Travel Management Planning and the NRA

Last week the National Rifle Association decided to weigh in on travel planning in the fashion they typically use for gun control issues – their over-exaggerated sensationalism argues that travel management planning will end hunting as we know it.  

The article, which appeared in their online publication, The Outdoor Wire, stated that, “TMPs can work dramatically against hunter access.”  Unfortunately, the primary example they use to illustrate this is suspect at best, and more likely patently false.  See the below quote from Gary Marbut, President of the Montana Shooting Sports Association:

Twenty years ago," Marbut continued, "there were enough points of road access to these lands that a person would have a decent chance of getting a 4x4 within three or four miles of a downed elk, making the retrieval possible, even if difficult. Now, with the many road closures, there are lots of places where it would be necessary to pack a downed elk 10, 20 or 30 miles through rugged, mountainous terrain-simply not possible for the usual hunter.

Apparently Marbut didn’t look very closely at this or other travel planning maps before making his statement.  Numerous studies have been published showing that the farthest you can get from a road in the lower 48 states is approximately 20 miles, deep in the heart of the wilderness in Yellowstone National Park.  In most other places in the United States, even in wilderness, you will never be more than a few miles from a road.  Interestingly, Marbut agrees that being within 3-4 miles of a road is fine for hauling out an elk (but from what I’ve heard from my hunter friends, that’s still a hefty trek carrying hundreds of pounds of meat on your back).  To say that the road closures in the Badger Two Medicine area, or anywhere else on public lands in the lower 48 will result in “lots of places where it would be necessary to pack a downed elk 10, 20 or 30 miles” is absolutely ludicrous.

Fortunately, Trout Unlimited’s Gregory Moore authored a detailed and pointed response (scroll to the very bottom of the link to get to Moore's full response): 

In New Mexico, only 1.2 percent of land in the state is two or more miles from a designated road, and less than 8 percent of lands are less than one mile from a designated road. In Colorado, only 6 percent of public lands are more than one miles from a road, wilderness included.

The stats Moore cites from NM and CO are similar to those you would find in most other states.  And his article also refutes other claims in the original article, resorting not to exaggeration, but to fact, to point out that smart and deliberate road and motorized management is the foundation on which good hunting opportunities are built.  Fortunately Moore, and many other hunters recognize this, and as Moore explains, they are actively engaging in travel management planning on federal lands.

On April 22, the original author responded to Moore (scroll all the way down after you click on the link) so the saga continues.  To his credit, the latest article is much more reasoned and less sensationalist.  From the running commentary, it’s clear that the debate about motorized use within the hunting community remains unresolved.