Submitted by Brennan on Wed, 2015-01-14 06:46 The Front Porch Vote Up Down +1 + JD2_9748-2.jpg Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited, talks about a new way to protect public lands in the West. Conservation in the West — particularly efforts to protect key parcels of public lands — is trapped in the partisan gridlock that grips Washington. But the package of lands bills that passed Congress in mid-December may offer a new and better way forward when it comes to protecting America’s birthright. A number of important land protection measures in Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana, Nevada, and Colorado are on the president’s desk today, thanks to the hard work of many people who understand that progress can’t be obtained without compromise. These bills share four common elements. First, they all took a long time to pass — in some cases, a decade or longer. Two, they enjoyed broad support among the most affected communities of place and interest. Three, hunters and anglers played important roles in their passage. And fourth, they were remarkably bipartisan. Read the rest at the Denver Post.