Thirty member organizations of the American Wildlife Conservation Partners (AWCP), including the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), submitted a letter on January 6 to the Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, requesting consideration of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and the American System of Conservation Funding in deliberations on potential U.S. policies for international conservation.
More specifically, the signatories of this letter were writing to support the Executive Order’s recognition that the United States will continue to allow legal and legitimate trade of wildlife. The letter went on to emphasis that the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation has been an unprecedented success, not only in restoring and safeguarding wildlife populations, but also in developing the high complex infrastructure that is essential for wildlife conservation and sustainable use.
The letter also underscored that the American System of Conservation Funding, through its “user pays-public benefits” concept, has allowed the larger public to “enjoy the benefits of bountiful fish and wildlife populations and the lands and waters on which they depend.” American hunters alone have $7.2 billion for wildlife conservation since the Wildlife Restoration Act was passed in 1937.
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?
