(Columbus, OH) –California Senate Bill 1221, a bill that will ban the use of hounds to hunt black bears and bobcats, passed the state’s Senate today. The passage of SB 1221 by the senate casts a dark cloud over the future of all hunting and wildlife management in California. Senate Bill 1221 passed with a vote of 22 to 15 in favor.

The bill, which is sponsored by the radical animal rights group Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), triggered a strong outpouring of opposition from California sportsmen and women, plus sportsmen’s organizations, in the state and nationwide. The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) denounced this retaliatory wildlife management bill that was created when HSUS could not have a state game commissioner removed for his legal mountain lion hunt. As the bill moved forward from introduction and through the hearing process, hundreds of opponents wearing orange “NO on SB 1221” buttons also packed the corridors of the capital to let their Senators know they opposed this anti-hunting bill.

“The California Senate today chose retribution and revenge over sound science-based wildlife management,” explained Evan Heusinkveld, USSA’s director of state services. “Despite having a Fish and Game Commission explicitly designed to handle these questions free from the politics of the statehouse, the California Senate voted in favor of a hunting ban.”

USSA has been working with the Masters of Foxhounds Association, California Houndsmen for Conservation and the California Outdoor Heritage Alliance to defeat SB 1221.

Fast Facts on SB 1221

The bill would outlaw the use of hounds to hunt bears and bobcats.
Hunting bears and bobcats with hounds has been legal since the state formally organized a game commission and established game management and hunting laws.
Hounds are actually used in wildlife management practices and projects.
Hunters using hounds to pursue bears actually take fewer bears than is recommended by the state’s game department.
This bill is being pushed by the radical animal rights group—the Humane Society of the United States—the same group that has pushed anti-farming and puppy mill bills in California in the past.

Here’s a thought for this glorious Monday! I figure the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution and the original 10 Amendments, known as the Bill of Rights might contain perhaps 12 or 13 pages of modern day text in a computer-generated word processor. And, I would approximate the number of words necessary to lay out to the American people the country’s intentions to separate from the King of England, to script the constitution that would guide the actions of government and to reaffirm the rights all men are endowed with, to be about 6,700.

While men have, since the beginning of time, done everything they can to take away and limit the God-given rights of humans, it has been only since 1936, when the government began keeping a journal of all its actions (called the Federal Register), that the United States Government has compiled nearly 82,000 pages and millions upon millions of words in order to destroy the original 12 or 13 pages that scripted our path.

Why would anybody think the government is looking out for them? Seriously.

It has been 222 years since the original Bill of Rights were ratified. Since then, men from every walk of life, have done all that they could to abort, annihilate, annul, axe, blot out, break down, butcher, consume, crush, damage, deface, desolate, despoil, dismantle, dispatch, end, eradicate, erase, exterminate, extinguish, extirpate, gut, impair, kill, lay waste, level, liquidate, maim, mar, maraud, mutilate, nuke, nullify, overturn, quash, quell, ravage, ravish, raze, ruin, sabotage, shatter, slay, smash, snuff out, spoliate, stamp out, suppress, swallow up, tear down, torpedo, total, trash, vaporize, waste, wax, wipe out, wreck, and zap our inalienable rights. We only have a formal written record of that destruction found within our Federal Register. It has only been around for 76 years of those 222 and it alone contains 82,000 pages. How many more pages before it will be completely gone? Or is it already?

Anti-hunting and Environmental Lobby Distort the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act to Raise Money

(Columbus) – Following in the footsteps of the nation’s most powerful anti-hunting organization, a quartet of environmental groups wasted no time firing off fundraising appeals to fight HR 4089. The bill, also called the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012, is the most significant pro-sportsmen legislation in 15 years. The funding requests are full of lies, mischaracterizations and distortions.

Joining the Humane Society of the United States in this cynical attempt to cash in are the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, The Wilderness Society and the National Parks Conservation Association. Their fundraising appeals can be viewed by clicking on each group’s name.

Opponents falsely claim that the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act will:

Allow motorized access, roads, logging and oil / gas development in wilderness areas;

Prohibit the use of the National Environmental Policy Act in making hunting and fishing management decisions on public lands;

Mandate that hunting be allowed in National Parks. This could include hunting at historic battlefield, cemeteries or other sensitive cultural sites;

Remove protection from the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act for polar bears;

Allow unregulated hunting on federal public land;

Remove the authority of the U.S. EPA to regulate lead in ammunition and fishing tackle.

