From May 30-31, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation’s (CSF) Federal Relations Coordinator Taylor Schmitz attended the 2018 Partners Outdoors Conference which took place at the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture.
The conference brought together representatives from hunting and fishing conservation groups, outdoor industry leaders, and state and federal fish and wildlife agency leaders for discussions about our nation’s natural resources. Partners Outdoors was first held in 1992 to catalyze partnership-based actions to better serve recreation visitors to public lands.
Day one was held at the Department of the Interior and focused on “Great Ideas for the Great Outdoors” and consisted of a number of interactive panel discussions including: Supporting Sustainable Recreation: Focusing on the Resource; Support Sustainable Recreation: Focusing on the People; Engaging People – Especially Youth – in the Great Outdoors; and Using Technology to Share and Enhance the Recreation Experience.
Day two took place at the Department of Agriculture and focused on the National Outdoor Recreation Summit. The second day of the conference included panels focused on: Enhancing Access to Hunting, Fishing, Recreational Shooting and Wildlife Conservation Opportunities: Meeting the Challenges of Today; Innovative Management of Visitors to Support Fun; Jobs and Sustainability; among others.
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?
