In This IssueTRCP Energy Initiative Charging Ahead
Crucial Wetlands Protection Case Before Supreme Court
TRCP Announces Wildest Dreams at SHOT Show
Saltwater Fishing Groups Push Fisheries Reform
Whitetails Unlimited Donates $5K to TRCP
Updates from TRCP Partner Organizations - Latest conservation action from our partner organizations
Grassroots Report - Feedback on current grassroots campaigns
Affiliate News - Latest action from TRCP affiliates and new groups joining the network
Featured Board of Directors/Policy Council Profile - Meet the leaders who drive the work of the TRCP
New on the Reading List
Your Photos - Check out the recent success of your fellow partners
Roosevelt Reflection - Essays and historical tidbits on the man from whom the Partnership draws its name and inspiration
TRCP News - Latest news from the Partnership- TRCP Energy Initiative Charging Ahead
- Crucial Wetlands Protection Case Before Supreme Court
- TRCP Announces Wildest Dreams at SHOT Show
- Saltwater Fishing Groups Push Fisheries Reform
- Whitetails Unlimited Donates $5K to TRCP
- TRCP Energy Initiative Charging Ahead
The TRCP is pleased to announce that Steve Belinda has joined the TRCP staff and will head our Policy Initiative devoted to finding a better approach to energy development on public lands. Belinda brings to the post a wealth of experience gained during 16 years working for the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service. His work with the TRCP will focus on finding ways to increase protections for fish and wildlife against the backdrop of greatly expanded oil and gas extraction on Western public lands, which is impacting fish and wildlife populations. "There is no doubt that we need to find ways to lessen our dependence on foreign energy sources," Belinda says, "but we need to do so in ways that don’t decimate the fish and wildlife populations that are emblematic of the Western landscape." The importance of Belinda’s work was recently highlighted by The Washington Post, which ran a front-page story on February 22. Read more from The Washington Post. The TRCP's Energy and Wildlife Working Group this week issued a press release urging better funding for BLM programs designed to protect wildlife resources. Click here to read more. 
Drilling rigs like this one in Wyoming can disrupt migratory patterns and breeding practices for wildlife.
| Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | - Crucial Wetlands Protection Case Before Supreme Court
If you love to hunt waterfowl, chances are you know the value of wetlands. The TRCP is working to ensure that the Supreme Court, which is currently considering the level of federal protections that wetlands receive, recognizes this value as well.  Recently the Supreme Court heard combined arguments in two cases (Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) that call into question the extent of the protections afforded by the Clean Water Act to wetlands - specifically headwater wetlands which are upstream of rivers, lakes, estuaries or riparian complexes, or are in fringe areas adjacent to such water bodies. The court's ruling will have extremely important ramifications for huge numbers of migratory birds and other fish and wildlife species that depend on these wetlands and clean water in general.
A ruling by the Supreme Court on this case reversing protections would represent a crushing blow to fish and wildlife and to our ability to provide clean water benefits for future generations. American sportsmen in particular need to be prepared for a negative outcome as an unfavorable decision could have a swift and profound impact on the hunting and fishing we all love. The TRCP has joined with other leading national conservation groups, led by Ducks Unlimited and the National Wildlife Federation, in filing an amicus, or advisory, brief with the court. The substance of the brief was referred to by Solicitor General Paul Clement, who presented a very strong and compelling case, echoing our community's arguments for upholding the Clean Water Act. A decision is expected from the court by April. If its decision doesn’t go our way, the hunting, fishing and conservation community will need to be ready to take action. We’ll have more information regarding what that action might look like in weeks to come. To read more on the conservation community's amicus brief, click here. To read more on the arguments delivered before the Supreme Court, please view these articles from The Washington Post or The New York Times. | Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | - TRCP Announces Wildest Dreams at SHOT Show
At the recent SHOT Show in Las Vegas, the TRCP, OLN and Orion Multimedia, the partners who bring you TRCP’s Life In The Open, announced a collaboration on a new show, Wildest Dreams, that will debut in winter 2007. Viewers will travel alongside American sportsmen and women as they embark on classic hunting and fishing adventures found on just about every American sportsmen’s dream list. The lucky hunters and anglers featured will be working men and women who might not otherwise be able to go on the trips that will be featured on Wildest Dreams. Wildest Dreams will be hosted by Marc Pierce, the acclaimed host of Ducks Unlimited Television and the founder of Big Sky Carvers. "In Wildest Dreams, we’ll bring a dose of real life to field sports television," said Pierce. "Each week viewers will get an intimate look at the stories of these outdoorsmen