0:02

Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast,

0:05

your home for deer hunting news, stories

0:08

and strategies, and now

0:11

your host, Mark Ken. You all

0:14

right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt

0:16

podcast, brought to you by on X. Today

0:19

we are celebrating, my friends. We are celebrating

0:21

some very good news when it comes to public

0:24

land and wildlife conservation

0:26

and hunting and hiking and fishing and just

0:29

about anything else related to access

0:31

to the outdoors in America, because

0:33

a new bill was introduced this week with

0:36

bipartisan support, called the Great

0:38

American Outdoors Act, and it is

0:40

accomplishing several very important

0:43

things that hunters and anglers and

0:45

other conservations have been working on for a long

0:47

time. And it seems knock on wood borrowing

0:50

some kind of disaster that there is support

0:52

to pass this thing into law, and this

0:54

is all happening. It's all happening as far as I can tell, at

0:56

least, because you guys and a whole lot

0:58

of other folks across the country have rallied

1:01

around these causes of public lands and conservation

1:04

and wild places and made it just

1:06

plain required, made it

1:08

necessary for politicians to start paying

1:10

attention and to start supporting this stuff.

1:13

Uh, you know, I wrote in my book That Wild

1:15

Country. Right towards the end, I wrote about

1:17

the fact that, you know, while there are myriad

1:19

challenges to conservation and public lands,

1:21

While these challenges and these attacks are gonna

1:24

keep coming forever and ever and ever, history

1:26

has also shown that when Americans come

1:29

together, regardless of other differences,

1:31

when we come together, we can protect these

1:34

places and the animals we

1:36

care about, and the resources. And that's what's

1:38

been going on these past few years. It's

1:40

exactly what I've hoped and prayed would be possible,

1:42

and it's happening. Cabella

1:44

Shoppers and ari I Shoppers, Republicans

1:47

and Democrats, rural and urban folks

1:49

are all setting aside labels and team colors,

1:52

and they're coming together to protect our wild

1:54

places and wild animals.

1:56

And and I really think that we are We're

1:59

a part of something right now. There's a moment that

2:01

I think that what we're seeing

2:03

here today and over the last year two

2:06

it's gonna be written about some day in history books,

2:08

just like I wrote about stuff going on in the early

2:11

nineteen thirties and forties and then the nineteen

2:13

sixties and seventies. Someday people

2:15

are gonna be writing about the late teens and early

2:17

twenties of how there were all these

2:19

immense challenges to these places and

2:22

animals and our environment,

2:25

and how a bunch of people rallied around

2:27

him and made a big difference. That's happening

2:29

right now, and I'm pumped. I'm

2:31

really I'm really proud, and I'm

2:34

encouraged. I'm excited about

2:36

what this community is doing. So that is

2:38

what we're going to talk about today with

2:40

Lantani of back Country Hunters

2:42

and Anglers, who's been leading the charge on a lot

2:44

of these issues that we're gonna cover. So

2:47

that's the plan. Without much further

2:49

ado, though, we're gonna take a very quick break to thank

2:51

our friends at Lacrosse Boots, and

2:53

then we will get right into it. No pre

2:56

MBS show today. I just want to talk about

2:58

this is very exciting to Altman. Now

3:01

let's get to chatting with land Tawny.

3:05

All right, I'm excited now to have with

3:07

me on the line, Land Tawny,

3:10

welcome back Land. It's

3:12

good to be back Mark. Like we're just saying

3:15

before I started recording, I'm

3:17

excited that we have such a good reason to be

3:19

chatting today. It's a it's a good moon. The are

3:21

right now, isn't there? Oh man?

3:23

It's Uh, I'm I'm ecstatic

3:26

right now and like glowing. Uh, this

3:28

is pretty awesome. So

3:31

so explain to folks

3:34

why you are so so excited. You just said something

3:36

to me that, um,

3:38

that's pretty cool. How you see this fitting

3:40

into the bigger picture scheme of things?

3:43

Um? What

3:45

what level of excitement are we talking about here with

3:47

with a Great American Outdoors Act? You

3:50

know? I think that, Um, this

3:52

is probably I've been doing

3:54

this kind of work for twenty years, and

3:57

I would put this at the top like

4:00

any kind of accomplishment. And I've been a part of

4:02

and and and there's been you know, lots

4:04

of wins in those twenty years. Um.

4:07

But the idea that this,

4:09

you know, was first passed in four

4:11

in such a bipartisan fashion. Uh.

4:14

Last year when it was permanently authorized

4:16

Land and Water Conservation Fund to

4:19

eight in the Senate and three sixty three to sixty

4:21

two in the House, like that

4:24

was momentum. But we didn't get the money. And

4:26

so what this is doing is Great American Outdoors

4:28

Act is doing. That's full

4:31

and dedicated funding at nine million

4:33

dollars. And you know, this

4:36

means that permanently,

4:38

every single year will have nine million

4:41

dollars to work on conservation access

4:43

in this country. And to me, you

4:45

know, that's the way we we grow this

4:48

great estate that we already own, right that

4:50

six hundred forty million acres that you and I and

4:52

everybody owns listening to this owns. This

4:54

is the deal on making

4:56

sure that when we have access to those lands, but also

4:59

growing that a stay. And so I can't be more

5:01

excited about this. And I think, you know, the

5:04

the bipartisan fashions that is going on here,

5:06

Like I like, Congress doesn't get together

5:09

and do stuff that much anymore. And this is

5:11

just it's again

5:13

like I'm yeah,

5:16

it's it is. It's

5:18

relatively unprecedented. For decades and

5:20

decades, I feel like we haven't seen anything like this

5:23

other than you know, the progress made last year.

5:25

Um, we're harkening back to those sixties

5:27

and seventies kind of achievements

5:30

back in that, you know, that sort of environmental

5:32

movement time period. But but I want before we get

5:34

into that, I gotta rewind the tape just a

5:36

little bit and make sure we provide the right

5:39

background for people that are jumping into this lake

5:41

that aren't familiar. Um,

5:43

you know, you and I talked last year after

5:46

the dingle Johnson Neck passed about the l

5:48

w CF, But I still let's

5:50

just hammer it out one more time for people that aren't familiar.

5:53

What does the Land and Water Conservation Fund

5:55

give us? Like the quick spiel on that, and

5:57

then can you catch us up to speed on and

5:59

what have been last year? And then what

6:02

you kind of just did, I guess, tell us what happens

6:04

now if this passes, but give us that background

6:06

really quick so you can sure. Yeah.

6:09

So back in nineteen sixty four,

6:11

uh, folks got together. There was

6:13

starting to be oil and

6:16

gas development that was happening in the Gulf of Mexico,

6:18

and Congress got together and they said,

6:20

you know, we're taken away from one resource. Let's

6:23

give back from that to other

6:25

resources. And so that's when the Land and Water

6:27

Conservation Fund was really established.