Bill Horn, federal affairs director for the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA), is one of the key contributors to the language in H.R. 4089. A former Assistant Secretary of Interior, Bill explains what is fiction and what is fact about the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012.

Click here for the truth.

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 26, 2012 – House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement on Judge Redden’s admitted bias to destroy Snake River Dams:

“This interview candidly reveals the activist bias of Judge Redden that I and many in the Pacific Northwest have suspected for years. Due to his personal views, this one judge unilaterally dragged and drove costly litigation on for nearly a decade.

“He issued unprecedented, questionable and expensive rulings resulting in his literally seizing control of the river system’s operation. He ignored clear and sound science that salmon species are returning in numbers greater than before these dams were built, and forced taxpayers to pay for millions of dollars in higher energy bills and lawyers’ fees. He ordered the waste of tens of millions of dollars by forcing the spilling of water past dams that science reveals has benefited few, if any, fish, and may have actually harmed them. He’s ignored federal science that shows more fish benefit from safe barge transportation, and he’s clouded any semblance of the best science and the law regarding federal salmon protection measures supported by three states, many tribes and other stakeholders.

“This one politician-turned-judge kept pursuing his agenda and imposing his own views over the policies of the elected Presidential Administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

“Judge Redden has admitted his bias in favor of the agenda of radical environmental groups whose sole goal is the extreme act of tearing down hydropower dams that provide the vast majority of the power generated for Northwest families and businesses—about 80 percent for Idaho, 70 percent of Washington and nearly 60 percent for Oregon. This is clean, carbon-free and renewable energy that has supported the Northwest’s vibrant agriculture, technological and trade economies for decades.

“Judge Redden’s bias is being used to further this radical agenda just months after he announced his retirement from the case and as a new, hopefully impartial, judge has been appointed to oversee the endless and unclear future of litigation he perpetuated.

“It’s time for the endless litigation and radical agendas—bolstered by one man’s personal views and grip on a judge’s gavel—to stop and to ensure that the Northwest will be given certainty that a plan supported by states, tribes and others will be approved to ensure that dams keep producing clean, renewable hydropower and allow for abundant salmon for generations to come.”

(Columbus) –The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance played a key role in the passage of H.R. 4089 through the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill, also called the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012, is the most significant piece of legislation in 15 years.

Tomorrow April 20th, watch U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Director of Federal Affairs Bill Horn on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal discussing Sportsmen’s Rights, and H.R. 4089. The program is live. Bill will be appearing from 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Click here for information on H.R. 4089, the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012.

Bill Horn is one of America’s top legal minds in the area of wildlife and natural resources law. He has been with USSA for 23 years. During his tenure with USSA, sportsmen have prevailed on key battles to protect the rights of Americans to hunt, fish and trap. Notable among these is the National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act of 1997 which makes hunting and fishing priority uses of the 100 million-acre public land system.

Early in his career he worked as a Congressional staffer on the old House Interior Committee. Bill was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks by President Reagan. In that job, he oversaw the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service and directed important programs regarding migratory bird hunting, the Endangered Species Act, and fisheries restoration programs. He also chaired the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the National Wildlife Refuge Centennial Commission.

When not manning the political and legal front lines on behalf of hunters and anglers, he is a hardcore grouse and woodcock hunter, waterfowler, and saltwater fly fisher. His passion for these pursuits has spurred ventures into outdoor writing and his articles have appeared in The Pointing Dog Journal, American Angler, and Florida Sportsman magazines. Bill’s first book – Seasons on the Flats: An Angler’s Year in the Florida Keys – will be released this summer.

(Columbus, Ohio) –With bipartisan support the U.S. House of Representatives today approved the most significant pro-sportsmen legislation in 15 years. H.R. 4089, which passed by a vote of 274-146, is a package of high priority issues supported by every nationally prominent conservation and sportsmen’s organization. The bill was supported by 235 Republicans and 39 Democrats.

Entitled The Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012, H.R. 4089:

Classifies Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service lands as open to hunting, fishing and recreational shooting unless closed or restricted based on scientific evidence;
Confirms that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot ban lead in traditional ammunition or in sport fishing gear;
Protects recreational shooting on BLM National Monument land; and
Allows the import of legally hunted polar bear trophies now tangled in federal red-tape.

