Sportsmen Laud House Passage of Climate Change Legislation
From fly fishing for bonefish on the flats to hunting elk in the Rockies, climate change will affect how hunters and anglers pursue their sports.
Photo credit: TRCP archives
Sportsmen voiced their support of a closely contested U.S.
House of Representatives vote aimed at combating global climate change
that includes funding for federal and state management practices that
would sustain fish and wildlife populations.The house passed the legislation late on Friday, June 26.
The American Clean Energy and Security bill is
intended to limit the effects of climate change by imposing a cap on
greenhouse gas emissions while investing in energy efficiency and
renewable energy technologies. The bill also creates the Natural
Resources Climate Change Adaptation Fund, which helps federal and state
agencies safeguard fish and wildlife and charges the U.S. Department of
Agriculture with implementing agriculture and forestry carbon offset
projects, including conservation programs.
Members of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Climate
Change Working Group, comprised of representatives of leading
sportsmen’s and conservation groups, praised the inclusion in the bill
of funding for fish and wildlife adaptation strategies, which would
minimize the effects of climate change on important fish and game
species. At the same time, the sportsmen emphasized that additional
funds must be designated and incentives set to sustain and expand
habitat on farms, ranches and forest lands.
“American sportsmen have a critical reason for supporting this
legislation,” said Steve Williams, president of the Wildlife Management
Institute and co-chair of the TRCP working group. “The bill’s
establishment of the Natural Resources Climate Change Adaptation Fund
would help safeguard and restore fish and wildlife, habitats,
ecosystems and ecological processes that are threatened by climate
change. We look forward to making sure that, as this process moves
forward, a dedicated funding source for fish and wildlife continues to
be part of it.”
“Sportsmen support the House passage of this important legislation
and appreciate the U.S. Department of Agriculture being given oversight
of agriculture and forestry carbon dioxide offset projects, including
conservation programs,” said Dave Nomsen, vice president of government
affairs for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and working group
co-chair. “Our nation must build upon gains in soil, water and wildlife
conservation and strengthen programs that provide carbon sequestration
and habitat enhancement. America’s farmers, ranchers and forestland
owners have the potential to make great contributions to solving the
climate issue, and the USDA should take charge of delivering these
climate-based programs to private landowners.”
The AFL-CIO, 21 of whose unions are partners of the TRCP, also
voiced its approval of strategies to address climate change as
presented in the legislation.
“The AFL-CIO supports climate change legislation that will create
new economic opportunities and preserve existing jobs while achieving
the important objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and
reducing our dependence on foreign energy,” the group stated yesterday
in a letter to House members. “The American Clean Energy and Security
Act of 2009, though not perfect, represents an important first step
toward achieving these goals.”
“This legislation lays a potentially strong and broad foundation for
natural resources adaptation programs,” said TRCP President and CEO
George Cooper, “and it should help assure not only the abundance and
vitality of our fish and wildlife resources but also a continued high
quality of life for sportsmen and all Americans – a quality that is
furnished by healthy, functioning ecosystems.
“American sportsmen, who have a uniquely intimate connection to our
natural resources, are sentinels raising an alarm on climate change,”
concluded Cooper. “We understand the need to designate resources to
fish and wildlife professionals to safeguard critters and their habitat
– and we appreciate that voluntary incentives must be established for
private landowners to keep and expand high-quality habitat on their
private working lands. We stand ready to support forthcoming
Congressional efforts to achieve these objectives, and we offer our
assistance in formulating a plan that identifies conservation practices
to attain these important goals.”
Accelerating climate change is acknowledged by the sportsmen’s
community as a serious threat to America’s hunting and fishing
opportunities. Eight of the TRCP’s partner groups recently released “Season’s End,”
a report detailing the predicted impacts of climate change on fish and
game and its implications on hunting and fishing. A sequel is scheduled
for release in 2009.
Sportsmen Cheer Senate Vote in Support of Clean Water
The Clean Water Restoration Act would provide conservation measures for many aquatic resources, including prairie potholes, which provide important waterfowl habitat and great hunting opportunities.
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The hard work of American sportsmen to conserve our nation's wetlands and waters resulted in Congress taking a critical first step toward clean water. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee vote in support of the amended Clean Water Restoration Act on Thursday, June 18 was lauded by a coalition of prominent hunting, angling and conservation organizations, including the TRCP, Ducks Unlimited, Izaak Walton League of America, National Wildlife Federation and Trout Unlimited, which stressed the necessity of the legislation in sustaining clean water and essential habitat for fish and wildlife populations.
