Contact: Keely Hopkins, Manager, Pacific Region
Why It Matters: Oregon’s hunters, anglers, and trappers have long played a vital role in funding conservation and wildlife management efforts throughout the state. Under the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF), a unique “user pays-public benefits” structure, Oregon’s sportsmen and women generate tens of millions of dollars each year for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). These funds are generated through fishing and hunting license sales and through an 11% excise tax paid on sporting-related goods via the Pittman-Robertson Act. Ongoing attempts to restrict Oregon’s 940,000 sportsmen and women from their outdoor pursuits of hunting, fishing, and trapping also threatens vital funding revenue for Oregon’s conservation, habitat restoration, and wildlife management efforts.
Oregon’s sportsmen and women can breathe a sigh of relief…at least for now. Proponents of Initiative Petition 13, which would ban all hunting, fishing and trapping in the state, appear to have abandoned their efforts to qualify the initiative for the 2022 ballot. The “End Animal Cruelty” campaign needed to gather 112,020 signatures by early July in order to qualify it for the November ballot, where Oregon voters would then decide the fate of hunting and fishing in the state. The campaign has now shifted gears and has refiled a similar petition, Initiative Petition 3, for the 2024 ballot. This will start the ballot initiative process anew, including gathering sponsorship signatures and requesting a ballot title from the Attorney General, but will then allow additional time for signature gathering ahead of the 2024 signature submission deadline.
CSF actively opposed Initiative Petition 13 since it was filed. To that end, CSF serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the hunting and conservation community’s campaign. Born out of the need to organize against IP13, the sportsmen’s community has since developed the Oregon Sportsmen’s Conversation Partnership (OSCP)—a formal coalition that will continue to work together against attacks on our heritage, whether it be in the form of the newly filed Initiative Petition 3 or in the form of new legislation. Over 30 organizations are represented on the coalition, including national organizations like NWTF, Ducks Unlimited, Mule Deer Foundation, and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. CSF serves on the Board of Directors for OSCP along with the Oregon Hunters Association, Oregon Outdoor Council, Oregon Anglers Alliance, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation is proud to have been on the ground working with our partner organizations in opposition to IP 13, and will continue to do so with IP 3, and any other attacks on hunting, fishing, trapping and recreational shooting.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
