By Bee Frederick, Southeastern States Director
On April 25, Chairmen of the Georgia Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus sent a letter to the Georgia Congressional delegation in support of a strong Conservation Title within the 2018 Farm Bill.
National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucus (NASC) President Senator Bill Heath and House Committee on Game, Fish, and Parks Chairman Representative David Knight signed the letter that noted, “The Conservation Title works, and Georgia’s citizens depend on it to provide clean water, healthy soils, abundant wildlife populations, outdoor recreation opportunities and increased flood control. As you work on the newest iteration of the Farm Bill, keep in mind it must meet the needs of our nation’s farmers, hunters, and anglers by expanding effective programs like CRP and addressing conservation, challenges like wetlands conservation, improving hunter access, and improving working forests.”
Just last week, the House Agriculture Committee marked up and passed H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, which was introduced by Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Member and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Representative Michael Conaway (TX) on April 12.
The current Farm Bill, which includes many important conservation programs for our nation’s fish and wildlife populations, was authorized in 2014 and is set to expire in September. If passed and signed into law, the new Farm Bill will ensure the future of these critical programs that help support soil, water, and fish and wildlife conservation on America’s private lands, farms, ranches, and forests.
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?
