Header image by Byron Johnson on Unsplash.

Aldo Leopold begins his landmark book “A Sand County Almanac” with the following passage: “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot.” Here in Colorado those wild things include the largest elk herds in the country that thrive thanks to an abundance of wild public lands, including 4.2 million acres found in 363 separate Roadless Areas.

However, the Trump administration is in the process of rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, that has prohibited road construction and timbering on 58.5 million acres of our national forest lands nationwide. As hunters know from boots on the ground experience, the Roadless Rule protects the best elk habitat in Colorado and the country.

A new nationwide survey from Responsive Management and the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (CAHSS) shows that well over half of all American adults (62%) say they consider themselves to be conservationists. And 99% of Americans are opposed to the Trump Administration’s plan to ditch the Roadless Rule!

In “A Sand County Almanac,” Leopold discusses the “land ethic,” which simply says: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” The Trump administration’s plans to rescind the Roadless Rule is wrong, and the American people have spoken!

During the last week of October I’ll be elk hunting in southwest Colorado’s high and wild San Juan Mountains on public land, our land. And as most elk hunters know firsthand, keeping healthy elk herds on public lands requires ample secure habitat — big wild country without motorized (roads) or mechanized (trails) disturbance. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers formed to focus on habitat: We are “the voice for our wild public lands, waters, and wildlife.” Join us.

David Lien is co-chair of the Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers chapter, a former Air Force missile launch officer, and author. In 2014 he was recognized by Field & Stream as a “Hero of Conservation.” During 2019 he was the recipient of BHA’s Mike Beagle-Chairman’s Award “for outstanding effort on behalf of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.”