and women and why they are deserving of their dream trips. We'll share not only in their passion for life in the field, but also get a glimpse at what life is like for the American sportsman in the real world." "The success of our flagship program, TRCP’s Life In The Open, has opened this opportunity to further emphasize why it’s so important to guarantee Americans quality places to hunt and fish," said TRCP President Matthew B. Connolly Jr. "Wildest Dreams will realize the sporting fantasies of American anglers and hunters on their most cherished landscapes." TRCP's partner union organizations are continuing to extend their sponsoring support to TRCP’s television projects. "Wildest Dreams represents a ground-breaking partnership between the TRCP, labor unions, and OLN to highlight critical conservation issues and involve millions of American workers who are deeply passionate about the outdoors," said Gavin Harvey, President of OLN. In addition to launching Wildest Dreams in 2007, OLN is also partnering with TRCP to present season two of the TRCP’s Life In The Open in the fall of 2006. Life In The Open has been made possible by generous support from the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO and one of its members, the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, which is sponsoring the show as an individual organization. Several other labor unions have stepped forward as sponsors of Wildest Dreams when it debuts and the new season of TRCP’s Life In The Open, including the: - International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers - IAMAW
- International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craft workers - BAC
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - IBEW
- National Electrical Contractors Association. - NECA
- International Association of Fire Fighters - IAFF
- United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters - UA
- Mechanical Contractors Association of America - MCAA
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TRCP President & CEO Matthew Connolly Jr.
announces the launch of Wildest Dreams
at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas.
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| Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | - Saltwater Fishing Groups Push Fisheries Reform
The reauthorization of the most important law for marine fisheries, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, will once get again under way with Congress’ return to business and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s Marine Conservation Working Group (MCWG) is working to ensure that the priorities of recreational anglers are addressed. The Working Group’s principles include four key points: - marine fisheries management decisions must be based on scientific review,
- recreational anglers must receive a more equitable allocation of fisheries resources,
- saltwater licenses would benefit recreational fishermen,
- fishing tackle should be used that reduces bycatch and does not damage habitat.
"With most of these key provisions included in the Senate bill that was reported out by the Senate Commerce Committee in December, we now depend on House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo’s leadership to continue the momentum to approve a bill that is good for saltwater anglers and marine fisheries," said Mike Nussman, President of the American Sportfishing Association, which is also a member of the TRCP’s MCWG. The TRCP Marine Conservation Working Group’s principles for the Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization will go a long way to improving saltwater fishing. Fisheries management decisions that have the potential to harm sustainable fish populations or restrict recreational fishing access should not be implemented without sound scientific and environmental review to balance the economic and ecological concerns. Fisheries allocations have often shortchanged recreational anglers in favor of commercial operations and this needs to change if the $31.1 billion economic impact and 297,000 jobs supported by saltwater fishing nationwide are to persist and grow. Fisheries managers have for too long been forced to rely on random surveys of the general public to estimate the impact on fisheries stocks from recreational anglers; while a national saltwater angler registry proposed in the Senate bill will help close the gaps in data collection, state-run licensing systems provide a more efficient and angler friendly means to collect important data and represent the interests of recreational anglers. And too often fishing operations use gear that either kills large numbers of non-target species or damages aquatic habitats, both of which significantly undermine recreational fishing opportunities. "Our groups represent a broad partnership of recreational fishermen, tackle manufacturers and conservation organizations and our consensus principles will improve fisheries management in general and specifically for the benefit of saltwater recreational anglers," commented MCWG member Jim Martin, who heads the Berkley Conservation Institute. The MCWG brings together marine policy experts from the American Sportfishing Association, Berkley Conservation Institute, Coastal Conservation Association, Environmental Defense, the International Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies and the Izaak Walton League of America. For additional information, click here. 