6:29

And back then I think it

6:31

was like in the Senate. I don't know what the household was,

6:33

but I think it's like one, you know

6:36

that they've voted on this, and so overwhelming support

6:38

from both sides of the aisle on this piece and

6:41

what it does that takes exercise

6:43

taxes from that oil

6:45

and gas kind of piece and puts

6:47

that into conservation.

6:50

In all, all fifty states have

6:52

used it, and I think it's like of

6:54

the counties in America have

6:56

had some land and water conservation project. And so

6:59

what is that money? It's for. Money

7:01

is youth for um, you know,

7:03

swimming pools and tennis courts. It's

7:05

used for fishing access sites. You know, on my

7:08

home state of Montana, our

7:10

fishing access sites are paid for by the

7:12

Land Water Conservation Fund um. And

7:14

then it goes for you know, some large kind

7:17

of purchases and

7:19

and to me, you know, those

7:21

large purchases in particular, I can add

7:23

to again that publican state of six and forty

7:25

million acres. But almost even more essential

7:28

is the ability to get to some of that inaccessible

7:30

public land that you and I own right now that we can't

7:32

get to. And this is like the tool basically

7:35

to get us to that. And and so

7:37

you know, it's universally been used again

7:41

the county, and I think about like rural America

7:43

in particular, where they don't

7:45

have the tax base to build parks.

7:47

This has been absolutely essential. You know my kin

7:50

my kids in Missoula, Montana, they play on

7:53

the soccer fields are paid for by

7:55

the land Water Conservation Fund. And then we also use

7:58

fishing access sites that are right in downtown Mizzoula

8:00

that we're paid for by the Landing Water Conservation Fund. So

8:03

to me, you know, this this is uh,

8:06

it's it's pretty awesome. And what's been going on,

8:08

you know until now this

8:11

isn't passed yet. I think that everybody

8:13

should understand that that you

8:15

really need to call your senators.

8:17

Um, and it's gonna go over into the house after that,

8:20

but call your senators. And I think that number is

8:22

two oh two to two four three

8:24

one to one, and asked them to pass to get

8:26

outdoors. Um, I think

8:29

it's three four. It's it sent a bill three four two

8:31

two And to me, um,

8:34

we gotta get that done. But like

8:36

again that this is we've had

8:39

to go to the appropriations process

8:41

every single year and so land

8:43

Water Conservation Fund is only it's

8:45

been authorized ninellion dollars, it's

8:47

only been fully funded once at llion

8:50

dollars and so through that this entire you

8:52

know, like I guess career

8:55

of the for existence

8:57

of the landa water conservation fund. It's

9:00

only been fund at once fully and so

9:02

we have to go back every single year to Congress

9:04

and beg and plead and you have to

9:06

make you know, phone calls and

9:08

try to get us as much as we can. And that has been ranged

9:11

from about three hundred four hundred and fifty million here

9:13

in the last recent past.

9:16

And and now that goes away. So

9:18

now this will be permanently rapized at

9:21

llion dollars. And not only are

9:23

we getting the land of Water controversial Fund, but we're

9:25

also getting two billion dollars

9:27

to billion dollars with the B for

9:32

backlog maintenance on our public lands.

9:34

And so that's national parks, that's your espicial life

9:36

service, that's for service, that's growth land

9:38

management like that will happen for

9:40

five years and so that it won't

9:42

address all the backlog maintenance needs that

9:44

we have out there, but it will definitely make

9:47

a big dent in that. And so that when you go to

9:49

your public lands, you have the facilities,

9:52

you have the roads that will

9:54

make your experience and you know, a great one. And

9:56

and so this is I mean, this is I can't

9:58

emphasis enough how awesome this is. And

10:01

none of this costs US tax players any money

10:03

which comes off of oil and gas re suits, which I think

10:06

was pretty rap. So

10:09

so the Great American Outdoors AFT covers the

10:11

the permanent funding

10:14

all the l w CF, and last

10:16

year the Dangle Johnson Natural Resources

10:19

Act, you know, permanently

10:21

established l w CF. Now we've got the permanent

10:23

funding, and as you

10:25

just said, now we've got funding for all this

10:28

public land maintenance stuff like trail work,

10:30

roadwork, facilities, etcetera, etcetera.

10:32

All the stuff happening is it's

10:34

it's amazing, but it's also a little bit

10:37

head scratching in that just

10:40

a year and a half ago or so, in the fall

10:42

of two thousand and eighteen, we're worried

10:44

that l w CF was gonna be gone. Right

10:46

it expired, we couldn't get people to rally

10:48

around, or at least we couldn't get politicians to extend

10:51

it and keep it going. That happened when

10:54

we saw the current administration put out their

10:56

budget just a few weeks ago they

10:58

proposed slashing Land Water Conservation

11:01

Funds funding bent

11:03

So just like a month ago they came out and said

11:05

they wanted to cut the funding,

11:08

and then this week or

11:10

a couple of days ago, last week, Now they did,

11:12

Now we want to fund it. How

11:16

do you make sense of this huge

11:18

turnaround, I mean, crazy

11:20

flip of of events. How

11:22

do you make sense of this? I

11:24

think? I mean, I'll start with

11:27

kind of like the sunset, which you talked about,

11:29

that happened a year and a half ago, where kind

11:31

of this this funding mechanism went

11:33

away, and I think the angst that

11:36

was felt by the people, Um,

11:38

you know, I think there's been a huge education effort

11:40

by back counts and anglers, and I think a

11:42

lot of other organizations around man A water contribution

11:45

funds And when that sunset, people

11:47

understood what that meant and

11:49

and so they're you know, the

11:51

the ire that they shared

11:53

with their elected officials. It

11:56

was pretty extreme. Um you

11:58

know, there was the whole shutdown that happens last

12:00

year, and this current

12:02

authorization happened pretty

12:05

much right when they got back. And

12:07

that was because when they were at home when

12:09

it was during the shutdown, people

12:11

were talking to them about this. They were picking up

12:13

the phone, they were sending emails, and

12:15

so that public pressure I think really

12:17

made that happened last

12:20

year with the with the Dingle Act,

12:22

I would say that you

12:25

describe it well. The administration, you know, came

12:28

out with their budget, and you know, I would say, yes,

12:30

it was, but it was basically zero

12:32

outland and water conservation phone. And

12:36

you know, there's this thing called big P politics,

12:38

right, and I think that we

12:40

should all be aware of that and

12:42

how important that is sometimes to

12:45

move certain pieces of legislation. And

12:47

so what happened is that Senator Gardner

12:50

from Colorado, UH, Senator

12:52

Danes from Montana. They went

12:54

to the White House and they said, we are in

12:57

very tough senate races.

