BCJ_FALL17 Digital Edition

BHA HEADQUARTERS
BHA PODCAST & BLAST
IN JULY, BHA KICKED OFF BHA’s Podcast & Blast featuring the vocal and interviewing talents of Hal
Herring, an award-winning journalist and contributing editor at Field & Stream. With each new podcast
you can expect to hear conversations that are both entertaining and provocative. Guests so far have included
Randy Newberg of On Your Own Adventures, Mike Schoby of Petersen’s Hunting, Steven Rinella of
MeatEater, Anthony Licata of Field & Stream and conservation legend Jim Posewitz. As of mid-September
the podcast had more than 100,000 downloads across iTunes, Stitcher and Podbean. It also can be found
on YouTube.
Hal has written for a wide range of publications including The Atlantic, The Economist, High Country
News and Bugle. He’s a lifelong outdoorsman, mountaineer, hunter and fisherman and is well known for his
deeply reported, thought-provoking stories and essays. Born and raised in northern Alabama, Hal moved to
NEW FACES ON STAFF
AS BHA CONTINUES TO GROW so does our staff of passionate
conservationists. We are proud to introduce three new members
of our team.
CHRIS HENNESSEY, New York and Pennsylvania Public
Lands Coordinator. Chris
grew up in suburban Philadelphia
with a passion for
hunting, fishing, camping
and nature. Now a resident
of the outdoor mecca of State
College, Pa., he is surrounded
by the ridges and valleys
of the Allegheny Mountains.
There, and across the country,
he enjoys many types of
public land recreation with
his wife, Tina, and their children PattyAnn and William.
Chris spent most of his career in newspapers and public relations.
His conservation ethic was honed while directing communications
at a land trust in State College. He is excited to be on
board at BHA and looks forward to working with members in to
protect our precious woods and waters.
JOSH KAYWOOD,
Southeast Chapter Coordinator.
Josh grew up
backpacking, climbing and
kayaking in the Blue Ridge
Mountains, where he developed
a passion for the
outdoors. While attending
college at the University of
Mississippi he was introduced
to a new landscape,
the Mississippi Delta, where
BHA RESPONDS TO LEAKED DOI NATIONAL MONUMENTS REPORT
IN APRIL 2017, PRESIDENT TRUMP SIGNED an executive
order instructing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review national
monument designations from the past 21 years, a total of 27
monuments. Zinke toured the country for four months visiting
some of the monuments and speaking with proponents both for
he fell in love with waterfowl hunting. The cypress swamps and
fields of the delta provided a new lens through which to view the
outdoors and inevitably led to his growing interests in small game
hunting, as well as bowhunting whitetails and black bears.
Before coming to BHA, Josh was an entrepreneur in healthcare,
largely focusing on business development. Josh is a founding
member of the Southeast Chapter and served as its first chair,
which fostered a desire for a deeper level of commitment to the
BHA mission.
ALIAH ADAMS KNOPFF, Alberta Public Lands Coordinator.
Aliah has always had a
passion for wild places, especially
the mountain backcountry
of Western Canada
and the U.S. She grew up
hiking, backpacking, skiing
and being outdoors with
family. She is now passing
on these traditions to her
own children. Aliah was introduced
to hunting in her
early 20s, and she now uses
her annual fall hunts to spend time in the mountains and ensure
a freezer full of wild Alberta meat to fuel her family.
Aliah’s interest in conservation led her to pursue undergraduate
degrees in environmental science and international relations.
Over the past six years, Aliah has been an environmental consultant
working with Alberta’s large mammals, including mountain
goats, bighorn sheep, cougars and bears.
As the Alberta public lands coordinator with BHA, Aliah will
focus her passion for the outdoors and conservation on fostering
a collaborative network of individuals and organizations with a
shared purpose of preserving the ecological integrity of Alberta’s
public lands and wild spaces.
and against the protection. In August, Zinke turned in his review
to President Trump, but it was not made public.
On Sept. 17, The Wall Street Journal published a leaked version
of Zinke’s report. It outlined a plan for changing the management
of 10 iconic American national monuments and reducing the
8 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL FALL 2017