Why It Matters: Legislation seeking to restrict the Second Amendment is often eventually used as a vector of attack for issues more directly pertaining to sportsmen and women, just as restrictions on hunting are often used as a vector of attack against Second Amendment rights. Our issues are fundamentally intertwined given that firearms of every…
Why It Matters: Law-abiding hunters and recreational shooters have long played a vital role in funding conservation through various wildlife management nationwide. Recently, state legislatures have begun proposing state excise taxes in addition to the existing manufacturer-level taxes already being paid under federal law. Under the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF), a unique “user…
Opportunities to expand angling access throughout the country have become increasingly limited in recent years due to increases in private ownership along waterways and attendant riparian rights limiting new access construction. State authorities often have the opportunity to expand fresh water angling access through the establishment of access points when state highway transportation departments are…
Many sportsmen and women depend on federal lands managed by agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for access to activities like hunting, fishing and recreational shooting. As these agencies develop strategies to manage federal lands, it is critical for those who support these activities…
One of the tools that the White House and Congress use to conserve our country’s rich history, cultural, and natural resources is the designation of national monuments, as sanctioned by the 1906 Antiquities Act. The Antiquities Act was originally intended to give the President and Congress the tools to quickly and effectively protect our country’s…
In recent years, Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) use has increased rapidly across the country.The unmitigated consequences of such growth not only threatens the environmental health of the lands used in OHV recreation but also threatens to eliminate future OHV opportunities. Some states have taken steps to provide adequate funding for sustainable OHV management and to…
Concerned about the uncertainty that 30×30 policies may pose for hunting and fishing access, the sportsmen’s community issued the Hunting and Fishing Community Statement on the 30 by 30 Initiative. This statement recognizes and embraces the overlap between the sportsmen’s community’s collective work to conserve fish and wildlife species and their habitats and the establishment…
One important tool for protecting fish and wildlife habitat is a state-level tax credit for gifts of land for conservation or conservation easements. With a wide variety of implementation options, these programs can provide alternatives to development by providing landowners with financial incentives to conserve land. These lands benefit fish and wildlife populations and have…
Properly managed wildlife habitat is essential for supporting sustainable and healthy wildlife populations. Well-managed lands containvarious successional stages that provide a diversity of habitats capable of supporting a diversity of wildlife. On federal lands, however, young forests and other early seral habitats are often underrepresented. The most efficient method to improve wildlife habitat is through…
This term is used to describe a variety of conservation and management methods in the waters of the U.S. MPA’s are not necessarily no fishing zones, but the number of proposed MPA’s by environmental organizations calling for permanent closures to recreational fishing have increased in recent years. Marine protected areas that do implement restrictions on…
Over 12,000 offshore oil and gas platforms, or “rigs”, have been constructed across the globe,[ with over 7,000 in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) over the course of the last 70 years. Over time, these structures have been the catalyst for teeming communities of fish and marine life that serve as incredibly important destinations for…
Funding mechanisms for search and rescue (SAR) operations vary by state, but for those in which sportsmen-generated dollars cover the costs associated with these efforts, the end result is a loss in crucial money otherwise delegated towards conservation and wildlife management. States are encouraged to explore alternate methods of funding for SAR crews, in order…