Wilderness is the gold standard for wildlife habitat and hunting grounds, and these untrammeled public lands allow us to enjoy high quality, low cost, democratic hunting and fishing, good old American style. When the rest of the last of our still-wild and accessible (walk-in) public lands are gone — destroyed by excessive roading, logging, and energy development, and worst of all motorized over-use and abuse — we’ll all be out of business. We need to take the advice of Theodore Roosevelt: “Preserve large tracts of wilderness … for the exercise of the skill of the hunter, whether or not he is a man of means.”

That’s why Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers supports new wilderness area designations when significant watershed, fish, and wildlife issues are involved. As BHA board member and horse wrangler Holly Endersby — a grandmother of two who spends as much time as possible with her pack string in roadless and wilderness areas hunting and fishing — says: “For me, hunting and fishing are synonymous with wildness. And true wildness is only found in roadless or wilderness areas. These untamed public lands are the last bastions of what the world once was.”

For example, more than half of all elk summer concentration habitat on public lands in Colorado — peaceful retreats where cows raise newborn calves, bulls maximize antler growth, and all elk acquire the nutritional reserves necessary for winter survival — are found in backcountry areas. Elk and other big game seek out quiet, secure, well-forested habitat because they need it. Unroaded backcountry also provides male elk, mule deer, and other big game the escape cover necessary to live long enough to grow trophy-quality antlers or horns.

Western writer and outdoorsman Michael Frome says that hunting at its finest involves an authentic immersion in nature, with hard efforts in tracking, scenting, and pinpointing the game for hours or even days when necessary. Frome hits it on the head when he explains: “The quality of the hunt is scantly measured by the size of the bag but rather by the experience of woodmanship, living with the animals and thinking like them, perceiving surroundings from the viewpoint of the animal.” And such woodmanship requires wilderness, designated or de facto.

Because of never-ending development throughout the West, protecting more wilderness areas has become vital if we are to hold on to our hunting and angling traditions. These still-wild public lands (along with roadless areas) are the last strongholds for our elk and other big game herds and for native trout; they keep our wildlife populations healthy, they allow our aquifers to recharge and our streams to run cold.

As Teddy Roosevelt said: “Above all, we should realize that the effort toward this end is essentially a democratic movement. It is entirely in our power as a nation to preserve large tracts of wilderness...as playgrounds for rich and poor alike, and to preserve the game so that it shall continue to exist for the benefit of all.” Today this is best accomplished through the preservation of backcountry habitat in designated wilderness areas.

We sportsmen and women can sit on the sidelines, sticking our heads in the sand as wilderness and other wild lands continue to disappear — and face an uncertain future. Or we can work together to save wildlands and wildlife and guarantee a future full of hunting and angling opportunities for our kids and grandkids. As any elk or wolf well knows, there is strength in numbers. Let’s use our numbers to save wilderness and wildlife for future generations of hunters and anglers.