13:00

We need a win really bad

13:02

and what do we need. We need the Land and Water Conservations

13:05

Fund. Now they don't go ask about

13:07

the Land and Water Conservations one. I will talk about Mr

13:09

Dane's particular Mr Dane's five

13:11

years ago round numbers. I

13:13

was talking about dismantling the way that Land

13:16

Water Conservation Fund is actually done. And

13:18

we, as well as others in Montana,

13:21

we found them pretty hard about that and said we

13:23

want to keep it the way it is. And so

13:26

he came around and and and really listen

13:28

to the people, which is what they're supposed to do, and

13:30

he said, Okay, let's keep it the same now

13:34

he is going to the

13:36

President of the United States and asking

13:39

for this to happen. And you know,

13:42

it's a it's such an awesome case

13:44

of the people's voice actually matters, and

13:46

so they go to the president. You know, the President

13:48

comes out with a tweet last week.

13:50

I mean, think about how he

13:52

tweets about a lot of stuff, but

13:55

he tweets about the Land and Water Conservation

13:57

Fund says, you know, Congress,

13:59

bring me a bill and I'll sign up. And

14:02

and that is like, I mean, it's it's just

14:04

mind boggling how awesome it is

14:07

and how powerful that is, especially juxtaposition

14:09

when you just as you described and I just said,

14:11

like they just zeroed this program out for

14:14

political reasons. This is happening and

14:16

I think, you know that doesn't happen in the vacuum.

14:18

The people have made that happen. And so you

14:21

know, Mr Gardner, I think he's down by eleven points

14:23

right now. So hicken Looper

14:25

in that race in Colorado. Uh,

14:28

you know, Governor

14:30

Bullock just joined the Senate race in Montana,

14:33

and so you know Mr Danes is nervous about

14:35

that piece. And because of that

14:38

deadness happens and now, you

14:40

know, I think there's has talked

14:42

to Julia. People's are Government

14:46

Affairs UM staffer out in d C

14:48

right before this call. And we're

14:51

at fifty eight co sponsors

14:53

already, and you have to basically

14:55

get to sixty to make this a done deal. And

14:58

so I'm feeling super confident this

15:00

piece, and you know it again

15:02

is introduced on late Monday

15:05

night and we have fifty eight close sponsors

15:07

already. Like people understand how important

15:09

this is and how important

15:11

it is to their constituents. And the only

15:14

reason they understand that is because we the

15:16

people demanded it. And I you know,

15:19

you asked kind of earlier

15:21

about you know, what does this mean

15:24

for other things? And and to me,

15:27

it's you know, this momentum that we have right

15:29

now that we enjoyed, you know about a year

15:31

ago when we passed you know, land

15:34

of Water Contribution Fund permanently and that

15:36

you know a bunch of other land kind of a public

15:38

land um provisions within that

15:40

bill that was passed, Like this is a follow

15:43

up to that, and I think people should really

15:45

take stock and

15:48

that their voice actually matters, Like

15:50

this is not happened because you know, Congress

15:52

got together and they said, man, you

15:55

know, we should, we should, we should do this good

15:57

thing. It was because the people demanded it, and

15:59

you know, uh in

16:02

that is that our voice still matters.

16:04

It's kind of funny. Um. Sometimes

16:07

I find or I think a lot of us find

16:09

ourselves getting frustrated with public

16:11

lands or conservation or protecting

16:13

the environment becoming political. Like we we

16:15

we express anger

16:18

or angst over the fact that these topics are um

16:21

political football's at times or so

16:23

part of partisan. But this

16:25

is a situation where it's actually

16:29

I think the political nature of the

16:31

issue, Like you said, we've made it so it's

16:33

become a political issue so that

16:36

they have to do what we say simply because

16:38

they need the support across

16:40

across the country in various different ways, and we are

16:42

forcing the issue. So in this case, like

16:45

yeah, you can look at this and say, oh, it's it's

16:47

a political move. But

16:50

I don't think we want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

16:52

I think we should say, hey, we we forced a political

16:54

move the benefited public lands and conservation.

16:56

That's a great thing. Like you said, this probably wasn't

16:58

like a change of heart for some people maybe, but

17:00

it was a yeah, we better do

17:02

this because people are demanding it. And in this

17:05

case, we're making our representatives

17:07

work for us, which is what we're supposed to

17:09

do, right, absolutely,

17:11

you know, and I think that you

17:13

know, again, like when

17:16

you know, Senator days, the Cenator Garter

17:18

could have gone to the President and talked about any

17:20

issue, right, whatever that issue

17:22

is in this country, is that healthcare is a you

17:25

know, immigration is an

17:27

economy, whatever they were going to go

17:29

say to the president, But they chose to talk

17:31

about an issue that matters to all of us. And

17:35

having our issues elevated as a top

17:37

tier issue, you know, I think that you know, Montana,

17:40

I think it's been like that for probably

17:42

a decade now. And you know, that's that's

17:45

my recent history. Maybe that was a part of us

17:47

you know, maybe like public lands and kind of conservation

17:50

was part of a history before that. But I

17:52

think in my time that it's become

17:54

a top tier issue in Montana, and it's

17:56

becoming a top tier issue in Colorado.

