Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is one of the leading voices in the conservation movement, and the organization played a pivotal role in the defeat of Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s attempt to sell off more than 3.5 million acres of public lands across the West last summer. But their top position has been vacant since former CEO Patrick Berry stepped down in late July. That changed today, when BHA announced that Ryan Callaghan of MeatEater and First Lite will take over as CEO and President at the start of the New Year.
Formerly the North American Board Chair for BHA, Callaghan has been involved with the group for nearly 15 years and has seen countless threats to public lands crop up during that time, he tells Field & Stream. "I went to my first BHA meeting in the winter of 2009 in my hometown of Missoula, Montana," Callaghan recalls. "One topic that was being discussed at that meeting was a movement to rewrite or rescind the Wilderness Act of 1964."
He says that bill was being pushed by politicians who claimed federally designated Wilderness Areas lack value because they're difficult to access. “I knew how false that was because I was guiding in wilderness areas at the time,” he says. “By the end of these 10-day trips, every one of these clients would have built a monument to a wilderness area, or to public lands in general, because they were having life-changing experiences on these lands.”
Callaghan is assuming BHA's top role at a precarious moment in public lands history. Though Mike Lee's land sell-off plans were squashed last summer, the Utah Senator is back with a new bill that would erase Wilderness Act protections on large swaths of public land across the northern and southern borders. Other ongoing threats include the Trump Administration's plan to expedite the 211-mile Ambler mining road through the heart of the Brooks Range, plans to drill on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Congress' unprecedented reversal of three BLM Resource Management Plans, and the USDA's plan to rescind Roadless Rule protections on some 45 million acres of National Forest lands across the country.
"There's an effort out there to discount and devalue our public lands in the minds of the American public, but the people who are spinning that false narrative actually know how valuable these lands are," Callaghan says. "That's why they want to sell them off to private entities for so-called affordable housing and push through any type of energy project on public lands—regardless of harms to wildlife and habitat. The regular hunter or angler is the one who loses if these industry profiteers with strong voices and big money have their way on our public lands."
In order to combat those interests, Callaghan says, BHA will lean hard into the type of grassroots activism that's made the organization famous. One top priority on that front is making sure that Congress doesn't wipe out existing BLM Resource Management Plans via the Congressional Review Act, he says. "Hunters are poised to advocate on behalf of the retention and proper management of BLM lands more than any other groups," he adds. "We have the same dirt under our fingernails as the grazer, and we are the same folks working in the field in the energy sector."
Another focus, Callaghan says, will be bringing hunters of all stripes—from across the political spectrum—together in support of our shared publics lands, despite the country's deepening political divides. "As we saw in June, big things happen when people are willing to set aside their political differences and focus on the things that matter," Callaghan says. "We need to be vocal. We need to keep making phone calls, writing emails, and testifying at committee meetings. Our members and peer organizations have always asked us to bring that type of grassroots energy to the fight. Now is the time to double down and embrace that part of our role."
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Callaghan says he'll continue on in his role as VP of Conservation for MeatEater, where he hosts a popular podcast focused on breaking news in the hunting, fishing, and conservation world. He'll also retain his brand ambassador position with the hunting apparel brand First Lite. He officially begins the BHA CEO role on January 1, 2026.
