Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring

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. Show Related Links Journal Article: Concurrent warming and browning eliminate cold-water fish habitat in many temperate lakes. Stephen F. Jane, Thomas M. Detmer, Siena Lr. Larrick, and Siena L. Larrick. 2024. Benjamin H. Letcher USGS Profile

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 economic assessment put out by BHA's Idaho chapter and partners examining what a large-scale transfer of federal public lands to the state could actually cost. We break down the numbers behind land transfer proposals, the jobs and communities tied to public lands, and why these conversations matter not just for Idaho, but for every public land owner in America. It's a thoughtful discussion about stewardship, economics and the long-term future of the places we all care about. READ the 2026 Economic Assessment on Proposals to Transfer Ownership of Federal Lands to the State of Idaho Podcast reminder: BHA is still planning next steps for our podcast. Thanks for listening to this new and important conversation, and we'll be sure to update everyone as soon more information is available on what's to come. Thanks for bearing with us.

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 conservation groups radically changed public land management, often for the good of the land, water and wildlife. But that same backlash, and the habit of filing lawsuits to block or guide public lands management, have posed extreme challenges in the decades since—critically-needed projects to restore native ecosystems and wildlife habitats have been blocked, management has in some cases been brought to a standstill, and a growing body of evidence shows that we have gone too far on certain parts of our public lands in simply "letting nature take its course." It's not a debate over "wilderness versus logging and roads" as it is sometimes framed. It's not about the fallibility of human-directed land management versus the eternal wisdom of nature. It's about a lot more than that, and it has national implications. Join us for a conversation with three Hoosier hunters and conservation leaders who've found themselves on the frontline of this controversy—BHA Chapter Coordinator Jameson Hibbs, BHA Indiana chapter board member Brian Stone, and Michael Spalding, of the Conservation Law Center, a professional forester from a multi-generation Indiana farming family who has worked in 55 of Indiana's 92 counties over the course of his career. --- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked and Dometic. 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: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters

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' management. You'll learn why the Roadless Rule is not only essential to conserving the backcountry experiences we cherish but also the fiscally responsible way to manage these intact landscapes. And then join BHA in opposition to rescinding the Roadless Rule and ask your member of Congress to instead support the Roadless Area Conservation Act, legislation that would codify the Roadless Rule as law by visiting BHA's Take Action center. Comments are only open until Midnight, September 19th. So don't delay!

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 way to careers as field biologists and researchers and help provide the understanding to make sure it all goes on into a challenging and uncertain future. ---- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. 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: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters

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 turf around a new factory, to reintroducing controlled burns to thousands of acres. He's racing against time, indifference and outright opposition, working tirelessly as a sprawling development boom overwhelms one of the most biodiverse and rare ecosystems in the world, demolishing not only the wildlife and plants but the history of Native peoples and a whole Southern culture built upon a relationship with wildlife, land, and water. Follow Kyle's highly informative and brilliant Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/nativehabitatproject/ and enjoy this interview, recorded at Hal's homeplace in Alabama, after some adventures identifying rare plants, and a 14 hour day with a controlled burn that got a little, well, over enthusiastic. The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. 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: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters

Chris Jordan has some unwelcome news for the watershed and fisheries restoration movement. Restoring robust populations of salmonids and other fish species in degraded rivers and wetlands is much more complex than we could have ever imagined, and we've been doing it wrong for decades. Most of us, even those of us who view our fishing and our rivers as a kind of religion, don't even know what a truly healthy river looks like. But Chris also has some welcome news, though, and it's the subject of today's podcast: we know how to restore functioning watersheds for coldwater fisheries now, and it's imminently achievable. Real watershed restoration that can last and bring back healthy cold water fisheries – it's called "process-based restoration" – is the future. It's not just about removing archaic dams and putting curves and woody debris back into broken and degraded creeks. It's about beavers, muck and mire and willow thickets, floodplains and aquifers, wildfire and wetlands, gravity and shade. It is, as Chris has studied and implemented successfully for the past few decades, about "helping rivers do their jobs with a lighter hand and a larger scope" and recognizing that the messiest natural systems are the very best at producing the strongest and healthiest fisheries. Join us- 100% guaranteed, you'll see your favorite rivers and creeks in an entirely new light. The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. 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: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters