Public lands don’t belong to one party, one type of user, or one corner of the country. They belong to all of us. And right now, they need all of us.

Cal Callaghan — President and CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and host of Cal’s Week in Review on the MeatEater Network — joins me for the third episode in our Save Public Lands series. Cal brings a perspective that cuts through the noise in a way few can: non-partisan, non-species-specific, and unambiguous about what’s at stake.

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers has 44 chapters and 35,000 active members across North America. Their work includes reseeding burn areas, removing derelict fencing from migration corridors, prescribed burns, juniper removal, and trash pickups. And they show up for public lands whether it’s hunting season or not — because stewardship is year-round.

 

A note from Missy: Cal said something that I keep thinking about — that all of us who use public lands are like canaries in the coal mine. Hikers, hunters, anglers, skiers, stargazers, dog walkers. We all occupy different niches on the same landscape, and we all have the ability to observe and report back on how these places are doing. That’s not something AI is going to do for us. That’s us. And right now is the moment to show up.

Sign the Petition
Image from Bears Ears National Park with Save Public Lands written on top of the image

Episode Guest

Cal Callaghan — President & CEO Backcountry Hunters and Anglers 

Host, Cal’s Week in Review — MeatEater Network

“We don’t need you to hunt or angle. We just need you to love your public lands.”

Sign the Petition – Take Action Now

→ savepubliclands.us

Four fields: first name, last name, zip code, email. Submit. Then tell five people.

Three demands:

  • No sell-offs of America’s public lands
  • No backroom deals that cut everyday people out of the process
  • No giveaways to foreign mining companies

Signatures will be delivered to Congress and state houses on National Public Lands Day, September 26th, 2026.

Show Notes & Links

Transcript

Save Public Lands: This Belongs to All of Us
The Parks Podcast, Episode 84 | Cal Callaghan, President & CEO, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
Welcome and About Backcountry Hunters and Anglers

Missy Rentz: I’m very excited to welcome Cal Callaghan to The Parks Podcast. Cal is the President and CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and the host of the podcast Cal’s Week in Review on the MeatEater Network. Cal, welcome to The Parks Podcast.

Cal Callaghan: Thank you so much for having me, Missy.

Missy: So I’m really excited to talk to you about the Save Public Lands campaign, but before we get to that, can you tell me a little bit about Backcountry Hunters and Anglers?

Cal: Sure. Big tent organization. We’re not species or issue specific. We’re also not administration specific — we are a non-partisan 501(c)(3), North America based. We have chapters and members all across the continent. We also have an armed forces initiative both for active duty and veteran military community members, and they’re far-flung — all over this planet. We advocate for public land, public water, and public wildlife. We’re very fortunate to have an abundance here in America. And we also run stewardship programs — that can be replanting burn areas before the noxious weeds get in there, removing derelict fence in migration corridors on BLM land, prescribed burns, juniper removal, trash pickups. Low barrier to entry events are kind of what we really like to do.

Missy: And you guys have chapters all around the country.

Cal: Yeah, we have 44 chapters right now, and just right around 35,000 active members.

Missy: I love all the work that you’re doing. Is it meant to preserve or make hunting and fishing better or improve it in these regions? Is it tied to that?

Cal: I mean, that’s certainly a motivation for an entry point for a lot of our members. But you know what’s fun is if you make something good for hunting, it’s also good for all the pollinators, the migratory birds, songbirds, et cetera. And when folks may raise their eyebrows at a hunting organization, I do remind them that that work is year-round — and hunting season’s only a couple months of the year. I do think that conservation can be a guilty pleasure for a lot of people, and I’m fine with that. We certainly love our hunting and fishing and wild food, but it’s definitely not the only motivator.

Reject the Politics, Focus on the Policy

Missy: One thing that you talked about is being non-political, and I think this administration is trying to politicize public lands. But one thing I love about this industry is that we are all so quick to squash it — that we love public lands. It doesn’t matter your beliefs or your background or your age or religion or any of that stuff. If you’re a public land lover, you want to protect our public lands.

Cal: Absolutely. And we say all the time — please do reject the politics. Focus on the policy. It’s gonna affect you whether you are red, white, blue, whatever, wherever on the spectrum. Don’t think that it won’t. This is about this huge middle part of the Venn diagram — not the fringes.

Missy: Yes. And the other area that you all play in is recreation. And I think that so often when I’m talking about it — and I’m totally guilty of it — when we’re hosting episodes and we talk about conservation, it really leans toward plant, animal, more environmental. But recreation is a major component of the conservation movement.

