News traveled fast when conservationists learned the largest grizzly bear ever taken by a hunter had been entered into Boone and Crockett records. Nearly as quickly, however, came questions about why grizzlies are distinguished from Alaska brown bears. After all, aren’t these technically the same species?

On Thursday, June 11, a U.S. House of Representatives committee will vote on a bill that would clear the way for professional foresters to do their jobs, and the Boone and Crockett Club is urging sportsmen to support the measure.

As the organization that was founded by Theodore Roosevelt to reverse the decline of big game populations more than a century ago and has tracked their recovery ever since, the Boone and Crockett Club today reflects on the tremendous strides that have been made in wildlife and habitat conservation over the past several decades.