On August 14, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) hosted a half-day policy forum and reception in Tacoma, Washington. The event preceded the Council of State Governments (CSG) West Meeting in Tacoma the same week and featured western state legislators, sportsmen’s representatives, and outdoor industry partners covering sportsmen’s policy issues.
The policy forum featured presentations on a number of western-centric policy issues. Mark Lambrecht, Director of Government Affairs for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and Nick Smith, Executive Director of Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities, spoke on the need for federal forest management reforms, and the panoply of adverse impacts that have resulted from a lack of active management on federally-managed forests. Chris West, Senior Vice President of Operations for Pac/West Communications, presented on efforts and strategies for combating misinformed and misleading anti-trapping campaigns and initiatives. Oregon Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Co-Chair and National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses Executive Council Member Representative Sal Esquivel discussed the most useful mechanisms and considerations for building an active and effective state legislative sportsmen’s caucus, drawing upon the success of the Oregon Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus.
The policy forum was followed by a reception celebrating our sportsmen’s heritage. Sponsors for the event were the Furtakers of America, Healthy Forests/Healthy Communities, the Oregon Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Among the event attendees were legislative sportsmen’s caucus leaders and members from Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
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?
