By Hal Herring

In the late 90’s I was working as a forestry subcontractor, planting trees on clearcut paper company and National Forest lands in Montana and Idaho. My last full season (April-June), my work partner and I were the only native English-speakers on the thirty-or-so man crew. It was a good season, and we made good money. Also, I got to know a bunch of Mexican treeplanters who became my friends, and I learned something about what it is like to come from a country whose government has failed, in almost every measurable way, to govern on behalf of its people.

By Bob Marshall

Notice to sportsmen who feel locked out of quality private hunting and fishing lands: Your state has 45 days to change that, courtesy of a $50 million incentive from America’s taxpayers. The program is called Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, a feature of the 2008 Farm Bill known as “Open Fields.” It provides $50 million for states to purchase public access for outdoor recreation on private lands.

The program is the culmination of a long drive by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership to address what research has long shown is major cause for the decline in hunting and fishing participation: Lack of access.