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White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy

For the first time in 100 years, a sitting U.S. President convened a meeting to address challenges to conservation and our hunting heritage. It was only the third time in our nation’s history that a ‘national wildlife policy’ has been considered and the industry’s primary concerns expressed during the conference boiled down to land access, wildlife and hunting traditions.

In fact, so rare was this meeting and so crucial are some of the issues at hand, some government officials expressed concern that the future of our hunting heritage hangs in the balance.

The White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy, held this month in Reno, Nev., attracted more than 500 conservation leaders, landowners and wildlife professionals to discuss and advise the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture about wildlife conservation endeavors that benefit recreational hunting and wildlife resources. Industry leaders also encouraged growing partnerships among the public, the sporting conservation community, wildlife conservation groups and the Federal and State governments.

In August 2007, President Bush signed Executive Order #13443: Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation, directing relevant departments and agencies “to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat.” The executive order further called for a comprehensive 10-year Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Plan that sets forth an agenda for achieving those goals and for the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality to work with and consult the Sporting Conservation Council (a 12-member federal advisory committee), state fish and wildlife agencies and the public to facilitate the exchange of information and advice.

“We were charged with identifying our community’s greatest challenges and outlining common-sense solutions that can be embraced by a broad spectrum of stakeholders,” stated Bob Model, chairman of the Sporting Conservation Council. “Their legacy is starting the process and now it is our opportunity to be the bridge to carry these recommendations forward and ensure that they are implemented. The Conference that concluded here was by no means the culmination of a process it is in fact the beginning of our work for the next decade and beyond.”

With the goal to preserve traditions through sound policy, the Conference focused on eight core points:
•    Improving wildlife conservation funding
•    Measuring wildlife habitat conservation efforts
•    Continuing hunter traditions
•    Increasing access to public and private lands
•    Recruiting and educating new hunters
•    Coordinating federal, state, and tribal conservation efforts
•    Assessing climate change effects on wildlife
•    Balancing energy development with wildlife conservation

Access to quality hunting opportunities was identified by the hunting community as one of the greatest problems facing the industry today, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne expressed prophetic concern about the state of hunting. Secretary Kempthorne told conference attendees that hunting is not simply about the outdoors, but it is a pursuit that is “tantamount to Americans’ overall well-being.”

“Hanging in the balance is the future of hunting heritage,” said Sec. Kempthorne. “And with it, the future of conservation in America — the health of our wildlife, the health of our land, our water, our forests, our wetlands, and ultimately, I would argue, the health of our people.”

Sales of fishing and hunting licenses have consistently declined for the past 20 years, and less license revenues means less funding for the outdoors and state-funded conservation efforts.

The two-day, invitation-only event included many other featured speakers such as Vice President Dick Cheney, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

During the closing session of the Conference, Vice President Dick Cheney directly addressed the growing need for greater accessibility to hunting and announced a new incentive program to create quality hunting opportunities on millions of additional acres. The Vice President explained the new program will make payments t to landowners, who allow public hunting access on their property, through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Under the new program, landowners who are enrolled in CRP and with their own state’s hunting access program, will be eligible for payments of $3 per acre, an incentive that is expected to open an additional seven million acres of quality wildlife habitat for hunting.

Sec. Kempthorne also warned that policies alone will not preserve wildlife and ensure the future of our hunting traditions. The industry as a whole needs to encourage and facilitate participation by our youth.

“We are stewards,” added Sec. Kempthorne. “We are given this responsibility, which is an awesome responsibility to take care of the land, to take care of wildlife, and beautiful sceneries — the landscape. It would be tragic if we did a good job of doing that and forgot to bring the children along so that as they inherit this, they don’t have a connection, they don’t have a passion in their hearts; it doesn't make sense to them.”