A commercial purse seine trawler, which can capture and kill large numbers of unintended species, boats its catch.
| Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | - Whitetails Unlimited Donates $5K to TRCP
Whitetails Unlimited, one of the TRCP’s most valued Partner Organizations, recently made a donation of $5,000 to the Partnership. "The TRCP has benefited greatly from the perspective that Whitetails Unlimited brings to our policy formulation process," said TRCP President and CEO Matthew B. Connolly, Jr. "Whitetails Unlimited is a model volunteer-driven organization, and we look forward to the chance to continue to work closely together toward our common goals." 
Jeff Schinkten of Whitetails Unlimited presents a much-appreciated $5,000 contribution to Matthew Connolly, TRCP President and CEO.
| Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page |
Updates from TRCP Partner Organizations - Latest conservation action from our partner organizationsAmerican Sportfishing Association
The Future Fisherman Foundation, the angler education and recruitment arm of the American Sportfishing Association (ASA), recently announced the appointment of Michael Bolinder, of Arlington, Va., as the foundation’s new Executive Director. More>> BASS/ESPN Outdoors and Berkley Conservation Institute
BASS Conservation staff, BASS state Federation conservation directors, government representatives and other officials, including representatives of the Berkley Conservation Institute, came together during the 2006 Bassmaster Classic in Kissimmee, Fla., for a series of meetings to plan conservation initiatives, goals and strategies for the coming year. More>> Boone and Crockett Club
The Boone and Crockett Club is now accepting applications for Conservation Across Boundaries®, a unique class designed to train teachers to integrate biological and ecological sciences, natural resource conservation issues, and computer technology with regional historical and cultural knowledge unique to regions of southern Texas and north central Montana. The course’s ultimate goal is to enable students to conceptualize a systems view of the underlying causes and solutions to issues regarding wildlife and natural resources. More>> Coastal Conservation Association
The CCA’s Bob Hayes was reappointed by President George W. Bush to represent sport fishermen as a Commissioner of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). As the now two-term recreational commissioner on ICCAT, Hayes has provided much-needed insight and experience in the contentious world of international fisheries management, and last year guided negotiations that achieved a landmark ban on shark finning in the Atlantic. More>> Ducks Unlimited
Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco accepted a $15 million pledge from Ducks Unlimited for coastal wetlands restoration projects in Louisiana. To date, Ducks Unlimited has protected 13,000 acres of Louisiana coastal marsh and restored or enhanced 38,000 acres. The conservation organization's $15 million pledge is the centerpoint of DU's new Louisiana coastal restoration initiative. More>> International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
IAFWA recently announced that the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s State Wildlife Conservation Strategy has received federal approval. The strategy is aimed at reversing decline of wildlife population and key habitats. More>> Izaak Walton League of America
The IWLA is battling a bill introduced in the Iowa House that aims to limit false complaints against factory farms, but could curb Iowans' right to protect themselves from pollution caused by large confinements. More>> The Nature Conservancy
Long-time Nature Conservancy member and supporter Don Hamer recently donated $2.5 million to protect lands, waters, and natural areas in Pennsylvania and around the world. More>> North American Grouse Partnership
The North American Grouse Partnership held its annual meeting on February 17-18 in Denver, Colorado. More>> Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever
Pheasants Forever’s president and CEO, Howard Vincent, has been selected to serve as a judge for Field & Stream magazine’s new Heroes of Conservation awards. More>> Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s popular Elk Camp returned to Reno, Nevada February 23-26, 2006, with more than 500 exhibits and displays of wildlife art, outfitted hunts and fishing trips and the latest in outdoor gear. More>> Trout Unlimited
Trout Unlimited is working to rally members of the public in opposition to the Pebble Mine, a proposed gold mine that could place the headwaters of Bristol Bay, commonly called the world’s salmon factory, in jeopardy. More>> Whitetails Unlimited
Whitetails Unlimited recently published it Spring 2006 edition of Whitetails Unlimited Magazine. More>> Wildlife Management Institute
WMI has announced that two members of the TRCP Board of Directors will be the keynote speakers at the opening session of the 71st North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference on March 22. John Baughman, Executive Vice President of IAFWA, and Jim Martin, Conservation Director of the Berkley Conservation Institute, will follow welcome and opening remarks by WMI President and fellow TRCP Board member Steven A. Williams. More>> The Wildlife Society