A major focus of the organizations that helped craft H.R. 4089 is to prevent frivolous lawsuits that unfairly restrict the rights of hunters, anglers and shooters and limit wildlife conservation and management. Over the last decade anti-hunting groups and their trial lawyers have filed multiple suits in courts arguing that existing federal law does not allow, or requires restrictions on fishing, hunting, and shooting on federal public lands. Defending against these suits has cost state and federal wildlife agencies and sportsmen’s organizations, including the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA), millions of dollars.

In 1998, USSA first proposed that federal BLM and Forest Service lands, which total over 700 million acres, be declared legally open to fishing, hunting and shooting unless closed by specific agency action. In the intervening years, USSA has worked to persuade the sporting community and Congress of the need for such legislation. House passage of H.R. 4089 is the result of this long effort to build strong legal barriers against anti-hunters and the animal rights lobby.

The bill also protects fishing tackle and ammunition from attacks. Recently, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government to force the U.S. EPA to ban the use of lead in ammunition and fishing tackle. Their claim misrepresented the intent of the Toxic Substance Control Act which was enacted in 1976 to allow the EPA to regulate new commercial chemicals entering the market and the distribution of existing chemicals found to pose unreasonable risks to public health or the environment. It was never intended to allow the regulation of ammunition and fishing tackle.

“H.R. 4089 spells out in plain language that hunting, fishing and recreational shooting are legitimate uses of federal public lands and that these lands are open, as a matter of law, to these traditional activities,” said Bud Pidgeon, USSA president and CEO. “And it makes it crystal clear that the U.S. EPA does not have the authority to restrict American’s choices of ammunition and fishing tackle.”

In addition to USSA, H.R. 4089 is supported by an array of sporting conservation groups including the American Sportfishing Association, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, National Rifle Association, National Shooting Sports Foundation, and Safari Club International. A complete listing of supporters can be found here.

As an aside, I received this email from Gary Marbut of Montana Shooting Sports Association on information related to the passage of this bill.

In 2008 I attended the White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy in Reno, Nevada. The Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture were there, as were the heads of the Forest Service, BLM, the fish and Wildlife Service, scores of their minions, and scads of fish and game people from most states. VP Cheney gave the keynote address. there were very few people like me there, like a handful.

It turned out that the Conference became mostly a brainstorming session about where all the public lands managers and fish and game people were going to find enhanced revenue to upscale their mission in coming years.

However, I showed up with a prepared resolution, the only such prepared resolution presented at this conference of hundreds, pushing public land managers to plan for recreational shooting on public lands. Here’s the resolution which I presented, and which was adopted by the Conference:

Shooting Ranges – Public Lands

1. When the BLM and USFS revise their resource management plans, they should consider designating one or more safe and suitable places for recreational shooting within a reasonable distance from any established community near which BLM or USFS manages public lands.

2. The BLM and USFS should develop and implement a streamlined and simple process to transfer or long-term lease land to responsible local organizations to manage and operate shooting ranges.

If you are interested, you can read the report I prepared on this Conference at:
http://www.progunleaders.org/conference/

Fast forward to 2012. H.R. 4089, the “Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act” just passed the U.S. House of Representatives today.

It includes these ideas I planted in 2008!!

Now, H.R. 4089 will go to the U.S. Senate. You might want to ask your buddies Max and Jon to support it there.

Best wishes,

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 21, 2012 -

Earlier this week, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Ignacia Moreno asking for detailed information on how much taxpayer money is being spent on Endangered Species Act (ESA) related litigation and settlements involving the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Department (ENRD). The letter raises concerns over the disproportionate amount of ESA appropriated funds that are spent on legal actions and responding to petitions—and the lack of transparency on how these funds are being spent.

“The goal of the ESA was to preserve, protect and recover key domestic species. However, today the law is failing to achieve its primary purpose of species recovery and instead has become a tool for litigation that drains resources away from real recovery efforts and blocks job-creating economic activities,” writes Hastings in the letter. “Given the lack of clarity and transparency over how much taxpayer money is being spent by the federal government in connection with litigation and legal settlements involving the ESA, including the amount of money paid to cover the attorney’s fees and legal costs of activist groups filing these dozens of lawsuits, the Committee is conducting oversight over the implementation of the ESA.”