17:58

And and so know, the more that this

18:02

is something that we raise to that

18:04

level, the better, right And

18:06

and and I think you're right,

18:08

like I think that those political footballs,

18:11

you know, I think about back to the

18:13

monument review that happened

18:15

on our national monuments. And now I'm really

18:17

worried that you know, one president

18:19

is gonna say monuments are awesome, and then president gonna

18:21

say monuments are bad. We're gonna have this like football

18:24

that gets passed back and forth that you're talking about

18:26

um and that frustrates me. But

18:30

this case, it is absolutely awesome. I

18:32

think we should all revel in the idea that the president

18:34

is talking about this and that two senators went to

18:36

the President and said this is our top tier priorities. Like I

18:38

like that is that's huge for

18:41

us. And as I think of community

18:44

and that bipartisan nature, you

18:46

know, the you know of Republicans

18:48

and Democrats getting together like

18:51

like Mark tell me, I mean I don't I don't know another

18:53

issue where they're coming together

18:55

around this, maybe around the maybe beyond this

18:58

virus exactly right now, right, like

19:00

like they came together there, right, they got something done

19:02

very quickly. But other than

19:04

that, now they're not really coming together. And

19:06

so what do they come together? And they coming together on public

19:09

lands and why are they doing that is

19:11

because of the you know, public lands don't

19:13

care if you're a Democrat Republican, independent,

19:16

libertarian. They don't care

19:18

and we all use them, right, So it's like it's

19:21

this universal kind of American

19:23

thing and they got to listen to us. So I'm

19:25

I mean, this is the president that this is

19:28

setting. I think, Um,

19:30

I'm knocking on wood. I'm sitting in a

19:33

hotel and Omaha, Nebraska, I'm

19:35

knocking on wood. But I think that the

19:37

president that this sends it

19:39

means nothing but good things for conservation is

19:41

to move forward. And you make a great point

19:44

about how this is pretty rare across

19:46

the rest of our political world,

19:49

across that's the country and a lot of issues. It's it's actually

19:52

I just a couple of months ago wrote an op ed

19:54

about this for The Hill and pointed

19:56

to the fact that what we've seen over the last couple of

19:58

years with public lands perfect example

20:01

of how Americans can

20:03

come together on things that matter by putting

20:05

aside political labels and our team

20:08

colors and roversus urban or ari

20:10

i versus cabell as. We can set those things aside

20:12

and work together and this

20:14

radical idea of civility and compromise

20:17

leading to good things. And and then

20:19

this thing comes along and just perfectly

20:21

puts the like a shining

20:23

light on on the

20:25

example of that that we can point

20:27

to for now decades. I think, Um,

20:30

But to your point, now,

20:32

we need to get it past the finish lines. So

20:34

before I ask you about anything else other

20:37

than calling our senators, is there anything else we

20:39

should do to make sure that the Great American Outdoors

20:42

Act is past any any other

20:44

recommendations, any other things we need to be thinking

20:46

about keeping in mind, um

20:48

or taking action on sure.

20:51

So I think that that so

20:53

the Senate is the first piece, um.

20:56

And I think calling your senators is absolutely

20:58

important. I think talking about this on

21:00

social media mark is a super important thing. Um.

21:03

And I think that you know, we all have our

21:06

we all have our basis. I mean, this podcast is gonna,

21:09

know, be listened to by thousands of people.

21:11

And I think that like, we all have our networks

21:13

after that, right, And so you know,

21:15

if you're getting your teeth cleaning at the dentist that or if

21:17

you're getting your haircut where at the barbershop,

21:19

whatever you're doing. And I think talking about this piece and

21:21

how awesome it is, I think it's a moment

21:23

that we need to seize upon. Uh.

21:26

And I think there's you Besides the immediate

21:28

kind of piece of that I'm trying to get this legislation

21:31

passes, there's this education moment as well,

21:33

and and so there's that piece. Now the House is

21:37

talking, their House leadership is talking right

21:39

now is the Senate. And I think we're gonna have uh

21:42

companion legislation that let's exactly like

21:45

what happens in the Senate. And so I have

21:48

very you know, a lot of confidence at the House

21:50

will do the exactly the same thing that the Senator is doing. But

21:52

don't think that, you know, once the Senate

21:55

passes this, which I think will happen within

21:58

the next two weeks, are they going tests next

22:00

week? I think it'll be one of the first things

22:02

that they do when they return. And

22:05

Mr Danes has done a procedural thing where

22:07

it doesn't have to go through committee. It just goes straight to

22:10

the floor for a vote. But then

22:12

we have the House, and I think, you know, while

22:15

I I think the House will be supportive,

22:17

I think that's another opportunity for us

22:19

all to get engaged UM

22:21

and and really can call our people UM

22:23

that represent us. And then you know, it goes

22:25

to the President. And what I would love is

22:28

to have just these overwhelming majorities.

22:30

I mean the President already you know in his

22:32

tweet he said send me something, I will sign

22:34

it, a full confidence that he's going to

22:36

sign it. But I would love for that to go

22:38

to him from the Senate and the House, just

22:41

overwhelming majorities and that we can

22:43

all kind of sit back and celebrate.

22:45

So that's kind of like I feel like the I

22:48

think the calling piece is super important.

22:51

Um, you know, we have an email. I think we've

22:53

sent almost ten thousand emails

22:56

through our system right now at b h ah.

22:58

There's that's such another opportunities to send

23:01

emails. But I think that piece

23:03

about talking about this to your friends

23:06

and family and acquaintances, it's

23:08

such an important deal. And I think there's

23:10

a lot of people probably that don't know what the

23:12

Land of Water Controvation Fund is. Um,

23:15

there's a lot of people that probably think their voice doesn't count.

23:17

And like, you start talking about this, that's

23:19

this like momentum

23:22

that we get and not only they get

23:24

educated about what this is, but then they're like WHOA,

23:26

Like our actual government is working for me,

23:29

And I think that's what they're supposed to do.

23:32

But I think there's a lot of disenfranchise

23:34

with that right now. And and so I think the more we

23:36

talk about this and then we get a big win, let's celebrate like

23:39

it's like right,

23:43

it's like it's a it's a big one. Yeah,

23:46

there's something we said about revel reveling

23:48

in that a little bit. And and like you said,

23:50

again, seeing our voice

23:52

does matter. And I think that's that's

23:55

something I've been thinking a lot about. Is I

23:57

do think that this is probably one

23:59

of us things that when you read

24:02

a book about the history of public lands and

24:04

you're reading it in they'll

24:06

be writing about this. They'll be writing about

24:08

the late teens, in the early twenties

24:10

and this movement, this moment um.

24:14

What do you think? Tell me two things.

24:16

Number one, what do you think that we've been

24:19

doing well over the past few years that

24:21

have led to this? And what are a few things

24:23

that you think that we haven't been doing so

24:25

well that if we want to keep the momentum,

24:27

we've got to change anything

24:29

that you can point to, Because we went from

24:31

this point, you know, ten years

24:34

ago, six seven years ago, where

24:36

we were really concerned about our public

24:39

lands in some cases being transferred just sold away,

24:42

we have this serious rise of concern

24:44

around it, and now here we are in with

24:47

landmark positive public land

24:49

progress. Um, what do we do

24:52

well? What aren't we doing well? Enough?

24:56

Great? First, I

24:58

will read that book when you write

25:02

like, I'm gonna hold you to that. Please

25:05

do that. Um, But I

25:07

think you know back to like what we're doing well? I

25:09

think it's education then. And you

25:12

know, I I get up at these pint

25:14

nights or conferences or wherever

25:16

I'm speaking, and you know, for

25:19

the last seven years, I've you know, I've talked about

25:21

this issue other land of

25:23

Water Controversation fund, and that's you know, ten

25:25

years or seven years ago. Let's say when I first started

25:27

the vh A and a group of people, if I said,

25:29

hell, how many people know about the land and water controversations?

25:32

Raise your hand? There

25:34

might be ten percent of the people in that room that raise their

25:36

hand. Um, they did not know about this.

25:39

And if I you know, I've I've got a

25:42

event tonight here in Omaha. Um,

25:44

and I'll ask that question. I almost

25:46

guarantee you that like the

25:49

people gonna raise their hand and they know about this issue. So

25:52

what are we doing well? I

25:54

think we're educating and I say

25:56

that from back country owners

25:58

anglers. I say that from Mark Kenyon.

