08/23/2006
Access Key to Future of Hunting
EDGEFIELD, S.C. — As the population continues to grow and houses encroach on rural lands due to urban sprawl, land access for hunters continues to decrease in the United States. Due to this, more hunters across the nation will depend on state- and federally-owned public hunting lands for a place for them and their families to hunt.
Access to some public hunting lands on national refuges, however, could be in jeopardy if Comprehensive Conservation Plans don't take hunters into account when plans are developed. According to the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, all national wildlife refuges are required to develop a Comprehensive Conservation Plan by 2012. A CCP is a document that provides a framework for guiding refuge management decisions.
To date, about 115 CCPs out of 554 have been completed. Public hunting is allowed on more than 300 national refuges across the nation. To find out the status of current CCP's visit www.fws.gov/refuges/refugePlanning
One refuge that recently completed a CCP is the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge. Covering 240,000 acres, and 261 lineal miles total in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, the Upper Mississippi is one of the nation's largest refuges.
"Throughout the CCP process on the Upper Mississippi Refuge, hunters will lose — or have restricted — close to 10,000 acres of public hunting land access," said Dave Mahlke, National Wild Turkey Federation board member. "My family and many others have hunted this land for four generations; we're losing a treasured part of our hunting heritage."
Hunters lost 5,014 acres of public general hunting area, along with 3,220 acres closed to waterfowl hunting and another 1,852 acres of significantly curtailed access due to motorized boat restrictions.
"Access to hunting land is a major obstacle in keeping the rich hunting tradition alive, and I would encourage everyone to make their voice heard when it comes to losing hunting land access," said Rob Keck, CEO of the NWTF.
As a group, hunters contribute $21 billion annually to the U.S. economy and in 2005 alone, combined sales of firearms and ammunition generated more than $224 million in excise taxes earmarked for wildlife and habitat conservation projects through the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act.
"In the past 40 years, hunters have contributed $13.4 billion through the purchase of license tags and permits," Keck said. "These dollars are significant funding for state wildlife agencies. Waterfowl hunters have also supported management of the federal refuge system for 70 years through duck stamp dollars."
Former Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton discussed one such example of the significance of sportsmen's dollars.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service bought those wetlands with money from the sale of duck stamps," Norton said when talking about the discovery of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker on the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas. "The vast majority of duck stamps are bought by hunters. Without hunters, we wouldn't have wetlands. Without wetlands, we wouldn't have the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. President Bush and I know that hunters are the backbone of conservation in America. We know that if conservation is going to remain strong in America, hunting must remain strong. Our national wildlife refuges are a good example of this."
It is evident the use of hunter dollars is widely known and respected. However, without adequate hunting land access, the hunting tradition could be lost.
"I would urge anyone who hunts, or has hunted, on a National Wildlife Refuge to take notice of CCP plans in their area," Keck said. "All plans have public meetings where sportsmen and women can make their voice heard. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service encourages public input about CCPs, and if hunters stand up for their rights to public hunting land access, we could make a difference."
The NWTF proudly promotes public hunting land access. Most recently, the NWTF partnered with The Nature Conservancy in North Carolina to purchase 80,000 acres, of which about 67,000 will be used for public hunting.
For more information about the NWTF, call (800) THE-NWTF.
