Hunters, hikers unite to protect beloved public lands, waters

Who says that hunters and hikers can’t get along? In the past two decades, many of us who love the outdoors and care about protecting our lands and waters have allowed ourselves to be divided. No longer. The only way we’re going to save the rivers and oceans and forests and mountains is if we put aside our differences and stand together for the places we love. And we are.

One of us grew up climbing 3,000-foot rock faces in Yosemite and started Patagonia, a California clothing company devoted to experiencing and protecting wild places. The other grew up in a Montana duck blind, shot his first whitetail at 14, and now leads Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, North America’s fastest growing organization of sportsmen and women. We don’t agree on everything, but we both view America’s public lands and waters as worth fighting for.

For much of our country’s history, so did leaders from both parties. A Republican president, Theodore Roosevelt, created the U.S. Forest Service, established the first national parks and wildlife refuges, and protected 230 million acres of public land. And it was a Democrat from Nevada, Sen. Key Pittman, who championed one of the most important and enduring funding mechanisms for wildlife conservation, the Pittman-Robertson Act. And more recently, Vice President Dick Cheney, who has never been mistaken for a liberal, said that one of the most important things he ever did for his home state of Wyoming was to champion the Wyoming Wilderness Act, stopping development on almost one million acres of public lands.

In today’s polarized political climate, even traditionally bipartisan priorities are in jeopardy. Wild places beloved by hikers and hunters alike are in danger of being pillaged by powerful industries, closed to public access or outright destroyed.

Here are three examples that demand urgent action:

First, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is overruling the Forest Service and paving the way for industrial sulfide-ore copper mining near the Boundary Waters Wilderness in Minnesota. This is the most visited wilderness area in the nation, and local communities rely on the nearly 4,500 jobs in the area generated by the outdoors recreation industry. Across Minnesota, 140,000 people are employed in outdoor recreation, but they apparently don’t carry as much weight with Zinke as the deeppocketed mining companies.

Second, Congress and the Department of Interior appear ready to let the Land and Water Conservation Fund die. Established in 1965, the fund uses a small percentage of revenues from offshore drilling leases to conserve and expand public access to parks, wildlife habitats and public recreation areas. It’s helped protect 5 million acres and generated $4 in economic value for every $1 invested. Nearly every county in America has benefited — all without depending on taxpayer dollars. Our congressional leaders need to put aside their differences — just like we have — and reauthorize the LWCF for the good of our citizens.

Third, public lands are under assault like never before. President Donald Trump slashed the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, and already at least 20 new mining claims have been staked in places sacred to Native American tribes and treasured by outdoor enthusiasts.

Both of us are sick and tired of politics getting in the way of good, sensible policy. These threats are dire and the stakes high. Now is the time for everyone who loves the outdoors to speak up, whether you feel more comfortable in camouflage or Capilene.

We have an important opportunity this November: Let’s send a strong message with our votes and elect leaders who want to protect our lands and waters. If hunters and tree huggers can come together, maybe Washington will too, and once again make conservation a bipartisan priority.

If we do, the forces that divide us won’t stand a chance. Yvon Chouinard is a pioneering mountaineer and founder of the outdoor company, Patagonia, based in Ventura, Calif. Land Tawney is a fifth-generation Montanan and president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.