Thirty Great American Places

September is a month tailor-made for sportsmen and women and there is no better place to spend it than on our public lands.

The dog days of summer have given way to cooler temperatures and a multitude of opportunities beckon hunters and anglers: brown trout chasing streamers, elk bugles ringing through the mountains, ruffed grouse bursting from underfoot, brook trout aglow in spawning colors, hatches of blue wing olives, salmon returning home to spawn…

We all have our favorite public lands where we savor these experiences and this September we are celebrating them with 30 Great American Places. Join us as we unveil 30 of our best public lands throughout the month of September and take action to protect America’s hunting and fishing heritage.

East Fork Lewis River

The East Fork of the Lewis River flows out of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, a 1,368,300-acre swath of mountains, river valleys, waterfalls and wilderness areas in southwestern Washington, northeast of Portland, Oregon.

Sumter National Forest

The Sumter National Forest covers more than 370,000 acres spread over three non-contiguous ranger districts in South Carolina.

Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest

The 2.1 million-acre Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest is mere minutes from Utah’s largest cities running just east of the Wasatch Front on the Wasatch Mountains. It also stretches for more than 130 miles north to south from Logan to Spanish Fork.

George Washington and Jefferson National Forests

The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests comprise 1.8 million acres of public land in the Appalachian Mountains, extending along the entire western border of Virginia, with sections extending into West Virginia and Kentucky.

Alpine Triangle

This is among the most stunning land in Colorado. Some of the roads top out at nearly 12,500 feet, and have 365 degree views of the San Juans.

Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge

This Massachusetts refuge — a blend of salt marshes, cranberry bogs, Atlantic white cedar swamps, freshwater marshes, rivers and vernal pools – is the result of a unique partnership among nine federal, state and private conservation groups.

North Fork Clearwater/Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests

Three renowned white water rivers – the Selway, Lochsa and Salmon – course through mountainous terrain of north central Idaho. Many of the region’s streams hold healthy populations of westslope cutthroat.

Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge

The Canaan Valley rests at 3,200 feet, making it the highest elevation valley east of the Rockies. Rimmed by sandstone and limestone mountains, the refuge is home to nearly 300 animal species.

Browns Canyon

Browns Canyon's 21,586 acres encompass rugged lands along the upper Arkansas River; here, spectacular granite walls rise from the river to heights eclipsing 10,000 feet, with the taller 14,000-foot peaks of the Sawatch Range visible in the distance.

Ninemile Valley

At more than 2 million acres, the Lolo National Forest offers a plethora of hunting and fishing opportunities, including a well-preserved slice of old Montana with great potential as a fishery.

Pisgah National Forest

This North Carolina Gem holds some five hundred miles of fishable trout water in the three sections of national forest; its best known river is the Davidson.

Upper Black River

The Black may be Arizona’s most celebrated trout fishery. In its upper 35 miles it tumbles through a deep bedrock canyon accented by red rock cliffs and old growth pine. These waters are home to Apache trout, one of the state’s native salmonids.

Chequamegon-Nicolet

The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest encompasses the headwaters of three major drainages, 2,000 miles of stream (with almost 1,400 miles of trout water), more than 600 lakes over ten acres in size and 400 spring ponds…plus 324,000 acres of wetlands. All this water is home to more than 50 fish species.

Methow River

The Methow Valley is a beloved destination for outdoorsy Washingtonians of all stripes, but in the summer anglers are drawn here in search of the Methow’s wild Westslope cutthroat and rainbow trout.

Pine Forest Range

This rugged high desert landscape ranges from 4,200 to more than 9,000 feet in elevation, and intersperses sagebrush and otherworldly rock formations with dense stands of aspens. It’s home to northwestern Nevada's only alpine lakes.

Huron-Manistee National Forest

Home to several diverse ecosystems, the Huron-Manistee contains some of Michigan’s most fabled fishing waters, including the Au Sable (birthplace, in 1959, of Trout Unlimited), Pere Marquette and Big and Little Manistee Rivers.

White Mountain

The forest includes over 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail, 48 peaks more than 4,000 feet in elevation, a number of downhill ski areas and 600 miles of rivers and streams … many of which hold native brook trout.

Little Mountain

This habitat of badlands, aspen groves and pine forests – simultaneously rugged and fragile – is one of Wyoming’s most sought after hunting grounds for mule deer and elk, and holds intimate streams that shelter Colorado River cutthroat trout.

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

The recently established Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument protects a swath of 87,563 acres in Maine’s iconic north woods. It is contiguous with state and private conservation lands, creating a landscape-scale reserve for native fish and fauna.

Check back over the next thirty days to see the places we chose from Washington, Colorado, West Virginia, Georgia, Wisconsin, Virginia, Tennessee, Wyoming, Michigan, Maine, California, Massachusetts, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alaska, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and New Hampshire.

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