In May and July 2011, the Obama Administration agreed to two separate litigation settlements involving petitions to list 779 species under the ESA through more than 85 lawsuits and legal actions. These settlements mandate that over 250 candidate species must be reviewed for final listing as either threatened or endangered under the ESA by 2016. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s FY 2013 budget request includes an increase in funding that could result in 88 more species being listed and critical habitat being designated in just this year alone.

On February 15, 2012, Chairman Hastings questioned Secretary Ken Salazar how much the Department of the Interior spends on litigation and settlements involving the ESA at the Committee’s hearing to consider the Department of the Interior’s FY2013 budget request. Secretary Salazar admitted that he did not know.

Click here to read a full copy of the letter.

(Columbus, OH) – Protection of fishing, hunting, and shooting on national forest and public lands has taken a step forward with the Senate introduction of the Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act. Introduced by Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), the measure is backed by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, American Sportfishing Association, National Rifle Association, Safari Club International, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, and others in the angling, hunting and wildlife conservation community.

The bill will protect fishing, hunting, trapping, recreational shooting and wildlife management practices on more than 400 million acres of public land across America managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. The measure mandates that these public lands are open until closed for angling, hunting and shooting while enabling the agencies to make specific closures or restrictions determined to be necessary and supported by sound facts and evidence. The bill is patterned after the 1997 National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act which made fishing and hunting “priority public uses” on federal wildlife refuge system lands and has helped protect fishing and hunting there from anti-fishing/anti-hunting zealots.

The new Senate bill also fixes loopholes created by lawsuits by anti-hunting organizations that have hampered hunting, fishing and wildlife conservation. For example, under the bill, the Forest Service can keep its public lands open for hunting and fishing even if nearby state and private lands are also open. Previously, a court had ruled that federal public lands might have to be closed if other nearby lands hosted hunters. Similarly, fish and wildlife conservation and management will remain primary purposes on BLM, Forest and Wildlife Refuge lands reversing court rulings from San Francisco. Restrictions in the 1964 Wilderness Act on motorized access, logging and other commodity uses are expressly not affected by the bill and remain in place.

Bill Horn, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Director of Federal Affairs welcomed the introduction:

“USSA deeply appreciates today’s action by Senators Murkowski and Manchin. We have been working for over a decade in support of this kind of legislation and as threats mount to fishing, hunting and shooting on public lands, the need for this bill grows. We look forward to working with the Senators and their colleagues to get this landmark measure enacted this year and ensure protection in law of our cherished angling and hunting heritage.”

American Sportfishing Association added its support:

“Recreation is the single largest economic output of national forests and grasslands, with 46.5 million anglers spending over $1.2 billion annually to enjoy recreational fishing on USFS lands,” said Gordon Robertson, Vice President of the ASA. “It is astounding that with such high demand, access is still a barrier for millions of anglers. This legislation directs the USFS and BLM managers to not only promote recreational fishing and hunting access, but to further take advantage of one of the biggest economic drivers for the agencies and the rural communities near their lands.”

The National Rifle Association offered its strong support:

“Protecting the traditions of hunting and shooting on our public lands has long been a NRA priority and the Murkowski/Manchin bill does just that. The leadership for sportsmen and sportswomen demonstrated by the two Senators will not be forgotten by us and our members,” said Susan Recce, NRA Director of Conservation.

Safari Club International also hailed the bill:

“By introducing legislation that will protect America’s hunting, shooting, and fishing community for generations to come, Senators Murkowski and Manchin have taken a much needed bi-partisan step forward. Too frequently, the hunting community is dealt lip-service, but Senator Murkowski and Senator Manchin have brought to the Senate serious legislation that will protect hunting for a generation. The companion legislation introduced in the House of Representatives is equally important to the future of hunting. On behalf of SCI and all of our partners, we would like for all members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus to co-sponsor the ‘sportsmen endorsed’ legislation,” said President of SCI, Kevin Anderson.

Jeff Crane, President of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation added:

“The Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus has been working with the sportsmen’s community on this Act to allow Federal land planners to evaluate the impacts that management activities have on hunting, fishing and recreational shooting, and to provide a clear analysis of how proposed actions would impact access to Federal lands.”

The new Senate Bill is a companion to legislation passed by the House Natural Resources Committee 29-14. That bill, H.R. 2834, is currently awaiting a vote before the full U.S. House of Representatives.

