Why Hikers Need Hunters and Vice Versa

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Divide and conquer. It’s a strategy as old as warfare itself. It’s also Congress’ strategy for stealing America’s public land. By pitching the heist as pro-state’s rights and pro-small government, our elected officials are sowing disinformation and hoping to fit the effort into a larger picture of political polarization. But if recent protests against a land heist bill are any measure, their attempts to divide us are backfiring.

This ain’t about politics. Whether you’re a Democrat, or Republican, or Libertarian, or vegetarian, these lands belong to you,” Montana Governor Steve Bullock pronounced last week. “They’re our heritage. They’re our economy. They’re our quality of life.”

That didn’t fall on deaf ears. Thousands of people marched on state capitals across the American West, protesting Congressman Jason Chaffetz’s (R-Utah) proposed bill to sell off 3.3 million acres of public land. Shortly after, Chaffetz announced via Instagram that he would withdraw the bill. It was the first successful defeat of anti-American policy proposed by the 115th Congress.

What made the protests against HR 621 different from the Women’s March, the rioting in Berkeley and Washington, D.C., or the protests at airports over Trump’s Muslim immigration ban was that the people marching against the public land heist weren’t just women, liberals, or consumers of mainstream media. They were people wearing camouflage, people who vote Republican, and even people who support President Trump. As Governor Bullock suggests, they are the people who don’t want to give up our natural heritage as Americans, every type of them—and they may be the most effective force in history for protecting our public lands.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2155826/public-lands-defense-glimmer-bi-partisan-cooperation?utm_source=whatyoumissed&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=02112017&spMailingID=27842335&spUserID=NzU3Mzk0NDUyMzAS1&spJobID=981999000&spReportId=OTgxOTk5MDAwS0

[Phoenix61]

1. Sportsmen in general are pro-environment

For different reasons than a lot of us but duck hunters want clean water as do fishermen. Deer hunters want well managed forests. As they say, politics makes for strange bedfellows.