The committee's passage of the amended measure reaffirms the original intent of the Clean Water Act to broadly conserve the water quality of the streams, lakes and wetlands that are so important to our country and our sporting heritage. The voice of hunters and anglers played a crucial role in the advancement of this legislation, with sportsmen from around the country urging their senators to support this bill.
"Hunters and anglers know first-hand the importance of wetlands, lakes and streams," said Geoff Mullins, TRCP policy initiative manager. "Restoring these clean water protections will ensure that sportsmen can enjoy these resources for generations. The committee's vote represents our biggest step in the past eight years toward restoring these much-needed protections."
The Thursday vote builds momentum for the introduction of corresponding legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. In recent years, Supreme Court decisions have stripped federal protections for geographically isolated wetlands and intermittent ephemeral streams. As a result, it is now easier for wetlands and other waters to be polluted, drained, filled and paved. These protections must be restored to conserve our remaining wetlands and enhance our nation's aquatic resources. The TRCP's Wetlands Working Group is encouraged by this important first step and eager to continue to work to restore these protections.
Utah Energy Leases Deferred in Response to Sportsmen’s Concerns
Utah’s public lands offer exceptional habitat for animals such as mule deer, as proved by this buck rub
Photo by Joel Webster
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership welcomed an announcement by the Utah Bureau of Land Management that valuable public-lands fish and wildlife habitat would receive additional review before being leased for oil and gas development.
The BLM initially offered more than 90,000 acres of public land on 67 parcels in its June 23 lease sale in Utah. The TRCP filed a protest of 31 parcels, comprising 46,000 acres of crucial mule deer, elk and sage grouse habitat where supplementary development conditions could lessen negative effects on wildlife populations. Administrative protests such as these are the public’s only recourse for commenting on the federal leasing process and raising concerns about impacts to resources like fish and wildlife.
“Sportsmen unreservedly support oil and gas production on America’s public lands,” said Joel Webster, TRCP associate director of campaigns, “but responsible administration of these resources demands a consistent approach to leasing and development activities in order to sustain fish and wildlife – and to provide companies wishing to extract energy from our lands and waters an increased level of certainty in their investments and planning.”
In 2007 and 2008, the TRCP protested approximately 2.5 million acres of energy leases in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming after concluding that fish and wildlife resources or hunting and fishing could be significantly affected if the areas were developed as proposed. The TRCP reviewed each proposed lease for management actions or protections for fish and wildlife and protested only those leases that, based on this analysis, could not be managed to sustain these resources during development.
“Neither current science nor the BLM’s multiple-use mandate has been reliably adhered to during the most recent energy boom in the Rocky Mountain West,” concluded Webster. “Consequently, public-lands energy development often is troublingly one-sided, with industry demands superseding the needs of fish and wildlife and the interests of citizens. A new federal approach guiding the development of our shared resources is critical – and its implementation is long overdue.”
The TRCP and its partners believe that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife and the CAST principles.
USA Hold Successful Inaugural Sporting Clays Shoot
The United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters shooting team with Richard Trumka (center), AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer and event co-chair.
Photo by Kate Cywinski
Gray skies and looming thunderstorms didn’t stop more than 150 shooting enthusiasts from attending the inaugural Union Sportsmen’s Alliance Capital Area Sporting Clays Shoot on June 18.
The morning rain let up just in time as enthusiastic participants began registering for the shoot at Prince George’s County Trap and Skeet Center in Glenn Dale, Md.
The 38 teams competed in the wooded course consisting of 20 stations.
“I have been a shooter for three years, and I think Prince George is one of the nicest courses,” said Marlene Forsyth of Ironworkers Local 5. “I love sporting clays. I think the first USA shoot was a wonderful experience, and I look forward to next year’s event.”
As participants neared their last stations, a torrential downpour chased them from the course to the shelter of the lunch pavilion. Many shooters went home with fantastic raffle prizes including a Beretta Urika 2 Gold shotgun, a commemorative Theodore Roosevelt Buck knife, a Lincoln Electric welder, hunting clothing from Rutwear and Drake, an Otis gun cleaning kit and a Maine fishing trip for two with Classic Connections.
The clouds disappeared with the raffle items, and the first USA sporting clays shoot ended with a special presentation by Travis Mears, 2009 International Trap Men’s Champion and member of Team Beretta. Mears, 22, who has achieved more than 30 notable shooting awards, amazed shooting enthusiasts at the USA event with trick shots from the hip, over the head with the gun upside down, behind the back and between his legs.