The Wildlife Society released a statement formally supporting the Bush administration's position that Congress intended to protect headwater wetlands and tributaries under the Clean Water Act when it was passed in 1972 (More information on this case is available in the ‘News’ section above). More>> | Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | Grassroots Report - feedback on current grassroots campaignsEngaging Sportsmen and Women in the Roadless Petition Process TRCP's grassroots team has been working hard to ensure sportsmen's voices are being heard in the development of roadless area management plans at the state level. While the management of inventoried roadless areas of our National Forests is critical to productive fish and wildlife habitat and the opportunity for high-quality fishing and hunting, we found few hunters and anglers were aware of the state-by-state petition processes that governors are engaged in to let the Forest Service know how they want roadless areas in the National Forest land in their states managed. TRCP has provided information to more than 10,000 hunters and anglers and several hundred organizations and businesses interested in hunting and fishing in seven western states with large National Forest roadless areas. The information has included fact sheets and maps on roadless area locations. As a result, hunters and anglers have been providing substantial input to their governors on how they want roadless areas managed in the future. For more information on TRCP’s role in the roadless petition process and how you can become involved, please visit http://www.trcp.org/ch_roadless.aspx or contact TRCP Initiative Manager Bill Geer at bgeer@trcp.org. | Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | Affiliate News - latest action from the TRCP affiliates and new groups joining the networkTRCP Affiliate Michigan United Conservation Clubs is currently involved in two pressing issues in that state. House and Senate bills that are working their way through the Michigan Legislature could, if passed, change the way private commercial forests are handled for public access. The concern is that the bills might restrict or eliminate public hunting and fishing access to large tracts of industrial forest land. To learn more about this issue contact the MUCC at www.mucc.org. MUCC is also working with a coalition of hunting groups, including the Michigan Wild Turkey Federation (also a TRCP Affiliate) to head off an anti-hunting campaign. The Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance, a major TRCP affiliate in that state, is spearheading the push for a constitutional amendment to dedicate a percentage of the state sales tax to fish and wildlife conservation, parks and trails and clean water. Click here to read more. If you would like to find out more about signing up your club, organization, union local or business as a TRCP Affiliate click here. | Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | Featured Board of Directors/Policy Council ProfileQ & A with Dave Nomsen, TRCP Policy Council Member  Dave Nomsen is the Vice President of Governmental Affairs for Pheasants Forever. He sits on the TRCP Policy Council and is the co-chair of the Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group, which focuses on the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill.
Who first took you into the field? My father - R.C. "Dick" Nomsen. He was the pheasant biologist for the Iowa Conservation Commission, which later became the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. I used to ride along while he completed pheasant crowing counts and brood surveys in northern Iowa in the 60’s. He took me to a field to shoot my first ducks, blue-wings and mallards, at Ventura Marsh and at Lake Harmon in northern Iowa. I used a LeFever 12 gauge for the ducks and an Ithica "Sweet 16" for pheasants at my uncle’s farm near Hartcourt, Iowa. When did you first begin to consider yourself a fully fledged sportsman? I’m not there yet, but I started making progress when I chose to skip some college classes -- especially when the mallards were moving through or right after a fresh snow during pheasant season. What is your working definition of wildlife conservation? Implementing sound wildlife management strategies through policies and programs to encourage more decisions related to longer-term resource protection over decisions driven by shorter-term economics. A more simple version is this: Doing the right thing for resources and future generations. When did you first become aware of the principles of and/or need for wildlife conservation? Growing up in northern Iowa I watched wildlife populations rise and fall in step with the intensity of agricultural practices. I saw firsthand how decisions about land management had a bearing on wildlife and impacted the environment. To your mind, what wildlife populations face the greatest challenges in years to come, and why do they face those challenges? Migratory species needing habitats on a massive scale, such as many of the neotropical migrant songbirds dependant upon large tracts of rainforest or grassland. Also, many species of waterfowl that require global management strategies protecting large complexes of wetlands, grasslands, and wintering areas. Resident species like native grouse, antelope, or mule deer are threatened. Remaining North American grasslands and rangelands face intense land use and technological pressures, including changing land use and impacts from energy development. Why are you involved with the TRCP? TRCP represents part of the solution. TRCPs’ cumulative efforts represent real progress on complicated resources issues and support continuing America’s first and foremost conservationists - generations of current and future sportsmen and women who have a proven history of demonstrated actions supporting wildlife conservation. | Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | New on the Reading List Crazy for Rivers by Bill Barich
"That autumn, I went a little crazy for rivers," writes Bill Barich, whose hours spent on various streams became a kind of meditation on family, friends, and the natural world. In this work, he recounts the infinite patience of a grandfather on a lake, the romance of a mountain getaway with a new girlfriend; and each fish caught on days that were far too hot, way too cold, and on rivers too crowded and in canyons too steep. For more information, click here.
