Open Fields Bill Introduced in Congress, Sportsmen Urge its Inclusion in Farm Bill
May 24, 2007
Contact: Geoff Mullins, Initiatives Manager, gmullins@trcp.org
Open Fields Bill Introduced in Congress, Sportsmen Urge its Inclusion in Farm Bill
Pointing to decline in places to hunt and fish, sportsmen contend:
“Open Fields would bring back some of what sprawl has taken from us”
WASHINGTON – The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) today indicated its strong support for the “Open Fields” legislation introduced in Congress by Senators Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Pat Roberts of Kansas as well as Representatives Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota and Jerry Moran of Kansas. The legislation would authorize $20 million annually in federal funding to support state-run sportsmen’s access programs.
These access programs, frequently referred to as “walk-in” programs, provide economic incentives to private landowners who voluntarily open their lands to public hunting and fishing. The funding that would be mobilized by Open Fields will help expand walk-in programs in states where they already exist and to establish walk-in programs in states that want them.
“Walk-in programs are great not just because they provide for improved public access to private lands, but also because in most cases they require that those lands be managed to optimize their value to fish and wildlife,” said Dave Nomsen of Pheasants Forever.
The benefits do not end there. “Open Fields is a winner not only because it promotes the outdoor heritage vital to rural America,” said TRCP Chairman James D. Range, “but also because it will give a needed economic booster shot in the [arm] to parts of the country that need it. It needs to be part of the next Farm Bill.”
“As we work to expand the choice of tools available for private landowners who would like to preserve landscapes while promoting our sporting heritage, it must be noted that Open Fields would be one of the shiniest tool in the box,” said Tom Sadler of the Trust for Public Land.
Walk-in programs have documented benefits that go far beyond guaranteeing every hunter and angler a place to ply their craft. They also slow the rate of decline in hunter numbers, a benefit that causes ripples to emanate throughout the U.S. economy.
“Nationally, hunter numbers declined about 7 percent from 1991 to 2001, but in the states with established walk-in programs, the rate of decline was less than 2 percent,” said George Cooper, TRCP President and CEO. “If you would have taken away those walk-in programs for those same 10 years and assume the national average rate of hunter decline held true, we would have lost a quarter-million more hunters. Our calculations indicate that would have triggered a loss in national economic activity of about $500 million.”
“The leading reason that active sportsmen become former sportsmen is that they lose their places to hunt and fish,” said Range. “This happens for a number of reasons, and sprawl seems to be at least on most folks’ lists. Open Fields would bring back some of what sprawl has taken from us.”
This reality has triggered an outpouring of support for the Open Fields bill from America’s hunters and anglers. A sign-on letter of support delivered May 16 to the bill’s sponsors included the signatures of 37 organizations from the hunting and fishing community. And another sign-on letter, that one signed by 17 labor unions whose members include an estimated 3 million hunters and anglers, called for the advancement of the recommendations included in the TRCP Growing Conservation in the Farm Bill report, specifically the inclusion of the Open Fields provision in the next Farm Bill.
For more information on Open Fields, please click here.
For more information on our work to shape the conservation programs in the next Farm Bill, please click here.
Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing.
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