26:01

I said that's from meat eater. I feel like that's

26:03

been like a uh

26:05

a universal effort by our community is

26:07

to educate all of us and

26:10

the masses on what the Land of Water

26:12

Conservation Fund is, on what public lands

26:14

are, and what they mean to us, how

26:16

they came about. You know, my my mentor

26:19

Jim pause with which his

26:21

eighty five birthday this last weekend and something

26:24

he's always counted into me is like they got

26:26

to know the story, they got another story.

26:28

And once once people find out about how we

26:30

got our public lands and

26:32

that you know, it hasn't happened by accident,

26:35

and they understand they gotta be a part of it. And so I

26:37

think, what have we done well? I think education, Um,

26:42

what have we done that hasn't worked so well?

26:44

I think that it.

26:48

I think we could always do better at the education, right.

26:50

I think that that's you know, I don't

26:53

I don't some of that, um,

26:55

you don't want to pound in the people's heads that like

26:58

they turned off. Like I think the education is like

27:00

a thing that you get in

27:02

doses, and it's more almost like osmosis.

27:04

And it is like you shall learn this. Um.

27:07

So I think we could be doing better there.

27:09

Um. I think that that's

27:12

a great question on what we could do better. I feel

27:16

like the sportsman's community as a whole,

27:19

like we could be just better advocates.

27:22

And what I mean by that is that it's not enough

27:25

to buy, you know, your license.

27:27

It's not enough to like, you know, buy your guns

27:30

and ammunition and all that money

27:32

that you spend on your licenses and

27:34

then a portion of those you know, proceeds

27:37

from your guns and from your from

27:39

your ammunition goes back to conservation.

27:42

Like that's not enough. And I feel

27:44

like like we need to be to do a

27:46

better job about that

27:49

piece. And the second piece I would say

27:52

is that I don't think I think we're on the cost of it, um.

27:55

But you know, I think we can do a better

27:57

job reaching out to people that don't hunt and fish.

28:00

And as our our numbers

28:03

dwindle in this country as far as overall

28:05

percentage of hunters and anglers compared

28:07

to the you know, the overall population,

28:10

like, we're never gonna We're never gonna you know, increase

28:14

that necessarily. If we might, you know, we might get new

28:16

hunters and anglers, but as far as the overall percentage

28:18

is going to continue to go down. And

28:20

so I think one thing we're doing way better

28:22

is really working with folks

28:25

that don't pull the trigger ripped lips,

28:27

and and if

28:29

we do that, then they understand

28:33

like more about us and hunters and anglers and what

28:35

we care about conservation, and

28:37

then we get to know them better. And you know, if

28:39

they're not just mountain bikers

28:41

or climbers, they just want to kind of use

28:44

the outdoors and don't really care if there's animals

28:46

out there, don't really care about conservation. I think

28:48

that shared understanding and that shared

28:54

yes ethos, It's something I

28:56

think we're missing a little bit right now, and so I think we could

28:58

do a way better job there that

29:00

That definitely seems from

29:02

everything I've seen

29:05

and learned over the years that we

29:07

have to have that coalition approach.

29:09

We can't tackle this thing on our own. We need

29:11

the whole outdoor community. Whether you do

29:14

our thing or do something else, we gotta

29:16

find ways to come together. Um, So

29:18

yeah, that's that's important. I'm

29:21

curious about another thing going on here. Yeah,

29:24

there's this

29:27

is this is a huge win if it, if it gets

29:29

past, we're riding on

29:31

a high right now. But at the same time,

29:33

if you look over the last handful of years,

29:36

you can also point to a whole lot of slashes

29:39

and cuts. And this place

29:42

is open up to more drilling, and this place is going

29:44

to be opened up to more logging, and this place is going

29:46

to be cut out, and this place is gonna get roads.

29:48

And it's this whole death by a thousand

29:50

cuts thing that has been going

29:52

on, and then you have a

29:54

big win like this. Are

29:57

you Are you still worried

29:59

about the death by thousand cuts type

30:01

of issues or do you feel like we're

30:04

getting enough momentum that those things are

30:06

going to come to halt as well?

30:08

Or let me rephrase the question, um,

30:13

are you word at all that we will be blinded

30:15

by our happiness with this wind

30:18

and forget about all these other smaller

30:20

things that are happening more locally, um?

30:24

Or I don't know makes sense of any of that? As you can

30:27

now, I think I really

30:30

enjoy the question. Um.

30:33

Access is easy, right, like land and

30:35

water controvation. Fond is all about, like access

30:38

and growing this public estate and EASi

30:41

people to rally around. I think the

30:43

backlog maintenance piece that you know, Mr I'm

30:46

referring to Mexico really pushed and that's why it's in

30:48

the bill. Like

30:50

like that's pretty easy stuff. It's it's really easy

30:53

to like, Okay, we want that. And

30:56

I what I hope mark is it's like a gateway

30:58

drug, you know. I like,

31:01

like we get we get a little bit of this juice,

31:03

right, and I get excited, and like we get

31:05

a win, and then we pivot that

31:08

into you know, places like the Arctic National Wildife

31:10

Refuge that's under threat, or the Boundary

31:12

Waters is under threat, or the

31:15

Clean Water Act they just got rolled back

31:17

puts that risk. You know, Prairie a Postholes

31:19

in particular, which is a duck factory of the world. Like I

31:22

like those ones. I mean, I think those

31:24

landscapes of Boundary Waters and the Arctic are probably pretty

31:27

iconic. But when you get into like

31:29

funding for our public lands, or

31:31

when you get into like grazing

31:34

kind of rules, or you get into like a Clean Water

31:36

Act, like people just aren't as fired up about

31:38

that stuff. And what I

31:41

hope happens out of this is

31:43

that that that we celebrate,

31:45

right, I think it's super important for us to throw

31:47

a huge party once this all gets done, um,

31:50

and just revel in that piece that you know,

31:52

you and I and you know, hopefully everybody

31:54

listening to this was a part of. But

31:57

then let's take that momentum and look at other issues, you know.

31:59

And I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say that,

32:02

you know, the Clean Water Act is going to rise necessarily

32:04

to the importance um that

32:06

Land and Water Conservation Fund, But damn well

32:08

should you know? Like that that's stuff

32:11

that we should be doing and

32:13

the people should be demanding. I mean, like clean water,

32:15

Like why does that so hard to AVO

32:17

came for? That should be a no brainer. And

32:19

and so I Mark,

32:22

I, you know, glass is always has full with me,

32:24

and I have a lot of hope

32:26

that the momentum that we're you know, creating,

32:29

and I think from I think it started

32:31

back with the push against Shape.

32:33

That's when he, you know, Congressman Shape that'z may tried

32:35

to sell three million acres.

