental and...

The American pronghorn is North America's most unique big game animal, a Great Plains living relic from the end of the Ice Age—a creature of speed, agility and beauty that once shared the landscape with the American cheetah, lions, dire wolves, steppe bison. The pronghorn has outlasted them all to become an icon of the wide open spaces and a species honored and beloved (if sometimes cursed in frustration) by anyone who has ever hunted them.

But now, the pronghorn, like the American Great Plains ecosystem, needs our help. Beset by the disruption of migration corridors, th...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is taking public comments on the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, which affects 45 million acres of our national forests. Why is this such a big deal? Why are we throwing this baby out with the bathwater? 

Join Hal and Trout Unlimited President and CEO Chris Wood, who knows this subject inside and out and was working for the U.S. Forest Service in the late 1990s--when the Roadless Rule was created after decades of study, conflict, watershed failures, and the quest for both balance and fiscal responsibility in public lands' m...

BHA's Podcast and Blast is proud to be sponsored by Silencer Central, the nation's largest clearinghouse for silencers. Motto: "Silencers Made Simple since 2005."

This episode features Brandon Maddox of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who founded Silencer Central 20 years ago from his home. He saw both the growing demand for silencers and the difficulty of navigating federal regulations. Today, Silencer Central handles it all—from expert guidance on the right fit to a step-by-step process (simple enough for even Hal, a self-proclaimed Luddite) that delivers a silencer directly to your door.

Brandon is a long-range precision ri...

Join us for a conversation with Carmen Vanbianchi, Research Director and Co-founder of Home Range Wildlife Research, based in Winthrop, Washington, in the Methow Valley. Home Range's mission is "to advance wildlife conservation by conducting high-quality research, educating aspiring biologists, and engaging local communities."  Carmen is a field biologist dedicated to the study of lynx and other carnivores, living a life as a tracker, skier, deep observer, and a student of winter weather and tough terrain. Part of her personal mission is to make sure that more people like herself, who love wildlife and wild places, can find their w...

The Northeast is the most densely populated part of our country, and is rich in opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking and camping, due to an extensive network of public lands and the massively successful wildlife restorations and legislation to clean up rivers and reclaim the industrial and mining mishaps of the past.

None of our outdoor pursuits exist here by accident or by luck. The hunting and fishing, the habitat, the access that they depend upon, is the result of work inspired by a passion for making sure that something wonderful can go on and on, in...

Kyle Lybarger, a native of Hartselle, Alabama, is a botanist and restoration ecologist and the founder of the Native Habitat Project. He's also a father, a conservationist, a lifelong whitetail and turkey hunter, sauger and bass fisherman.

Kyle is a man on a mission: to save or restore as much of the South's native plants, grasslands, savannahs, limestone glades and open woodlands as he possibly can, and to start a movement of motivated Southerners to do the same, anywhere possible and on any scale, from a tiny corner in a suburban front yard or replacing the sterile...

Come with us to Arab, Alabama, to meet Phyllis Light, herbalist, responsible forager, native plant conservation advocate, founder of the Appalachian Center for Natural Health, and author of Southern Folk Medicine: Healing Traditions from the Appalachian Fields and Forests.

Phyliss Light was born on Brindlee Mountain, in this southwest extension of the Appalachian Mountains, into a family with Creek and Cherokee Indian roots. She learned herbalism from her grandmother, and spent long days of her childhood "gleaning" – harvesting wild foods and medicines, fishing and hunting, with her father. "It was a very practical kind of herbalism," Phyliss ex...