“I was extremely proud to be the event chair of the inaugural USA sporting clays shoot and couldn’t be more pleased with the number of people who turned out to shoot,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka. “As union members, we unite on critical issues affecting working conditions. It’s great to see members of all different trades also coming together to have fun in the outdoors while supporting conservation efforts.”
After expenses, the USA sporting clays shoot raised nearly $30,000 through shooter registration, sponsors, the raffle and a gun auction. That money will go right back into making the USA an even greater value for union members, while helping support the TRCP’s efforts to guarantee all Americans a place to hunt and fish.
“First-time events can be quite a challenge, said USA Executive Director Fred Myers. “But the enthusiasm of all those who attended made the shoot very enjoyable for everyone involved. The camaraderie and fellowship shown by union members, representing many different trades, at the first USA shoot leave no question that it will be the first of many similar events across the country.”
A sportsman from the Sunshine State will be heading to the Cowboy State this fall in pursuit of elk.
J. Alan Cox, Tallahassee, Fla., was the lucky winner of the TRCP’s Wyoming Commissioner’s License Raffle. A total of 163 donations were made to support the TRCP’s work in Wyoming and across the United States ensuring that all Americans have quality places to hunt and fish. A Wyoming Commissioner's License allows a hunter to hunt either elk, mule deer or antelope almost anywhere in the state.
"In my opinion, Theodore Roosevelt was the greatest president we've ever had," said Cox. "When I saw the raffle, I thought I could at least donate to a good cause. Winning it is icing on the cake."
Cox wasn't the only winner of the Wyoming raffle. The TRCP also awarded bonus prizes of the Gigantic Book of Hunting Stories to six other generous partners:
James A. Brower,Lacrosse, Wis.
Tom Thompson, Hesperia, Calif.
Donald Mayer, Gambrills, Md.
Richard Douville, Ridgefield, Conn.
Bruce A. Carlson, Celebration, Fla.
Andrew Eckles, Cheyenne, Wyo.
Thank you to all of those who donated to the TRCP's Wyoming Commissioner’s Raffle. Your support ensures that the TRCP can continue our work to make sure that Wyoming remains a top destination for hunters and anglers.
A big thanks to everyone who sent in an answers to last month's T.R.ivia question. Congratulations to Kevin Wernet for correctly identifying that Roosevelt called his collection of books the "pigskin library." Send your answer to this month’s question to Brian McClintock (brianm@trcp.org) for your chance to win a DVD collection of the TRCP’s TV show "Life in the Open."
Every month, we profile an individual who works to conserve our nation's natural resources. Whether they're a head of a company or an everyday outdoorsman, they all are working hard with the TRCP to help guarantee that you'll always have a place to hunt and fish.
John Gale Boulder, Colo. National Wildlife Federation regional representative, sixth-generation Idahoan, elk hunter and avid angler
John Gale with a cutthroat he caught on Slough Creek near Yellowstone National Park. Photo courtesy of John Gale
Q: How did you get into hunting and fishing?
A: As soon as I could hold a rod and gun, my parents and grandparents had me fishing and shooting all over Idaho’s wild country, where I grew up as a sixth-generation native. When I was of legal age to hunt, I never missed one year of elk, deer, upland game and waterfowl hunting. I knew I had “come of age” as a hunter when my father started pulling me out of school for a whole week to go elk hunting every year. I’ll always remember that first year and that first elk. (I’ll also vividly remember missing a large mule deer buck that first year at elk camp … win some, lose some.)
Q: Why is conservation important to you?
A: From an early age, my family, and my father in particular, instilled in me a conservation ethic to treat the land, wildlife, and natural resources with great respect. He showed me what it means to be a responsible steward of the rich public lands we’re borrowing from future generations and the wildlife that inhabit those landscapes.
Q: How have you been able to merge your passions of hunting, fishing and conservation with your professional work?