32:38

You know, was that three or four years ago? Like

32:40

the sportsman's community rose up and they said hell

32:42

no, and then he pulled

32:44

it back and we were like WHOA, Like our voices

32:46

actually do better, and then you know you have the vote.

32:48

Last year, you know, the Permian authorized we had a water

32:50

conservation phone, and then you know there are seven

32:53

pages of that bill had a bunch of public lands

32:55

protections in there, you know, like I think they they

32:58

did mineral withdrawals on

33:01

a site outside of Yellowstone and the mono

33:03

drawls in the Metzu Valley and Washington and

33:06

so like that momentum that

33:08

we're having and that we have right now, like

33:10

let's revel in it. But like let's

33:12

like we can't sit on the couch or

33:14

sit on the porch and

33:16

clink our beers and then talk about this for the next

33:18

three years. That we got a lot more stuff to do. And

33:22

and this this whole thing is like it's a it's

33:26

and if you look at history, and I think that's why Jim

33:28

Pozzle's kind of that into me. This is that like

33:31

it's not like we get to like get something done and then we

33:33

just get to like, you know, wash

33:35

our hands and we're done. Like this is a

33:37

thing that constantly has to happen and

33:40

we have to be engaged. And and to

33:42

me, I'm hoping that's what comes out of this whole

33:44

thing. Do you find there's

33:47

this One of the things I learned through the process

33:49

of writing my book was the fact that you

33:51

kind of see that I can't remember where I heard this or where

33:53

I read this. Someone I got this somewhere. They

33:56

point out the fact that when it comes

33:58

to protecting public lands or kind servation,

34:01

Um, we have to

34:03

if we win a fight, we

34:05

have to keep on defending it. So if we protect a landscape

34:08

or something, we have to keep on protecting, keep on protecting,

34:10

keep on fighting, because there's constantly gonna be

34:12

a tax on constant it's gonna it's never gonna

34:14

end. On the flip side, if the

34:17

anti public land are the folks that want to develop

34:19

a piece of ground or something, they win, They win

34:22

just once and there's nothing we can really do about it. They've

34:24

they've we've lost that piece of ground or

34:26

we've lost its pristine wilderness nature

34:28

or whatever it might be. Um, we've got to keep

34:30

going and going and going. It's like you said, it's a never

34:32

ending fight. Do you find that depressing

34:36

or invigorating? And like that's

34:38

the kick in the ass that gets you up in the morning. How do

34:41

you look at that kind of thing? Uh?

34:44

Depends on the day, right, I

34:47

think. I think sometimes you know, like

34:49

myself personally, I feel overwhelmed and

34:52

I feel like we're losing and I

34:54

feel depressed. Um, there's other

34:56

days where I

34:58

feel that you and I

35:01

are part of this like conservation

35:04

movement that's you know, a hundred and

35:06

thirty forty years old in this country,

35:09

and how lucky are we to try

35:11

to carry on that legacy and

35:13

in this case that we're talking about today, actually build

35:15

on it, Like how lucky are we? And

35:18

so I have

35:20

ebbs and flows there for sure. Um.

35:24

But I think, you know, again, like I'm one of a

35:26

glass aft full, and you know,

35:28

I started looking at my you know,

35:30

my young kids, you know, Sydney's eleven,

35:32

Collins eight, and like,

35:35

you know, all our job is right

35:37

now is to pass. But

35:40

we've inherited on in either

35:42

the same way or better to

35:44

them, so they have something to fight

35:47

for, you know, And and it's it does

35:49

seem daunting, it seems exhausting.

35:52

Um, but man, you mean

35:54

you wouldn't even be having this conversations. Those people had

35:56

to come before us, right, and so we

35:59

are key if we're doing what we're doing,

36:02

and you know, it's it's it's about us

36:04

find out who's next, you know, is that

36:07

who's that next leader? Who's that you know? And again

36:09

like no matter where

36:12

you are on that spoke

36:14

of kind of like this wheel that is spinning right,

36:16

whether you are in the center of it as

36:19

you know, a senator or whoever, or

36:21

on the on the edges on somebody just made a phone

36:23

call or send an email, Like you're part

36:25

of this conservation kind of process, and

36:28

it's important for us all to be a part of that. And so

36:30

I have I have great hope, um

36:34

ah, and I get interepiration from

36:36

things like that we're talking about today that like actually we're

36:38

gonna be okay. But I will say it, there's

36:41

some days that I feel beat down,

36:43

and um I think there's others that feel beat

36:45

down to and I think that's natural.

36:47

But like, man, we're we're in the fight, like right,

36:49

like we're in the arena, and I think that's

36:51

pretty awesome. Yeah, yeah, I kind

36:53

of go back and forth on it, just like you. Um

36:55

there's that Leopold line where he said

36:58

the curse of an ecological education

37:00

is that you live in a world of wounds. So the point

37:02

being that if you once you start paying attention to

37:04

this stuff, you notice all of the

37:07

depressing things, the daunting things. Um.

37:10

But then, to quote another more current

37:13

person, uh Von Schnard

37:15

always says, the best care for depression is action.

37:18

And that's what I always am trying to

37:20

remind myself, like whenever I'm upset about something

37:22

or depressed about something when it comes to these things,

37:24

just just do something. Maybe it's a phone

37:26

call, maybe it's just a tweet, maybe

37:28

it's talked to a friend. But that

37:31

little bit of action I think is the best way

37:33

to, uh to keep this stuff going. And

37:35

you mentioned your kids. That's been

37:37

the thing that I think lit a fire under my ass more

37:39

than anything was having kids.

37:42

I have a two year old now and then now four week old,

37:44

so I have two boys and just

37:47

totally changes your perspective. Um.

37:50

I don't know. I don't want to get to wishy

37:53

wishy about stuff, but it's it's really

37:56

changed how I think about all this because

37:58

it's not just about you know me any

38:00

more. It's not about you, It's it's about the next

38:02

generation in a really tangible way. Yeah,

38:07

I think that perspective is really important and we're

38:09

both fathers And congratulations by the

38:11

way, Um, that is awesome. I hope you're

38:13

sleeping so sounds a personalherent

38:18

that's good. Um, But even people that don't

38:20

have kids, man like like like,

38:23

just realize again

38:25

this story, but how we got

38:27

our public lands and you haven't really, I mean, I

38:30

think your book definitely go right

38:32

in the middle of that, is it, like,

38:34

let's know the story and then like

38:36

how lucky are we to be able to carry that on?

38:38

You know, and whether you have kids or not, you know, I think

38:40

that, Um, it's pretty exciting

38:43

that you that you that we are. You

38:45

know, what we have here in the United States,

38:47

when we have in North america's

38:49

super unique and

38:51

it didn't happen by accident and it's not gonna be caring

38:53

for bactment either. And how lucky are we

38:56

that we the people can dictate how that happens.

