Advisory Group Gives Sportsmen Voice on Conservation

By David Frey, 2-04-10

Federal officials unveiled a new advisory council on wildlife conservation and hunting issues on Thursday.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer joined Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for the announcement at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial in Washington.

The new Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council is intended to give sportsmen’s groups a forum to advise federal agencies on policies related to wildlife and habitat conservation. It’s also meant to encourage partnership among the hunting industry, sportsmen’s conservation groups, wildlife conservation groups and government.

The council replaces the Sporting Conservation Council by adding the hunting industry and more hunting organizations.

“The early efforts of America’s hunters and anglers to preserve our nation’s wildlife heritage fueled the modern conservation movement and left us the natural bounty we are now entrusted with protecting,” Salazar said. “In the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt, we are enlisting the help of hunters and anglers to help us confront the conservation challenges of our time so that our children and grandchildren can have the same opportunities to experience wildlife and the great outdoors that have been passed along, generation to generation.”

Five federal agencies – the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and Farm Service Agency – will appoint organizational members to the council.

“Hunters are some of our nation’s most influential conservationists, and through their license and equipment purchases, they are foremost funders of state fish and wildlife agencies’ programs to restore and safeguard wildlife and their habitats,” said Ron Regan, Acting Director of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, who will serve as an ex-officio member, representing state wildlife agencies.

Click here to see a podcast of the announcement.