Yes, it’s copyrighted. Photo by Louis Cahill

By Louis Cahill

Let’s take a minute this July 4th to think about what we have.

The image you see here is one of my most popular. I regularly get emails about it. Folks commonly download it and plaster it on their Facebook pages. It seems that every US based angler who sees it has a visceral response. Why do you think that is?

I think it’s pride. Here in the US we anglers have a lot to be proud of. I have fished all over the world and I can tell you that we have a remarkable and unique resource here at home. We have water and land that make anglers around the world envious. The thing with makes me the proudest of my homeland is our vast public lands. Like those anglers who email me about my photo, I too have a profound and visceral response. I think we should all be proud of what we have and what we have been able to keep. It’s a very rare thing in this world and it sets our country apart.

Problem is, we aren’t doing a very good job of looking after it.

We take it for granted. We neglect it and we are, at this point in our nations history, the closest we have ever been to losing it. That’s not something we should be proud of. Ask yourself this. Do you want to be part of the generation who lost our public lands? If not, you’d better start doing something about it.

So let’s take a minute this Independence Day and ask ourselves if we are proud. Are we proud of our heritage? Proud of our country? Proud of our public lands? Most importantly, are we proud of what we have done to protect and preserve them. Take that seriously and be honest. It’s easy to put your chest out and say you’re a proud American. It’s not so easy to do something for America that you can be proud of.

Start here. SPORTSMENSACCESS.ORG

On a personal note, did you know it’s our Birthday? G&G launched on July 4th 2011? Thanks for 6 years of pure awesome!

Happy Independence Day from Gink and Gasoline