38:58

And you know, if we don't, if

39:01

we we you know, sit back on that porch

39:03

and you know, drink that

39:05

beer and they're like, oh, we're done now, Like

39:08

we will lose it all, you know, we will lose

39:10

it all. And um, we have

39:12

to stay engaged. And I think that's actually

39:15

I mean, that's an exciting thing. Um

39:17

that we actually have the opportunity to do that.

39:19

Right, there's many other countries in this world that

39:22

don't enjoy the embarrassment of riches

39:24

that we have, and and

39:27

even if they have them, like, they

39:29

don't have the ability to

39:32

have a voice on how they're managed or what

39:34

happens with those. Uh. Well that's

39:36

public qualify for our public lands and public waters.

39:39

And so I think about how luck you are

39:41

and then stay engaged. That's that's my big

39:43

message I guess for people. Yeah, we we

39:45

do. Uh, we do have a pretty good speaking

39:48

of opportunities. There's something I should

39:50

have mentioned earlier. I want to get your perspective

39:52

on what's the story on the Map Land

39:54

Act. That's another piece that was just recently

39:57

introduced, a related public lands. Um,

40:00

can you give us a scoop on that. Yeah,

40:03

So there's a lot of inaccessible public

40:05

lands in the United States, you know, whether

40:07

that's if you look at the map

40:09

in Montana. You know, the when the

40:11

railroads came through, they got every other

40:13

section and so and they sold

40:15

that privately, and so now you have you

40:18

know, public land, private land, public land, private lands.

40:20

You have situations like that already have

40:22

situations where you have a piece of public

40:25

land, um that is

40:28

donated by private land and

40:30

you know, and so you have you think about that in

40:32

the map, that's that that that square

40:34

that has nothing but private land all the way around

40:36

it. And so we have these inaccessible public lands

40:39

in the United States, and I think that, you

40:41

know, we're trying to figure out like where these things

40:43

are and then figuring

40:45

out like how do we get to them. And I think the Map

40:47

Act does that. And you know, things

40:49

like the Land of Water Controverations one that we're talking about earlier,

40:52

or flip flu which

40:54

is like the worst acronym in the world, the Federal

40:56

Land Transaction Facilitation

40:59

Act, UM, like they help us

41:01

get to these places, but we don't, like we're

41:03

trying to identify where those things are. And so

41:05

I think that this helps us do that in a

41:07

much better way. Um. And you know,

41:10

on our public lands that belong to all of us. And

41:12

I think there's cases and you're gonna hear me say

41:14

this, and um, I hope people

41:16

hear this strongly, but like there may be same places

41:19

that you know, we want to divest. There may be some public

41:21

land that doesn't make sense for us, the people to

41:23

own. But

41:25

let's figure out what those places are and let's figure out

41:27

those places that actually really matter to us.

41:30

And and I think you know that's that's part

41:32

of this process that we're talking about. Do you

41:34

worry it all about the

41:37

slippery slope argument to

41:39

that where if we start saying we're

41:41

okay with some of that divester in

41:44

in there in the right places, in the right ways, that

41:46

folks will take that inch and make it

41:49

a mile when we're not looking. I

41:52

think, do I worry about that? Yes?

41:56

Um? But am I confident in the people?

41:58

Absolutely? And so you know I think that

42:01

again, I mean it comes back to the basic for the crux

42:04

of this whole conversation. So we have to

42:06

stay engaged and we have to be educated

42:08

on what's going on. And so if

42:10

that stuff that is happening, you know, on the dark of night,

42:13

Yeah, it makes me really freaked out if

42:15

that's happening in a public process

42:17

again, where we're deciding kind

42:19

of you know, what's important

42:21

or what is something that doesn't that

42:24

doesn't necessarily make sense for us to have

42:26

in public ownership, Like, as long as that's

42:28

happen in a public way and we're engaged. I am totally

42:30

comfortable with that. And so I think what we have to stay

42:32

vigilant about is, you know, things like you

42:35

know, when Mr Schaefitz, you, Mr Schaefitz, we

42:37

introduced that bill to sell three million

42:40

acres. He had done that before, UM,

42:43

but nobody really get attention, right,

42:46

he hadn't had the pushback like he got. And so when

42:49

that actually happened, and you know, Joe

42:53

Rogan and Steve's like, pick this up.

42:57

I changed the game, man, And it's because people are

42:59

paying attention. So to me, you know, I

43:01

think it's just we have to stay vigimin

43:04

um and so I don't I don't mind the process at

43:06

all. I think that again, it's a good

43:08

conversation to have, and we're willing to have that conversation,

43:10

you know from back on Jenner's angers. I'm willing, you know,

43:13

as the CEO, to have that conversation. Let's

43:16

do that in a public way versus kind

43:18

of like these um potential

43:21

like kind of backroom, backroom, backroom

43:23

deals. And if we if we do that, I'm

43:25

I'm confident we'll be fine. Yeah. So

43:29

so then tell me this, what's

43:31

we're we're going to rally the troops. We're going

43:34

to get our Senators to pass

43:36

this, We're going to get the House to pass their version.

43:39

President is going to fall through on his word, and this is

43:41

gonna become a law. It's gonna be a huge win.

43:45

What do you anticipate being

43:47

the next rallying point we

43:49

we we said we talked to you mentioned possibly

43:52

the the issue around the Clean Water

43:54

Act. There's everything going on with the Boundary Waters.

