On Colorado Public Lands Day in May of 2023, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA) organized a Beers, Bands, and Barbed Wire Strands event in Gunnison, Colorado. Our Chapter Leadership team set a lofty goal of pulling 5 miles of barbed wire fence in 1 day. But we didn’t want to just pull fence, we wanted to have one heck of a party to celebrate the fence removal accomplishment as well. BHA worked with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to identify 4 different fence sites within the immediate Gunnison area which were in prime big game winter habitat but were no longer being used for cattle grazing. 

BHA has been lucky to have developed such a great relationship with our local land and wildlife agencies.  Our Gunnison team has been collaborating on fence modification and removal for years now with CPW and BLM, however we’d never tried to tackle so much at once. BHA has made fence removal all along the western slope of Colorado a high priority. 

Habitat Connectivity

Gunnison sits at the lowest elevation of the famed basin. Encircling Gunnison are multiple mountain ranges which can have shocking snow totals each winter. Big game animals winter in and around Gunnison, each summer working up towards some of the tallest peaks in the west, then returning each winter before repeating the process the next season. Connectivity is a must for migrating herds of deer and elk, they simply must have winter habitat, summer habitat, and everything in between must be accessible to survive. Unfortunately, connectivity is a greater challenge every year in the west. Across almost every landscape, big game migrations are wrought with challenges and some of these are not easily resolved issues. 

In the scope of landscape connectivity there are several major hurdles in the west. First and certainly most important is the land. Public and private lands, land use restrictions, easements, trails, these all play the most critical role in wildlife habitat. Land development is a substantial issue in Gunnison County and the rest of the western slope of Colorado. Simply put, there is not enough housing for the amount of folks moving to Gunnison County, and the struggle between development and habitat is not an easily answered problem. 

With more development, more housing, more residents and tourists, comes more roads and more traffic on those roads, which can cause significant issues for migrating wildlife. Perhaps you’ve seen the creative and impressive structures being crafted along many highways in the west, utilizing wildlife overpasses, underpasses, as well as other highway safety measures. While these are very important, they require time, infrastructure, studies, and most importantly, substantial funding. 

While the two issues mentioned above are the most important to wildlife habitat connectivity, the third, fence modification and removal projects, are the most immediately impactful for a group of volunteers on a weekend in May. Many volunteers want to be involved, want to be engaged, and want to help direct major decisions especially when it affects our public lands and our wildlife. However, many of us really crave getting our boots and hands dirty on a spring day as well. Throw in a cold beer and a high five, maybe even a chance at winning a Savage Arms 110 High Country and well, now you understand the desire to attend the Beers, Bands and Barbed Wire Strands event. 

Human Connectivity

I feel blessed to have been raised in a time when connectivity still happened face to face. My dad would take me to the music store where the owner (who knew my name by the way), would make personal recommendations based on my interest. That’s right youngens, you used to buy music at a store in a building! Then we’d drive down the road and buy some fishing lures from our local shop for the weekend. Now while I totally appreciate you are reading this online, it’s that person to person connectivity I find so important to this day. 

Have you ever tried to find a recommendation for buying your son’s first hunting rifle online? If you have chances are, you’ve only got 1200 more chat room discussions to read before you find a definitive answer. Having a friend that I trusted tell me face to face that his son owned a Savage 110 Storm in a 6.5 Creedmoor and it was the “best shootin’ gun I’ve ever owned” was all I needed to hear to make my decision. 

When our Gunnison BHA group set out to begin looking for sponsors for our large event in May 2023 we understandably asked, “where do we start”? I figured I’d start with what was in my hunting kit and I went straight to Savage Arms. Fast forward to the event, Saturday night, 150 people with beers in hand about to toast to a successful 5 miles of fence gone. With the mic in hand, 300 eyes staring, 300 ears listening to the numbers on their giveaway ticket, the stoke truly immeasurable, it dawned on me just how important the connectivity was in the project. The rifle company I supported, in turn supported our BHA project to benefit wildlife where my family lives. Removing even one obstacle in that wildlife migration route would no doubt create a healthier herd, which hopefully would allow my son a chance at using said rifle to feed the family and well, how’s that for connectivity?! Bringing like-minded people together to accomplish such a lofty goal was truly rewarding. Having generous sponsors provide their support and show our community how important our wildlife and habitat are to them is something I’m just honored to have borne witness to. 

Your Connectivity

One of the best parts about BHA to me is that Backcountry Hunters and Anglers allows for a lot of interpretation. My first experience with BHA was at an archery film festival. By the end of the night, I had met some really cool people, won some great binoculars, grabbed a free copy of their quarterly magazine the Backcountry Journal, and become a member. That was probably 8 years ago now. In the following years I attended more events as they came through Gunnison and learned that BHA is a pretty wide-open slate. If it benefits public lands and access, or serves as stewardship for wildlife habitat and fisheries, there’s a real good chance they support it. If your passion is hunting and fishing film festivals, creating opportunities to grow youth involvement in hunting, teaching others to tie flies at a craft brewery, or in this case, stomp around in the sage pulling out old fencing, BHA wants to support your advocacy and will allow you to get out there and make a difference. 

Check out BHA and get involved as a member, contact your state’s Chapter or follow us on Instagram to find out about our next exciting event. I’ll see you soon at a BHA event and on the public lands and rivers.