The Real Cost of Public Land Transfer
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring
Zack Williams
4.8 • 877 Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Inside a new economic assessment of federal public lands
For a lot of us, public lands are deeply personal. They're where we learned to hunt, where we camp with our families, where we go to breathe a little easier and remember what matters. But increasingly, the future of those lands is being debated in terms of economics, efficiency and ownership — and those conversations are getting louder across the West.
On this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers podcast, we sit down with BHA's Regional Stewardship and Habitat Connectivity Manager, Dre Arman, to unpack a new economic assessment put out by BHA's Idaho chapter and partners examining what a large-scale transfer of federal public lands to the state could actually cost.
We break down the numbers behind land transfer proposals, the jobs and communities tied to public lands, and why these conversations matter not just for Idaho, but for every public land owner in America. It's a thoughtful discussion about stewardship, economics and the long-term future of the places we all care about.
Podcast reminder: BHA is still planning next steps for our podcast. Thanks for listening to this new and important conversation, and we'll be sure to update everyone as soon more information is available on what's to come. Thanks for bearing with us.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So the state has to come up with even if it's in the best case scenario, more efficient, |
| 0:09.0 | they have to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to manage these lands. |
| 0:14.0 | They have to figure out where that money is going to come from, whether it's taxpayers or something else. |
| 0:20.0 | Our state government agencies are not set up in that same way. |
| 0:24.4 | And so to have that same multi-use mandate at the state level would require a level of bureaucratic |
| 0:32.1 | collaboration that doesn't exist yet in Idaho. |
| 0:36.2 | Again, going back to the value, we can look at these numbers all day. We can |
| 0:40.5 | quantify that value of our public lands in all of these different ways, but the true value is |
| 0:46.6 | definitely felt when you're out there breathing the fresh air and or getting rained on or just |
| 0:52.2 | having a good time. |
| 0:55.4 | Hey, everyone. |
| 1:01.5 | Welcome back for another episode of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers podcast. |
| 1:05.8 | You may have already noticed, I am not Hal Herring. |
| 1:14.5 | We announced recently, Hal his own choice, has decided to pursue some other professional options, and we wish him the very best, and he's still an important part of our organization, |
| 1:22.5 | and I'm sure we'll hear more from him in the future. |
| 1:25.8 | But in the meantime, we are continuing with the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers podcast. |
| 1:30.8 | I'm Zach Williams, your host today. |
| 1:33.8 | And we are currently planning what we're going to do in the future. |
| 1:38.1 | But right now, we're going to mix in some of these episodes with myself hosting, |
| 1:43.5 | others hosting, some episodes of our |
| 1:46.3 | conservation collective podcast with Chris Borgatti as well. So please stay tuned, keep |
| 1:54.7 | listening to what we're working on, and we will continue to fill you in as we plan the next phase of the podcast. |
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