Whether you’re tangling with redfish in the Mississippi Delta, casting for bonefish in the Florida Keys or in a duck blind in North Dakota, America’s wetlands and waterways provide unrivaled fishing and hunting opportunities.
Coastal wetlands and the incalculable economic and ecological benefits they provide face significant threats from erosion, overdevelopment, invasive species, oil spills and climate change.
Across the farm belt, prairie pothole wetlands are being drained for intensive crop production. In some regions, up to 90 percent of these critical wetlands, often called the North American duck factory, already have been lost.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 100,000 acres of wetlands are lost every year.
A first step in reversing the trend of wetland loss is to restore Clean Water Act protections to the potholes, marshes and tidal flats upon which fish, waterfowl and countless other species depend.
America’s hunting and angling heritage rests on our ability to conserve wetlands across the country.
Our Oregon Field Representative Mia Sheppard can be found on page 38 of ____________ Fishing Products. Name the catalog she’s featured in, and we will send you the first season of Steven Rinella’s “MeatEater.”
Send your answers to info@trcp.org or post a comment on the TRCP Blog by Friday.
The TRCP has a simple mission. We strive to guarantee you a place to hunt and fish. Our work falls into three main categories:
strengthening laws, policies and practices affecting fish and wildlife conservation;
leading partnerships that provide a strong sportsmen’s voice in the decision-making process;
building consensus in the conservation community to advance policy solutions.
While our mission sounds simple, we often deal with complex issues. Laws, policies and decision making – the “insider baseball” that takes place on Capitol Hill can be hard for the average person to understand.
In an effort to put our work in tangible and applicable terms, we developed a “cheat sheet” for the everyday sportsman interested in conservation policy. The 2013 Sportsmen’s Conservation Priorities outlines the main areas where we at the TRCP will be focusing our work on behalf of hunters and anglers in 2013.
We’ll be hosting a live chat on Tuesday, March 5, to give you an opportunity to ask questions about the 2013 Sportsmen’s Conservation Priorities. Expect more information and a link to the video conference later this week. In the meantime, take a look and let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Nevada is truly a sportsmen’s paradise, a place where you can still find vast expanses of public lands and feel like you’ve got it all to yourself. If you haven’t already had the opportunity to hunt or fish in the Silver State, I hope that someday you will.
The TRCP is working closely with sporting groups across the West to make sure that places like this will be available for future generations of hunters and anglers to enjoy, and we need your help.
It’s no secret that the continual development of new roads, power lines, pipelines, gas wells and wind farms on public lands creates pressure on our best fish and wildlife habitat and hunting and fishing across the West. Energy development is important and necessary, but if we develop irresponsibly and in the wrong places, our outdoor traditions will suffer.
The fragmentation and loss of key habitats are serious threats facing fish, wildlife and our sporting heritage. In Nevada, specific threats largely come from wind developments as well as transmission projects
Sportsmen are at the center of it all. The amount of quality habitat that could be lost just in our lifetimes is staggering. Hunters and anglers are at a crossroads, and the direction we move will have lasting ramifications for generations to come.
To that end, sportsmen across the West are getting involved in a grassroots effort to identify and conserve our highest value intact fish and wildlife habitat and hunting and fishing areas on BLM lands. By promoting the creation of “backcountry conservation areas” (called “backcountry wildlife conservation areas” in Nevada), sportsmen are acting to maintain our sporting traditions and the Western way of life.
“I feel pretty lucky to be able to work is such an amazing state. There are so many amazing places in the West, and each has its own special character. Nevada is one of those special places where you can still get away from crowds in vast unspoiled landscapes. Whether your passion is hunting for big game, pursuing upland birds, or fishing, the only way we’re going to protect the Western way of life is to get involved, stay informed and speak out – and then get out and enjoy our Western public lands.”
– TRCP’s Nevada Field Representative, Eric Petlock.
If we want to continue chasing big bull elk, mule deer, antelope and bighorn sheep in the West we must take action and get involved – and work together to conserve areas of core habitat key to the fish and wildlife we cherish. The more habitat we lose the more hunting and angling opportunity we will lose.
Submit your answer by Friday, and we will send one lucky winner the first season of “MeatEater” featuring Steven Rinella.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to further our commitment to conservation. $4 from each bag is donated to the TRCP, to help continue our efforts of safeguarding critical habitats, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations.
For every $1 million invested in conservation efforts 17.4 jobs are created. As Congress drafts infrastructure legislation, let's urge lawmakers to put Americans back to work by building more resilient communities, restoring habitat, and sustainably managing our water resources.
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