Contacts:

USSA: Mike Faw, Director of Communications: mfaw@ussportsmen.org

ASA: Gordon Robertson, Vice President: GRobertson@asafishing.org

CSF: Frank Miniter, CSF Communcations Director: frank@sportsmenslink.org

NRA: Susan Recce, NRA Director of Conservation: srecce@nrahq.org

SCI: Nelson Freeman, media@safariclub.org

One of the problems with any government is bureaucracy and red tape. Here’s a clear example of it.

The Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, in which the entire document is 47 pages, contains the phrase, “Significant Portion of Its Range”. This in reference to consideration of whether to include a species for protection or remove a species from Federal protection.

When you examine the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as amended, you will discover that the word “range” is used a total of 6 times (pg. 5, pg. 6, pg. 7, pg. 11 and pg. 40). The use of the entire term of “significant portion of its range” is used twice (pg. 5, pg. 6).

President Obama has offered a proposal to amend the ESA or perhaps better described as offering a clarification or definition of the use of the term “significant portion of its range”. The president uses 84 pages to accomplish that feat. This approaches nearly twice the length of the entire ESA.

Now I just received a copy of this proposal so I haven’t had the chance to read it but I will. It was just that my first reaction was that it would take only a government agency to define a 5-word phrase used twice in the ESA, 84 pages to do so.

One would also suppose that being that the House Natural Resource Committee began hearings this week to examine the ups and downs of the ESA, that Obama’s Administration would want to get into the act. Some see this as a good thing and others as being very bad.

Dr. Charles Kay, Ph.D. Wildlife Ecology at Utah State University and one who never minces words, had this to say in an email on the subject of Obama’s proposal:

To all—-What do you not understand that they, CBD [Center for Biological Diversity] and others, want wolves, grizzlies ,etc. EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!——Even if this policy is adopted by the OA [Obama Administration], all they will have done is invited CBD to the courthouse to have it overturned—–This, on the part of the OA, is simply a ploy, in a long list of similar ploys, to reduce the growing political movement to repeal the ESA, as presently written BY THE COURTS————-Charles

If I find worthwhile information and/or commentary to pass on after struggling through 84 pages of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, you’ll find it posted here.

Tom Remington

*Editor’s Note* – The following press release is being distributed by Big Game Forever. While the focus of the press release appears to be more directed toward better control of gray wolves in America, it should be noted that the hearings that have commenced in Washington, in the House Natural Resource Committee are about an overall review and debate about the good and bad parts of the 1973 Endangered Species Act as amended.

For those who don’t already have set up or have knowledge on how to contact members of the Natural Resource Committee and/or your congressional representatives, Big Game Forever has made it easy for you. Please read the press release below and follow their simple instructions on how to send a free notice to Congress.

From Big Game Forever:

Take action today!

Folks,

Many of you have asked “How Can I help?”

Congress needs our support. Our elected representatives in Congress care about wolves and the Endangered Species Act. I was in Congress on Monday for a hearing on the Endangered Species Act. The problems presented by unregulated wolves and endless litigation were repeatedly raised in the hearing. I met with many offices for Senators and Representatives who are working to fix these problems.

Here is how we need your help today!

(1) Go to the website http://biggameforever.org/takeaction and send an email. It’s fast, it’s easy and it’s free. Simply click “take action” and follow the instructions. It should take about 30 seconds to send an email to all of your elected representatives, the White House, Department of Interior and US Fish and Wildlife Service. Big Game Forever makes it easy to make a difference.

(2) Ask your friends to join the fight with Big Game Forever. Send an email asking your friends to do 3 simple things:
(a) send an email to Congress using our automated system at http://biggameforever.org/takeaction;
(b) sign the petition on our website at http://biggameforever.org; and
(c) take 5 minutes and watch the video at http://biggameforever.org which shows why the future of wildlife is at risk. 23,000 people have seen this video already.

Yesterday’s over 6,000 emails were sent to Congress by supporters of Big Game Forever in response to the Big Game Forever “Action Alert”.

Here is how we are different. Some anti-hunting groups have attempted to create the illusion of collective action by sending emails on behalf of their members. Every message sent to Congress from Big Game Forever was sent by actual voter who “took action” using the tools at http://biggameforever.org/takeaction. Hunters care about the future of our outdoor heritage. These collective action show that real Americans are willing to join the fight. Thanks to everyone who has responded so quickly to this call to action.

The vast majority of those who have signed the online petition still haven’t sent their email to Congress. Take a minute and join the fight by sending your email by visiting http://biggameforever.org/takeaction. Together, we can protect wild things and wild places for future generations.