Cal: It really is. Obviously there are revenue funding sources that come from recreation. It certainly moves the needle when you are advocating for all the issues du jour. It really does help if you say, “Hey, me, my family, my extended family — we spend money in this community because we like going here.” On top of that, I really see the multiple user groups out there — the whole recreation web — like this Kevlar vest that sits out in front of these very special places, and we’re all woven fibers in that thing. I want there to be this system of multi-use because hunters aren’t out year-round hunting. We can occupy a special niche out there on the landscape because oftentimes we’re off trail. But we’re not covering the same ground that a backcountry skier is, or somebody who just wants to get to the top of a 14,000-foot peak, or somebody who wants to find a dark sky area and look at the stars — and the list goes on and on.

Cal: What people need to remember is we’re all like these canaries in the coal mine. We’re all occupying these little niches, and we can all occupy many of them individually throughout the calendar year. But we all have this ability to observe and report back on how these amazing opportunities and special places are doing — and that’s not something AI is gonna do for us.

The Save Public Lands Campaign

Missy: We need to be out there to let our brains breathe a little bit and give us a little bit of space and community. You are very involved in a program that we have talked about now for two weeks. You’re our third episode on Save Public Lands — this proactive initiative that is so important to protecting our public lands. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Cal: Yeah. I mean, proactive’s a great word. But the basis is to want people to stand up — literally sign on the dotted line on behalf of our shared amazing natural resources, our public lands. A million signatures I think is a low bar. But it shows outwardly this community that we have. And community is a very special thing right now. Getting people to turn out to things may be more difficult now than it has been in the past, but I think the impact is greater. Being able to look around and be like, “Oh my gosh — never thought I’d see that person here. These people may not look like me, act like me, smell like me. We have different backgrounds. But we’re here for this thing.” And we have that in common — that is an amazing thing to face head-on.

Cal: There are all sorts of inside baseball routes being played all the time, and I would say right now it is largely not working. What we are lacking is this united front that spans the political spectrum and ideological spectrum and economic spectrum. People in elected and appointed places have to look out and go, “Oh my gosh — I never see these groups coming together.”

Missy: Yeah, absolutely. I think it is so important. What we’re asking people to do is go to savepubliclands.us. It is the easiest petition ever — it’s like name, address, zip code, submit sort of a thing. And so we’ll put links everywhere and encourage people to go do that. And again, just to repeat what you said, the goal is one million. I’m with you — I think that’s easy. There’s more than a million people that use our public lands, so if we just get those who use it, it’s gonna be easy to do.

Cal: There are more than a million people who buy a duck stamp, which funds our refuge system. That’s just one part of the community. A million is a low bar.

Missy: Yeah. So all of us just need to come together. And I will say one thing — it’s so moving, it kind of sends chills, any time I’m doing something on this preservation and conservation front, is how many of us are so different. But when we come together, we have this common bond, and it’s really fun to be together. So we’re not even asking you to go show up someplace. Just go to your computer and go to savepubliclands.us and make it happen.

What Public Lands Mean to Cal

Missy: Let me ask you — what do the public lands mean to you?

Cal: Oh my gosh. It is the only place I get to go where my brain turns off and gets more focused. Just being an observer of the natural world is relaxing and cathartic — but also a place where I really challenge myself. I love our big contiguous chunks of BLM or US Forest Service. I would identify as a wilderness unassisted backpack hunter. Big long trips. Love being out in the cold specifically. But if you break it all down by math, I’m a front country quick hit — walk on the trail, swim the dogs, throw sticks, pack this little baby boy around for as much as he can stand. Just a public lands junkie. To me it’s — I have a sense of ownership out there. And with that sense of ownership comes stewardship and responsibility.

Missy: We again want to reiterate that the Save Public Lands campaign is happening through September 26th, which is National Public Lands Day. And you can go to savepubliclands.us to sign the petition. We’re hoping to get a million plus signatures to take to Washington and to our state capitals. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thanks for everything that you and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers are doing.

Cal: Thank you so much. Yeah, become a member today. We don’t need you to hunt or angle. We just need you to love your public lands.

Missy: We’ll definitely put links in the show notes for all of that. That’s it for this episode. Until next time — we’ll see you in the parks.

Music for The Parks Podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. Follow us @TheParksPodcast or visit TheParksPodcast.com.