A: There’s a long story here that starts around a campfire while hunting or fishing with my father during college. I was a double major in finance and political science going pre-law. During that campfire conversation my father said, “Find something you love to do and figure out a way to make money at it. It’s what I’ve done, and, while I’m not a very rich man, I’m a pretty happy one.” I went back to the University of Idaho, changed my major and jumped into the School of Natural Resource Management. Since then I’ve lived and worked in Morocco, Washington, D.C., and the lures of Western topography finally brought me closer to home when I landed in Colorado three and a half years ago. In D.C., I worked for Trout Unlimited where you’d be surprised how many volunteers want to show you their favorite places to fish while you’re working with them to conserve, protect and restore trout and salmon fisheries. At the National Wildlife Federation where I currently work as the Regional Representative, I have the daily pleasure of knowing that my work to conserve fish and wildlife and their habitats will only preserve my western heritage as a hunter, angler and public lands advocate. Sometimes that work means you can accomplish more from a duck blind or a drift boat than you can in a board room. When you’re building relationships and strengthening partnerships with folks, you’ve got to reconnect with the resources to remind people why we do what we do.
Q: What do you think is the most important conservation issue facing sportsmen today?
A: This is a challenging question but I’d say in general it’s the loss of quality habitat. There are a tremendous amount of contributing factors here, but to name a few: public lands management policies that have rejected the multiple-use philosophy in favor of one use at the expense and exclusion of others through irresponsible energy development, antiquated mining laws from 1872, etc.; invasive species; climate change and the resulting loss or migration of flora and fauna to higher elevations and latitudes; migratory corridor fragmentation from poorly planned infrastructure building and the loss of access over time sparks an interesting and at times, lively debate about indirect impacts to wildlife and habitat.
In a recent survey conducted by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, access surpassed gun rights as the primary concern of sportsmen for the first time ever in history. Loss of access isn’t always about private lands; if you can’t hunt or fish in a place anymore because we’ve done a bad job of balancing our use of natural resources, that is, in essence, access lost.
Q: How do you, personally, hope to address this issue?
A: Its not an easy issue to address, but working together with strong conservation organizations like the NWF, TRCP, TU and others, we can effect change at the policy level administratively and legislatively by joining forces and empowering our grassroots to advocate and speak loudly. Whether you’re the Idaho Wildlife Federation fighting for bighorn sheep or a chapter of Trout Unlimited working on local watersheds, the cumulative impacts are bold, and decision makers are listening to us.
Q: What is your relationship with the TRCP?
A: I’ve been a partner at TRCP for many years now. In D.C., I had the distinct pleasure of knowing and working with Jim Range and many others. The philosophy Jim was so passionate about in bringing together united voices for conservation is one that I am morally obligated to uphold both personally and professionally. Even now that I’m in Colorado, I still work with TRCP on many issues from energy development and mining to Clean Water Act and roadless area preservation.
Q: How do you hope to work with the TRCP in the future?
A: I’ll always be ready to help and support my friends and colleagues at TRCP as we work together to grow bigger, stronger and more prepared to face the challenges of wildlife conservation. I’m currently working with [TRCP Associate Director of Campaigns] Joel Webster and many of our professional colleagues in the conservation community to ensure that America’s wild roadless areas maintain their integrity and continue to be the best places to hunt and fish in the world. We’re working with decision makers, federal and state land and wildlife management agencies, and reaching out to other stakeholders in a moderate, balanced approach that fosters the development of responsible solutions to threats on our roadless public lands. In the end it’s about healthy habitat, abundant wildlife and inspiring future generations to be the stewards of tomorrow.
Before bolt-action rifles became the standard choice among hunters, lever-action rifles ruled the fields across America. The most popular of these was the Winchester model 94. In the 110 years the rifle was in production, Winchester sold an estimated 7 million.
The Turnbull Restorations duplicate of Roosevelt's Winchester model 1876.
Photo courtesy of Turnbull Restorations.
But before the model 94 came a number of earlier-model Winchester lever actions. Theodore Roosevelt seemed to like them all, but one of his favorites was the model 1876. The “Centennial” rifle was Winchester’s first lever-action gun built to accommodate the heavy black-powder cartridges of the day, like the 45.75, which Teddy used to hunt in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas.
One of T.R.’s big black-powder guns, a customized Winchester model 1876, is on display at Sagamore Hill in Long Island, N.Y. That’s where Doug Turnbull Restorations went to take exact measurements of the original in preparation for producing a limited run of 25 exact duplicates.
These are no ordinary Winchesters. Roosevelt was a wealthy man with refined tastes, which is reflected in his 45.75, and Turnbull’s duplicates feature the same engravings, beautifully checkered stock, custom sights and gold inlaid stock oval seen in the original.
T.R. did embrace the blot-action rifle with his beloved 1903 Springfield, a gun he used often while hunting in both the United States and Africa. But from his model 1876 to his three model 1895s, his Winchester lever actions were arguably his favorites.
