Since I started volunteering and organizing tenkara events, I’ve had many discussions with other anglers about conservation. I quickly learned that the tenkara community is very passionate about conservation. At the 2024 White Mountains Tenkara Campout in New Hampshire, I donated some of my own brook trout-y, fish-y, tenkara-y items, and also got discounted items from other vendors to raffle off. We raised $1,000 for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA) and Native Fish Coalition (NFC)!
To me, this was a huge message being sent to the larger fishing community and myself that we, the tenkara community, can make a difference when it comes to these fragile lands we love to fish. We do so by collectively contributing to these organizations that hold true to values that allow us the opportunity to continue to fish with a tenkara rod on lands that otherwise wouldn’t be accessible or available to the public in the United States.
Currently, the message of “keep public lands in public hands” is being pushed in order to maintain just that. Making sure we have a place to fish as humans of this beautiful Earth. This quote of keeping public lands in public hands is the slogan of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and I am enjoying what Nate Camp, aka @Camp_Made on social media, is doing throughout New England as the BHA Armed Forces Initiative (AFI) New England Liaison.
I am happy to not only call him a friend but someone whom I have fished with in several states through the past three years and taught tenkara with to dozens of people throughout New England. These states include New York, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.
In 2024 and 2025, Nate Camp has hosted and completely planned two free tenkara events for veterans that I have been involved in. I was asked to be a co-instructor for these events and we have taught in the Catskills and Connecticut together for the BHA/AFI. It was my pleasure to give back to the people who gave themselves for this land and I love to see the BHA organization also making sure we continue to fight for our rights to these lands.
Along with the free veterans event, this past June, there was a free women’s tenkara event hosted by BHA, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), and Heritage Tenkara Project (HTP). It was held in Connecticut and is part of the “Becoming an Outdoors Woman” (BOW) that a part of CT DEEP and involves free outdoor activities for women. These activities include archery, hunting, foraging, and fishing, amongst other outdoor hobbies.
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