Hilary Hutcheson, Mario Molina, Brooks Scott, and Whitney Tilt share their thoughts and expertise on climate change (photo courtesy of BHA)
Whitney Tilt, Executive Director of the AFFTA Fisheries Fund
In March, I moderated a panel entitled “Climate Change and Tomorrow’s Fish” at the 2023 Backcountry Hunting and Anglers (BHA) annual rendezvous in Missoula, Montana. Joining me were Hilary Hutcheson, Owner & Operator of Lary’s Fly & Supply in Columbia Falls, MT (board member of AFF, BHA, and POW); Mario Molina, Executive Director of Protect Our Winters (POW); and Brooks Scott, Executive Director, Yellow Dog Community & Conservation Foundation, Bozeman, MT and Director of Business Development, Emerger Strategies.
The panel brought a professional and personal commitment to addressing the impacts of climate change—collectively as professional fishing guides, alpinists, outdoor industry professionals, fish and wildlife conservationists, and parents. The overall question before the panel was as the reality of human-caused climate change becomes more and apparent, what can we do?
A good deal of smart thinking was shared with an attentive audience. Most significantly for me, however, were two overarching themes.
First, there was a real sense in the room at the Missoula Fairgrounds that we have perhaps turned the corner from having to defend whether or not climate change is real. Freed of the onus to recite the negative impacts of sea level rise, warming water, and unrecognizable weather, the conversation could turn “what the heck can we do about it?” The discussion ranged from the very broad (“How do we build the necessary political will”) to the tangible (“We need to invest in upgrading the nation’s electrical grid to be able to take advantage of the growing renewables market”).
Second, was the emerging effort build a larger community of interest that encompasses the highest ice and snow covered peaks all the way downstream to the oceans. The AFFTA Fisheries Fund and the Tomorrows Fish Campaign have been working to raise knowledge and awareness and inspire anglers to engage in actions that build climate-ready fisheries. BHA has a similar interest among its membership. Protect Our Winters, however, has worked to form a growing community of athletes, scientists, creatives, and business leaders to advance non-partisan policies to address climate change. To get there, as Mario Molina pointed during the panel discussion, we need to “mobilize the outdoor state.” And that outdoor state needs to include all of us that care about the outdoors—from members of the U.S. Ski Team and mountain bikers to anglers and hunters.
To learn more about POW I invite you to:
View POW’s 60-second “Common Ground” video.
Read Blake Hounshell’s New York Times article “How Rock Climbers and Snowboarders Became a Political Force.”
Increase your Climate Advocacy IQ with CRUX Academy’s “Finding Common Ground: How To Be A Climate Advocate,” a free, two-hour online course that you can take at your leisure.