Whether you are a hunter, fisher, or other outdoor enthusiast; and whether you rely heavily or are a limited user of public land for your traditions and pastimes, the 2016 election is going to be one of the most important in history. Historically, the GOP has been the party of sportsmen but in recent years the Koch-backed tea party ideology and rhetoric has become the norm. The GOP has lost its roots and the party for sportsmen is nothing more than the party of guns (manufacturers) today.

The main objective of the Bernie Sanders campaign is campaign finance reform-to rein in the money that pervades our system today. He's the only candidate who talks honestly about the issue and has the record to back it up, which is why he's critical for sportsmen in 2016. The crony capitalism that is the result of our disastrous current system is the culprit behind the attacks, at every level, on public land and sporting access.

If you think this is limited to the western states, look at what Gov. Scott Walker (the biggest Koch-backed politician in the U.S.) is doing with public land in Wisconsin. Or look no further than the result of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's public land leases in Minnesota, state forest land gated, posted, and access lost for Minnesota's public landowners-us. It is also responsible for crony environmental regulation, the fights over conservation programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the federal cap on CRP acres, things that are crucial to the health of habitat and the resources contained within.

The greatest Republican president was not Reagan, it was Theodore Roosevelt and he's spinning in his grave as conservation is thrown to the wayside and America slips into the second Gilded Age.

Wenner lives in Moorhead.