Mission Statement of Back Country Horsemen of America
- To perpetuate the commonsense use and enjoyment of horses in America’s backcountry and wilderness
- To work to ensure that public lands remain open to recreational stock use
- To assist the various government and private agencies in their maintenance and management of said resource
- To educate, encourage and solicit active participation in the wise use of the backcountry resource by horsemen and the general public commensurate with our heritage
- To foster and encourage the formation of new state Back Country Horsemen organizations
What We Do and Why We Do It
We value the principle of public lands, which at its core means these are our lands to not only enjoy but also to protect for the generations who come after us.
It is a stewardship vision we share with the land-management agencies with whom we partner and who are tasked with caring for these lands. It is an undertaking with very real challenges…and consequences. Funding to maintain trails and for other work continues to decline for agencies like the Forest Service, which means fewer resources to get the work done. Combine this with the devastating die-off of trees from spruce-beetle-kill in southwest Colorado over the last 10 years, and the number of trails blocked and damaged by downed trees compounds the problem dramatically. The reality of the situation is that it’s increasingly harder to maintain trails for riding, hiking, hunting and fishing.