Sportsmen Speak Up for Funding for Habitat and Access 10-29-2010
gengberg October 29th, 2010
Sportsmen Speak Up for Funding for Habitat and Access
Click Here to Take Action!
Hunters and anglers are increasingly losing access to our traditional places to hunt and fish. The Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund has played a critical role in securing land for fishing access and wildlife habitat that allows sportsmen to continue to follow our passions, such as chasing big game, upland birds, trout and bass. These funds are used to purchase public access to hunting and fishing areas, maintain important waterfowl nesting sites on prairie potholes, provide functional habitat for a range of game and non-game species, and provide a valuable tool for ranching families and communities to maintain the economic viability of working landscapes.
Created in 1965, the LWCF is a federal trust fund that accumulates revenues from oil and gas leases for acquisition of protected lands and easements to improve public access to existing federal lands. As the primary source of funding available to federal land management agencies to develop and assure access to the places we hunt and fish, the LWCF has helped save some of America’s most popular sporting destinations from development and closure.
Right now, the future funding level for the LWCF is being debated in the Senate in two different bills. Sportsmen must speak up now to the administration and Congress in support of full and dedicated funding of $900 million a year for the Land and Water Conservation Fund to improve public access to hunting and fishing opportunities on private and public lands. Further, the dedication of 1.5 percent of the total funding for access is critical both in keeping American sportsmen out in the fields and forests and for sustainable wildlife management.