43:56

There's the art of National Wildlife Refuge

43:58

getting opened up. There's risk the Bay continue

44:00

to be at risk of the mind, there's the Tongus

44:02

National Forest with the role less rule. There's

44:05

the whole Bears Ears thing that's been going on

44:07

for years now. If you had to point

44:09

out what you think might be our next

44:12

major rallying point, what

44:14

do you think that would be? What

44:16

should we turn our because we're kicking ass, we're kicking ass

44:19

and taking the names these last couple of years. Where where

44:21

should we turn our attention to next? I

44:24

think it's a great question, mark, and I

44:26

think I think the iconic

44:29

landscapes that you just described are absolutely

44:31

what we need to turn our attention to. And

44:35

you know, the there as many things that we could

44:37

talk about right now kind of still that are happening

44:40

at the federal level. And well that's like what the

44:42

the next farm bill and conservational

44:45

reserve program or you know againting

44:47

clean water. I think those are major

44:49

major issues. But as

44:52

you said earlier, like we only have to

44:55

lose once, right, like the Boundary

44:57

Waters that mine goes in, right

45:01

that changes that landscape forever. Bristol

45:03

Bay, you know that mine goes in up there, like

45:06

that changes that landscape forever, like

45:08

we don't ever get that back. And

45:10

so I think, you know, I think

45:13

for me personally, I think our organization,

45:15

and then folks listen to this. I

45:17

think about those landscapes that are important to you

45:20

and and really I think these iconic

45:22

places like the boundary waters like Bristol

45:25

Bay, like Congus, like the

45:28

Arctic National wal Life Preftage. And I've

45:30

never been to the Arctic National Life Prefuge, but

45:32

holy cow, do I want to protect this because it's like this,

45:35

it's like this dream

45:37

of mine to go up there, right Like, I just like

45:39

this this special place that belongs

45:41

to you and I and everybody on this you know, let's listening to

45:43

this and we may

45:45

never go there. I may never go there. The

45:48

Holy Cow? Is that? Like what a what a

45:50

special thing that we have and and why would

45:52

we try to defile that? And so I think, like I

45:54

think turning our attention to

45:57

these iconic landscapes. You know,

45:59

I have been in the underwaters. Um,

46:01

it's just this amazing, amazing, amazing

46:04

play is the number one visited wilderness

46:06

in the in the country. Um,

46:09

it's I'm taking my kids there in August

46:11

this year. Like that

46:13

place, dude, is like and

46:15

if we all turn our attention to that, like

46:18

we did on this Land and Water Conservation Fund, like

46:21

we protect that place for all

46:23

future generations. Like all we have to do is like get

46:25

that minimal withdrawal you

46:27

know is south

46:29

of there. That's all we have to

46:31

do, and then let's protected forever. Like we have to worry. We

46:33

can put that one aside. And I think like that,

46:36

you know, and I think Bristol Bay. I mean

46:38

we again we talked about these landscapes. I

46:41

think finding those landscapes that are important to you,

46:43

and you know I talked about earlier with the

46:46

public lands package that was passed last

46:48

year, like the minimals draw off and the Mentel

46:50

Valley, the minimal draw outside of Yellowstone.

46:53

I find those places that are key to you and turn

46:55

your attention to that and be like a dog on

46:57

a bone and like, don't let that thing go and

47:00

um use your voice. And I think you

47:02

know that I would, Saul.

47:05

I suggest to anybody that's listening to this that I'm gonna

47:07

suggest to like my North American board

47:10

and the staff, that we really pivot into

47:12

and really take this woementum and look at

47:14

these you know, special landscapes um,

47:17

because if they're defiled, we don't ever

47:19

get that back. And you know, if land

47:21

a water conservation fund didn't pass,

47:24

will that be horrible in a lot of ways? Yes,

47:26

But is that going to be you know, we're

47:28

really gonna lose something in a lot of ways.

47:31

You know, like this is a huge opportunity with that. But

47:34

these landscapes, man, if if

47:36

you if you lose these special places,

47:38

you never ever get it back. And I don't I

47:40

don't ever want to be you

47:43

know, on a phone with you or

47:46

in person talking about Man, remember that thing we

47:48

tried to do on that landscape and it didn't work out,

47:50

And now there's like this huge problem. Like I don't. I

47:52

don't want to have that conversation, you know, I

47:54

really don't. And so I think that's

47:57

there's a long way to say, and like let's turn our into

48:00

those special places. Yeah, I'm right there with

48:02

you. And the Boundary Waters is a great

48:04

a great example of a place that needs

48:06

are our love intention After getting

48:09

to see it last year, I'm I'm smitten

48:11

just like you are. That place is special. So

48:14

I love that word. By the way, smitten is one of my favorite

48:16

words. Thank you for saying that.

48:19

So so maybe you already answered my last

48:21

question, but we

48:24

got to revel a little bit in these places we love

48:26

so much. What public land adventure

48:28

of your own coming up in are

48:31

you the most excited about? You

48:35

know, I think I did just mention that I think the Boundary

48:37

Waters and it's not for me, it's for my kids

48:39

and my wife. Um, you

48:41

know I I we just got back from

48:44

Mexico and everybody listener is gonna think that all

48:46

I do is just go travel and I'm gonna be awesome places,

48:48

which was not the case at all. I

48:51

mean, I got cell phone here

48:53

and uh in typewriter hands.

48:55

Um, but we're going to go into the Boundary

48:57

Waters in August, and you

49:00

know what I'm excited about is like, you know, showing

49:02

the landscape to them that they

49:05

heard me talk about a lot. But

49:07

I can't wait for that first fish, for calling,

49:09

or for Sitney to catch like

49:11

like that that excitement that

49:13

they feel when they do that, Like

49:16

I'm living vicariously through them, like I'm a little

49:18

kid again, and I just so I'm

49:20

I'm man that trip. I'm like just

49:23

chomping at the bit around. We just

49:26

put it on the calendar, you know, in our lives, like if

49:28

something goes on the calendar actually going to happen. You

49:30

know, there's so much important

49:32

soccer and school and like

49:34

whatever. You know, there's all in my travel, there's

49:36

all these things. But once we bought it out on the calendar, we're

49:39

gonna do it. So that's what I'm most

49:41

excited about, is going up to the Bounderwater. That's

49:43

awesome. That's definitely on my list. Once the

49:45

boys get old enough, I definitely

49:47

want to take them out there too. That was the one of the first things

49:49

me and my buddies were talking about while we were there last

49:52

fall, was, oh, we gotta get back with

49:54

the family some day, so pretty

49:56

special place. Well, can

49:58

you do me one more favorite, can give us that phone

50:01

number one last time for how people can

50:03

call their senators to make the

50:06

g A O Act, the Great American

50:08

Outdoors Act Reality. What was that? Absolutely

50:11

So it's two oh two to two

50:14

four three one two one,

50:16

and then you're gonna get a switchboard and

50:18

all you need to do it just tell them where you're from and

50:20

then ask them to connect you to

50:23

your senator. And you'll have to make two phone

50:25

calls because you can't just you can't just pass them through

50:27

on both. But like that's all you have to do,

50:29

ask them, uh, you know, to

50:32

pass this bill as soon as possible. Perfect,

50:35

all right, Land, Well, thank you for keeping us informed,

50:37

thanks for helping us stay engaged, and

50:39

uh, I'm gonna keep on pulling you on here

50:42

once a year for good news. Okay,

50:45

Well, let's uh let's make a point that like

50:47

like again that we're getting that done right, So I would

50:49

love if you and I are getting on the phone once

50:51

a year to celebrate. That's a pretty cool thing, but I think

50:53

we should do it, alright. Thank

50:56

you for the time. I appreciate it. Thank

50:58

you so much, Mark, and that's

51:00

gonna do it for us today. Thanks for joining

51:02

in, thanks for listening. Make

51:04

sure you call, you email,

51:07

you tweet, you Facebook, you

51:09

go knock on the doors of your senators,

51:11

and make the Great American Outdoors Act

51:13

a reality. We've got the power,

51:16

we've got their ear. Let's just make it happen.

51:19

So until next time, thank

51:21

you, and stay wired

51:24

to hunt.