Forest health and hunting

I would like to thank Congressman Steve Daines for his work on H.R. 1526, the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, which passed the House of Representatives with strong bipartisan support.

The Boone and Crockett Club, along with many hunting organizations, have strongly supported this legislation. Why? Because millions of acres of our national forests are overcrowded, dying from insect infestation and susceptible to uncharacteristically large, hot wildfires.

If you hunt and you care about improving the health of our national forests, as the Boone and Crockett Club does, then you realize that we need real changes to help the Forest Service get back in the woods performing active management.

Study after study has shown that improvements to forest health, including the resilience of fire-prone forests, can be restored through active management.

As Congressman Daines and the bipartisan members of the House pointed out when they passed H.R. 1526, we need aggressive forest management to improve game populations and enhance game habitat.

The Boone and Crockett Club will continue to fight for access to public land to hunt and shoot, and to enhance the habitat that supports important game populations like elk and deer. H.R. 1526 will improve the quality of habitat for all wildlife species, while also creating healthy timber-based jobs in rural communities in Montana and across the country.

William A. Demmer, president

Boone and Crockett Club

Missoula