Back Country Horsemen of America

1) Maintain access of all Americans to the national saddle and pack stock trails in front country, backcountry and Wilderness areas, including local and state trails; to teach and educate the public about the value of volunteer service toward public land stewardship, including related preservation, maintenance, conservation and environmental issues. Leave No Trace (LNT) is a constant guiding principle.
2) Provide models for states and chapters to implement successful youth programs and subsidize new programs that show great promise.
3) Increase our national presence – beyond 32 states – by developing more state organizations. The expansion of our “national footprint” will enhance our reputation as a preeminent service and volunteer organization.
4) Expand our Education Architecture – our educational resources library - that can be used by all members, states and chapters. They can use these resources to educate others in their area on who we are, what we do, why we do it and how to best go about doing it. Free webinars and how-to videos will be created and offered to our members. Members, states and chapters will have access to this information and tailored services to increase capacity to serve local and regional trails and public lands.
5) Increasing membership and fundraising will help support and finance our need to "be at the table" with agencies, land managers, legislators, regulators, public officials and like-minded organizations (other partners and stakeholders) to support our right to ride on public lands and assist our regional leaders. There will be coordinated efforts to reduce reliance on dues as a primary source of annual funding, expand success in grant writing, and take advantage of various new social media channels, including but not limited to, mobile, digital, virtual fundraising, etc.
6) Providing another reliable source of funding via establishment of the BCHA Legacy Fund has been a focus. Once big enough, earned income can provide further financial stability and security for BCHA’s continuing programs in the future – Service, Education, Advocacy.

1) Leveraging partnerships through our national advocacy work; better partnerships equals a larger impact and voice when it comes to maintaining our access. By leveraging partnerships with other trail use organizations, the recreating public will have widespread participation in fair and safe trail use for all ages, abilities and skill levels. Americans who own horses for recreational use will have the benefit of trail use nationwide.
2) Educating and involving our youth is paramount; many states and chapters have successful models in place; we will draw on their models and make their successes available nationally.
3) Drawing on the success of states that have been active for over 40 years, we will find likeminded individuals in states where BCHA organizations are needed to form additional chapter and state organizations.
4) Provide education on Leave No Trace, saw certification and safety, membership renewal, promotion, advocacy, legislative and other programs vital to energetic BCHA programs. Technical and educational assistance is needed through training and webinars. Established and newly formed national committees will continue to be the backbone of operations at BCHA.
5) Membership Recruitment and Retention -- In order to be a robust, viable organization BCHA needs to continually retain and recruit new members of all age groups. They day a new member joins is the day member retention begins. Recruiting new members in states where no state organization exists or where recruitment is not a strength of the state organization is vital. Some established state organizations may also need assistance with retention.
6) Operational Fundraising -- A team approach to fundraising must be implemented in order to meet our strategic objectives.
7) BCHA committees are key to the development and execution of the Action Plans to accomplish their committee’s goals and strategies. Each national committee will have an action plan with individual target dates for completion and an assigned responsible person.

1) BCHA will continue to encourage the service through volunteer trail work performed by our members, which is our core competency and strength. However, BCHA realizes that we have to support other key work projects in our states by subsidizing some of their costs through our internal grant and incentive programs. Further, we promote National Trails Day, National Public Lands Day and other key days with like-minded partners.
2) National advocacy, legislation and partnerships are key missions and three of the primary responsibilities of BCHA. The public liaison is a key part in this. These activities are carried out by paid staff, but involve other BCHA members, specially elected officers and committee chairs, all of whom are volunteers. When challenges involve federal agencies, national legislation or when they require involvement by national or regional partner organizations, it becomes the responsibility and role of BCHA to assist the state or local chapter to resolve the issue.
3) Committees have access nationally to not only BCHA programs but programs of other organizations. Our partnerships with other organizations can help us achieve youth development and outreach.
4) Volunteers members - from established states - will visit states in need of assistance and help set up sustainable state and/or chapter programs. Multi-state BCHA regional committees will be used to further this goal where effective.
5) Many of our members are established experts and can communicate best practices, assist with emerging issues and provide direct outreach. Members on committees – national, state and chapter - have the knowledge and know-how to develop education tools and resources to train others to be successful.
6) Membership -- Direct efforts by committees, development of state expertise manuals and offering incentives. Operational Fundraising -- There are several funds that members and supporters can donate to within BCHA. These funds need to be further promoted. Volunteers need to be committed, make status reports and coordinate with the fundraising committee. Long-term funding sources are established and are being invested for future growth and gain as well as earned income.

National representation, regional and national partnerships. Visit https://www.bcha.org/public-lands/ to better track our progress and outreach.
2) Leave No Trace, pack and saddle stock training, along with responsible backcountry and low impact use is available. Increasing our exposure and visibility will be worked on – visit https://www.bcha.org/education/ for more information.
3) In 2019 we welcomed South Carolina into the BCHA family. We need to work on a couple states not yet in the fold. Visit https://www.bcha.org/about/ to see where we are.
4) The education resources library is formed – previously known as the Education Architecture. On the BCHA website, a spreadsheet is available with links to documents, videos, trainings and webinars. There is information on best practices of officers and directors. Trainings and webinars will continue to be developed and promoted. Beginner chainsaw training is in the works. All education resources are provided free of charge to members. Visit https://www.bcha.org/education/ for more information.
5) The Membership and Fundraising Committees are working around the clock to increase numbers. The Fundraising Committee is working on exposure through social media, digital and mobile devices.
6) The Membership Committee has released a webinar on successful ways to increase membership at the local levels.
7) In our goal to adopt technology that can help us, the Fundraising committee has been evaluating software programs that would provide us with a modern Donor Management System (DMS). A DMS would not only support the annual fundraising initiatives, but also support the BCHA Legacy Fund. We are hopeful to implement something for 2021.
8) The BCHA Vice Chairman has a new initiative whereby there is a monthly call via ZOOM for all National Board Members (2 per state x 32 states = 64). This new initiative was designed to improve the two-way flow of communication between the Executive Committee and National Board to the BCHA states. The early results are very promising.