Obama's budget encompassed cuts to numerous conservation programs, including elements of the Farm Bill. Photo courtesy whitehouse.gov
On Feb. 13, 2012, President Obama released his 2013 federal budget, outlining the administration’s priorities and recommended funding levels for the coming fiscal year– including numerous measures important to fish and wildlife conservation and hunting and angling. While the TRCP continues to analyze the implications of the president’s budget and work to correct shortfalls, the need for strongly funded conservation programs remains key in upholding both America’s natural resources and the nation’s outdoors-reliant economy.
“Conservation of our natural resources is a smart move economically,” said Whit Fosburgh, TRCP president and CEO, “and one that most sportsmen willingly support. As Congress undertakes its review of the president’s budget, we stand together in urging strong, sustained funding for the programs that have the greatest potential to impact our fish and wildlife populations, our most important American landscapes and the jobs that depend on their concerted and responsible management.”
An economic study released last fall reinforces the fact that natural resource conservation is sound economic policy. The study cites compelling figures regarding the economic value of the outdoors, revealing that outdoor recreation, natural resources conservation and historic preservation result in $1.06 trillion in economic impact, support 9.4 million American jobs and generate $107 billion annually in tax revenue. Hunters and anglers alone account for close to $100 billion in annual economic activity.
For the third consecutive year, however, Obama’s budget has cut funding to a number of important programs, including elements of the Farm Bill. Among the cuts is a reduced acreage cap – from 32 million acres to 30 million – for the Conservation Reserve Program, a voluntary, incentive-based program that assists farmers and ranchers in conserving soil, water and wildlife resources on their lands. Without a robust CRP, our nation’s effort to conserve valuable private land habitat for the benefit of the broader public will move in the wrong direction.
Under the president’s budget, the Wetlands Reserve Program and the Grasslands Reserve Program received no funding for new contracts and will be unable to enroll new wetland and grassland acres beyond 2012. Steve Kline, director of the TRCP Center for Agricultural and Private Lands, finds this news troubling: “America’s wetlands and grasslands are some of our most vulnerable habitats, yet provide incalculable benefits. Thankfully, programs like WRP and GRP are custom built for the job of conserving these critical spots, but we need the commitment of the president and Congress, working together, to ensure that future generations of American hunters and anglers can set off through a patch of native prairie or set a string of duck decoys in a pothole wetland.”
“Sportsmen urge members of Congress to put aside their differences and collaborate on a long-range approach for sustaining the natural resources that form our national identity and the outdoors-focused jobs that rely on them,” said Dr. Steve Williams, president of the Wildlife Management Institute, former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and chairman of the TRCP policy council. “Doing so invests in our nation’s economic future while perpetuating our forefathers’ conservation legacy.”
Learn about the local and state level clubs and organizations that work with the TRCP to guarantee all Americans a place to hunt and fish. Learn More
