Press RoomPress ReleaseSecretary of the Interior Engages Sporting Community
Hunting and Angling Leaders Lay Out Top Priorities
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: George Cooper
(202) 508-3421 Washington, DC - Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and top Interior Department officials met Monday November 24 with the leaders of several sporting organizations to discuss the top policy priorities of the conservation community. Secretary Norton requested the help of the TRCP in pulling together a representative group of leaders from some of the country’s hunting and angling groups to meet with her and other top Interior Department officials. The meeting was convened in order to give Secretary Norton and the Interior Department leadership a clear understanding of which common issues are of greatest immediate concern to hunters and anglers. Leaders from the following TRCP partner organizations were present: the American Sportfishing Association, BASS, the Boone and Crockett Club, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Safari Club International, the Wildlife Management Institute and the National Rifle Association. Four primary issues were laid out during the constructive session as items that this group believed the Administration should give special attention to in order to ensure sound management of the country’s fish and wildlife resources. The group presented the issues with specific suggestions for consensus-based, constructive solutions and pointed out that they and their counterparts in the country’s other leading hunting and angling groups stood ready to work together with the Administration on these issues. The four issues: continued conservation of the nation’s wetlands, protection of the nation’s fish and wildlife habitat while expanding energy development on federal lands, enhancing the role of states in conservation through better funding of wildlife programs, and increasing access to land for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation. In each of these areas, there are potential policy actions in play right now. 
From l to r: Dep. Sec. Steve Griles, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Dir. Steve Williams, Safari Club Intl. Chmn. of Govt. Affairs Merle Shepard, Ducks Unlimited Dir. of Govt. Affairs Scott Sutherland, Intl. Assoc. of Fish and Wildlife Managers Exec. V.P. John Boughman, Bureau of Land Management Dir. Kathleen Clarke, Sec. Gale Norton, BASS Conservation Dir. Bruce Shupp, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation Exec. Dir. Melinda Gable, American Sportfishing Assoc. Pres. Mike Nussman, Wildlife Management Institute Pres. Rollin Sparrowe, IAFWA Legislative Dir. Gary Taylor, Assist. Dir., Fish and Wildlife Service Matt Hogan, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Chmn. Jim Range, Assist. Secretary of Policy, Management, and Budget Lynn Scarlett, Boone and Crockett Club Pres. Bob Model and Assist. Sec. for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Craig Manson.
Aside from those four issues, several other policy matters affecting hunters and anglers were raised. TRCP’s representative at the meeting, Chairman Jim Range, was very encouraged saying afterward that "Secretary Norton wants to work with the sportsmen’s community. Now she knows what American hunters and anglers are most concerned with in the near term." Among the Interior Department officials joining Secretary Norton were Deputy Secretary Steve Griles, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams, Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke, Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management, and Budget Lynn Scarlett, and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Craig Manson. |