Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring

Hunting. Angling. Public Lands. That's the meat of what BHA's Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is about, and we cover the gamut. With guests that range from outdoor writers to backcountry hunters to legendary anglers, we seek to uncover the stories, the truths, the controversies, and the epic conversations that our public land heritage provides.

  1. 4 DAYS AGO

    Compounding Damage with Destruction on a North Carolina River

    During the deluge of Hurricane Helene, over 30 inches of rain fell in the headwaters of the iconic Nolichucky River in North Carolina, falling on ground already saturated from prior rain. The Nolichucky crested nine feet higher than its record flood levels, wiping out almost everything in its path. Although the river experienced scouring and erosion, it was the man-made infrastructure that fared the worst. Among the losses were almost 40 miles of railroad tracks owned by CSX Transportation. Everyone wants the train tracks rebuilt, and the vital freight transportation link restored. But nobody could have predicted that the rebuilding project, contracted out to a company from Mississippi, would involve recklessly mining the riverbed, blocking tributary creeks, tearing up National Forest lands, and destroying one of the most beloved fishing and whitewater rivers of the entire eastern U.S. None of this had to happen. Agencies tasked with permitting and watchdogging this operation seem to have failed entirely. The public’s demands for the work to be done in a less destructive manner have been met with silence. Join Tennessee fishing guide and paramedic and BHA member Chris Lennon and North Carolinian Phillip Widener (Charman of BHA’s North Carolina chapter) to learn about what’s happening, and why it is so crucial, right now, to hold responsible parties accountable and stop this entirely avoidable assault on our public lands and waters. Intentional destruction of the Nolichucky River must stop! Listen and then learn more and take action at https://www.backcountryhunters.org/nolichucky_river_stop_csx_destructive_construction_activities --- 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

    1h 23m
  2. FEB 4

    Wilderness meets Modern Society -- Seth Kantner Part II

    Wilderness meets Modern Society -- Seth Kantner Part II Alaska’s Seth Kantner is back with us, as promised, for part two. Seth was born in a sod igloo on the Kobuk River in the 1960s and has been hunting, trapping, fishing, and making a life on the land there ever since. He is the author of the novel Ordinary Wolves, considered one of the most powerful, gritty, and true-to-life Alaska books ever written. His non-fiction books, Shopping for Porcupine, Swallowed by the Great Land, and A Thousand Trails Home: Living with Caribou, illustrated with the photos that have made him a world-renowned wildlife photographer, chronicle a life, a people and a landscape tangled in the conflict between the oldest powers of nature, wildlife and wilderness and the storm of changes wrought by the modern Anthropocene. Through it all, he’s maintained his profound sense of wonder, and his equally profound sense of humor. He even found time to write a children’s book (Pup and Pokey) about the mishaps and adventures of a wolf pup and a porcupine surviving on the tundra. Join us for a freeform conversation with one of the most unique voices of our time.   --- 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

    2h 5m
  3. 12/24/2024

    They Gave It All Away: The 1872 Mining Law with John Leshy

    “It is astonishing that this law has escaped fundamental change.” John Leshy, author of The Mining Law: A Study in Perpetual Motion The 1872 Mining Law represents one of the most extraordinary give-a-ways of American assets in the history of our nation. It has been the target of reform and repeal almost from the very moment it was passed. No other nation on earth allows the mining industry to simply extract the public’s wealth without paying. The cost of administering it- the legal process of giving away America’s public lands and minerals- is astronomical. It has been used by grifters and scammers to privatize millions of acres of public land. It has resulted in an estimated 500,000 abandoned mines on public lands, $35 billion in cleanup costs, and over 10,000 miles of waterways forever impacted or ruined. Billions of dollars’ worth of gold, silver, and other minerals are taken out each year – nobody even knows the extent, because there’s no regulation to make them report the totals. Even the mining industry, until recently, was embarrassed by it. As the US sees a new boom in mining on public lands- lithium, cobalt, the rare-earth minerals in such furious demand by the alternative energy and EV industry, the 1872 Mining Law should be the first item on the agenda of reform. But nobody is even talking about it. Why not? Please join us for a conversation with law professor and former General Counsel of the Department of Interior John Leshy, who literally wrote the book on the Mining Law, and has over fifty years’ experience in public land law and policy. Leshy is also the author of Our Common Ground: a History of America’s Public Lands, and will be returning to the BHA podcast to discuss that book in a few weeks.

    1h 18m
  4. 12/10/2024

    BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. #193: NO to Alaska's Ambler Road

    Alaska’s proposed Ambler Road is back on the table, and Americans are once again asked a fundamental question about what we value and what kind of world we will pass on to our children.  We covered the Ambler Road controversy in Episode 168 of the podcast, and a quick re-listen to that episode will be handy for getting the information we need to make informed decisions in this coming time of decision and consequence. Here’s a quick breakdown of the issue: The proposed Ambler Road is a proposed 211-mile industrial corridor through public lands along the southern flanks of the Brooks Range and one of the last and largest protected roadless areas on earth. The road would be built from the Dalton Highway at Mile Marker 161 to the Ambler Mining District on the Ambler River, passing through the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, bisecting the migration route of the embattled Western Arctic caribou herd and crossing nearly 3,000 streams and 11 major rivers including the Kobuk and Koyukon. Our guest today is Seth Kantner, who was born in a sod igloo on the Kobuk River in the 1960’s and has been hunting, trapping, fishing and making a life on the land there ever since. He’s a renowned wildlife photographer and a commercial fisherman, best known for his extraordinary novel Ordinary Wolves, his non-fiction books Shopping for Porcupine, Swallowed by the Great Land and A Thousand Trails Home: Living with Caribou, and a children’s book, Pup and Porcupine. We thought that, with all the controversy over the Ambler Road, we should find a person who could speak to what was there in that country now, and what is truly at stake if the road project goes forward. We’ll have Seth back to talk about subsistence hunting and trapping and life in the Arctic, but for now, let’s address this pressing issue of the Ambler Road.

    1h 27m

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Hunting. Angling. Public Lands. That's the meat of what BHA's Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is about, and we cover the gamut. With guests that range from outdoor writers to backcountry hunters to legendary anglers, we seek to uncover the stories, the truths, the controversies, and the epic conversations that our public land heritage provides.

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