Conservation

Boyt Harness Co. is the first company to join Trailblazers in Conservation, a new Boone and Crockett Club initiative to unite the hunting community and help it rise to the challenges of a changing world. If sporting lifestyles—and, by extension, the successful conservation programs long funded through hunting—are to thrive in the future, then today’s sportsmen must find a way to balance climate change, increased energy development, unmitigated urban sprawl, wildlife disease outbreaks, conflicting policies and a host of other challenges.

Congressman Steve Daines (R-MT) today introduced legislation—the “Making Public Lands Public Access Act”—that guarantees funding for improving hunter access to existing public lands. This legislation, H.R. 3962, is supported by the Boone and Crockett Club and other hunting organizations. The bill directs the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to acquire rights of way and other land interests from willing-seller landowners to open access to existing public lands where public access for hunting and fishing is closed or impractical.

A new initiative from Boone and Crockett Club is giving the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry a new way to partner with sportsmen for better scientific wildlife management, balanced policies, hunter advocacy and broader understanding of the applications and benefits of sustainable-use conservation.

Controversy surrounded a fundraiser and hunt for a black rhinoceros, but the Boone and Crockett Club praised both as positive moves for the future of a critically endangered game species.

Robert Model of Cody, Wyo., has received the Boone and Crockett Club's Sagamore Hill Medal--the organization's highest honor. 

Model is only the ninth individual to receive the award since its creation in 1948. 

A special honor given for distinguished devotion to the objectives of the Club, founded in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt, the Sagamore Hill Medal is given by the Roosevelt family in memory of past members Theodore, Theodore Jr. and Kermit Roosevelt. 

Conservation groups are gathering behind a Boone and Crockett Club-initiated push to resolve decades of controversy over legal challenges against the US Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal conservation agencies. 

A joint letter from many of the nation's top wildlife, sporting and conservation organizations is circulating this week to lawmakers in Washington D.C. The letter urges support and co-sponsorship for the bipartisan bill H.R. 2919--The Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act. 

The conservation community, dating back to George W. Bush’s first term as President in 2001, has rallied together to produce a transition document titled, Wildlife for the 21st Century. Its purpose was to codify issues of greatest concern to sportsmen, prioritize these issues, and recommend solutions. It’s purpose is to also advise incoming administrations as to the critical work and programs that are already underway that should be allowed to continue in order to bear fruit.

Of the 18 conservation leaders selected to advise the Obama Administration on wildlife and sporting issues, 11 are members of the Boone and Crockett Club. That influence is good news for America's hunters because it ensures strong advocacy for high standards in fair-chase sportsmanship, habitat stewardship and science-based wildlife management.

Founded by Theodore Roosevelt, the Club has long maintained the highest standards for North American hunters--and documented the conservation benefits through big-game records that date back to the late 1880s.

Studies released independently by Notre Dame Law School and the Government Accountability Office show that environmental groups pad their claims for reimbursed legal fees using a social program entitled the Equal Access to Justice Act, and the U.S. is not keeping track of expenditures.

In the summer 2011 issue of Fair Chase, I bemoaned the fact that the House of Representatives had offered a fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget that posed draconian cuts in conservation funding. Wiser heads eventually prevailed and federal conservation programs did receive reduced appropriations that limited agency programs; however, the budget did not eliminate programs as submitted by the House. As promised, the fight associated with the FY2011 budget was only a sparring match compared to the fisticuffs associated with the FY2012 budget. However, during this round of budget negotiations, a powerful, new entity has entered the ring.