 The Gun Owner's Handbook by Larry Lyons
The book aims to be the one for which every gun owner has been waiting. A gun is only as good as its owner, and far too many are poorly maintained and serviced, even when brought to "professionals." For the serious hunter and gun owner, The Gun Owner's Handbook takes the mystery out of gun maintenance. Author Larry Lyons covers every aspect of this crucial part of gun ownership, and brings his years of experience to bear on topics from daily maintenance to trickier technical matters. For more information, click here.
| Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | Your Photos - Check out the recent success of your fellow partners Check out how your fellow TRCP Partners fared this season.
Rick Lord Jr., pictured with his son and favorite hunting companion Rick Lord III, took this buck in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Writes Lord, "I went out in the afternoon and couldn’t find a good tree, so I just closed my eyes and pointed. Once I had my stand on the tree, I bent over to pick up my pack, and this buck ran by with another good buck. I waited a few minutes and grunted. A five-point showed up and walked ten yards from me. I let him walk and grunted again several times. I saw my buck feeding in some scrubrush about 40 yards away. You know the story, I took my eyes off of him for a second and, bam, he was gone. I grunted again and immediately was looking behind for him to circle and try and wind me. I turned back and there he was, 33 yards away, according the range finder. Then he dropped where he stood." View the rest of the TRCP Partner Photo gallery here. We need your photos. We are working to expand the photo gallery on our Web site and would love to include your photo. Please send the photo with information on how and where you got what’s in the shot. If we pick yours for our next newsletter, we’ll send you a TRCP hat too. Send photos to photos@trcp.org. Electronic photos only please. | Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | Roosevelt Reflection - essays and historical tidbits on the man from whom the Partnership draws its name and inspiration T.R. and the "Midnight Forests"
By Ken Barrett
In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt was purported to have asked, "Is there any law that will prevent me from declaring Pelican Island a Federal Bird Reservation?" When told no, he promptly replied, "Very well, I so declare it." Throughout his presidency, and with more frequency as it progressed, T.R exercised his executive powers to establish a whole cadre of federal bird refuges, game preserves, monuments, national parks and national forests. Given the results, and the legacy he left behind, many would conclude his actions were met with universal public support. But that was not the case. As he told his cousin Nicolas years later, his most vocal and strident critics were local people and communities, egged on by politicians acting on behalf of special interests. His power to create more national forests wasn’t seriously challenged until Oregon Sen. Charles W. Fulton, a member of his own party, threw him a major roadblock in the form of a rider attached to the Agricultural Appropriation bill. It read: Hereafter no forest reserve shall be created, nor shall any additions be made to one heretofore created, within the limits of the States of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, or Wyoming except by an act of Congress. The bill and its rider was passed by Congress on February 25, 1907 and sent to the White House for Roosevelt’s signature. It would lie on the President’s desk for the better part of a week, while T.R., knowing he must sign the bill that would outlaw his ability to add even more forest lands in the aforementioned states, hatched and executed a now-legendary plan. With the help of Gifford Pinchot, chief forester of the recently established U.S. Forest Service, and various conscripted clerks and bureaucrats, he went to work, day and night, mapping out and drafting the paperwork necessary to establish 21 new forest reserves, while enlarging a number of others. When done, near midnight, 16 million acres of new forest lands in Oregon, Washington and the other four western states were ready for executive approval. And soon after the paperwork was finalized, T.R. signed the Agricultural Appropriations bill along with Fulton’s rider. It is said that timing is everything. The old Rough Rider and the new chief forester had end run not only the senator from Oregon, but the entire Congress ... and because of their actions, the "Midnight Forests" have become part of our national public lands inheritance. Ken Barrett is the host of the TRCP's Life In The Open, a hunting and fishing show that airs on OLN. More information is available at: http://www.trcp.org/lifeintheopen.aspx. | Back to Top | | Go to TRCP Home Page | |