In This Article
30-Second Summary
Headline Links: The politics, and declining number, of hunters
Background: Drilling projects in the West and NRA members resist Bush
Historical Context: Hunters and early conservationists
Opinion & Analysis: Why do hunters clash with environmentalists?
Related Topic: Hunters concerned about global warming
Reference Material: Hunting numbers
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Hunters and Environmentalists Find a Common Cause in Conservation
by
findingDulcinea Staff
As the Bush administration’s energy policies expand oil and gas drilling on public lands, a surprising coalition of environmentalists and traditionally Republican sportsmen works for conservation.
30-Second Summary
Over the past five years White House energy policies have accelerated the development of oil and gas wells in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming.
These drilling projects are galvanizing conservationists from across the political spectrum, eroding GOP primacy in what have been consistently red-leaning areas of the West.
“I'm a registered Republican, but last year I voted a straight Democratic ticket. First time in my life ... The Republicans have kind of lost touch with reality,” Bob Elderkin, the 68 year-old head of Rifle, Colorado’s Mule Deer Association, told The Washington Post.
Although their alliance with environmentalists may seem counterintuitive, the country’s 12.5 million hunters are fundamental to the management of U.S. wildlife.
Each year, federal excise taxes on guns, ammunition and other equipment provides state wildlife management programs with nearly $200 million in funding. And since 1934, hunters have paid more than $700 million for Federal Duck Stamps (a required purchase for migratory waterfowl hunters), money that has added 5.2 million acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System.
In fact, the NWRS was created by notable hunter, and founder of America’s conservation movement, President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt also expanded the national forest system by 151 million acres while in office.
According to National Geographic writer Bob Poole, this tradition of conservation could forge an alliance between hunters and environmentalists on a number of broader issues. That is, if the two groups “could overcome their suspicions of one another."
These drilling projects are galvanizing conservationists from across the political spectrum, eroding GOP primacy in what have been consistently red-leaning areas of the West.
“I'm a registered Republican, but last year I voted a straight Democratic ticket. First time in my life ... The Republicans have kind of lost touch with reality,” Bob Elderkin, the 68 year-old head of Rifle, Colorado’s Mule Deer Association, told The Washington Post.
Although their alliance with environmentalists may seem counterintuitive, the country’s 12.5 million hunters are fundamental to the management of U.S. wildlife.
Each year, federal excise taxes on guns, ammunition and other equipment provides state wildlife management programs with nearly $200 million in funding. And since 1934, hunters have paid more than $700 million for Federal Duck Stamps (a required purchase for migratory waterfowl hunters), money that has added 5.2 million acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System.
In fact, the NWRS was created by notable hunter, and founder of America’s conservation movement, President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt also expanded the national forest system by 151 million acres while in office.
According to National Geographic writer Bob Poole, this tradition of conservation could forge an alliance between hunters and environmentalists on a number of broader issues. That is, if the two groups “could overcome their suspicions of one another."
Headline Links: The politics, and declining number, of hunters
According to The Economist, the hunting community’s newly formed collaboration with liberal-minded environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, could weaken one of the Republican Party’s most potent constituencies. In fact, the magazine notes that Democrats have picked up on the growing division in GOP ranks and “fielded a few hunting candidates.”
Source: The Economist
The number of hunters in the United States is declining. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 14.1 million hunters in 1991, 13 million in 2001, and 12.5 million in 2006, currently making up around 5 percent of the adult population. Although a new breed of outdoor enthusiast called “wildlife watching participants”—which includes nature photographers, traveling birders and stay-at-home bird watchers—has emerged, it is still too soon to know whether these “watchers” will generate enough money to bankroll the country’s state fish and wildlife agencies.
Source: National Geographic
Background: Drilling projects in the West and NRA members resist Bush
On Oct. 25, Republican Senator from Wyoming Todd Barrasso introduced legislation that could prevent the leasing of more than 1.2 million acres of the Wyoming Range for gas and oil drilling. The Wyoming Range Legacy Act, S. 2229, is considered a victory for the broad coalition of environmentalists, sportsmen and outdoor tourism groups who have lobbied for more than a year to prevent the drilling projects. “We all know that poster ‘God Bless Wyoming and Keep It Wild.’ That phrase keeps going through my mind, and I feel especially proud today. People in Wyoming are looking for some balance. So yes, ‘God Bless Wyoming and Keep It Wild,’” Barrasso said.
Source: Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range
According to a Sept. 16 article in The Washington Post, the Bush administration’s push to promote gas drilling on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado has angered many of the hunters and fishermen who have traditionally comprised the state’s Republican base. “I'm a registered Republican, but last year I voted a straight Democratic ticket. First time in my life … The Republicans have kind of lost touch with reality,” said Bob Elderkin, the 68-year-old head of Rifle, Colorado’s Mule Deer Association—a hunting group that has joined environmentalists in opposition to the drilling.
Source: The Washington Post
Popular hunting and fishing magazine Field & Stream outlines some of the major energy drilling projects currently being proposed in the United States. Plans for oil and gas wells in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming, and the Piceance Basin and Roan Plateau of Colorado, have met with opposition from local sportsmen who say the plans will greatly diminish the local wildlife populations and cripple local businesses.
Source: Field & Stream
NRA pressured to resist Bush energy policies
In January 2007, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the National Rifle Association was being pressured by its membership to oppose the Bush administration’s energy policies. According to critics, the policies have sacrificed access to public lands in favor of opening them up to oil and gas drilling. “We find that our members are having a harder time finding access to public land,” said Ronald L. Schmeits, second vice president of the NRA and member of its board of directors. “Gun rights are still number one, but there will be more time and effort spent on this issue [by NRA leaders] as we move forward.”
Source: The San Francisco Chronicle
Historical Context: Hunters and early conservationists
Modern conservationists owe a lot to the efforts of hunters in the late 19th century. Noted sportsmen President Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot and George Bird Grinnel formed the Boone & Crockett Club in 1887, whose early efforts included a campaign to stop the privatization of Yellowstone National Park. Roosevelt went on to establish the National Wildlife Refuge System and expand the national forest system by 151 million acres. In addition, since the 1930s the federal Sportfish and Wildlife Restoration Program has raised millions of dollars for conservation efforts through an excise tax on firearms, ammunition, archery and fishing tackle. The Sierra Club Web site provides a PDF summing up the conservation efforts of hunters throughout history.
Source: The Sierra Club Web site
Opinion & Analysis: Why do hunters clash with environmentalists?
When asked why there is a perceived division between hunters and environmentalists, National Geographic writer and sportsman Bob Poole told the Sierra Club that he believes the reason is cultural: “We've become urbanized and separated from nature in recent decades. I would hazard a guess that those most critical of hunting live in cities or suburbs, do not understand predator-prey relationships, and do not know people who hunt. Few in our country still hunt for subsistence, so the hunting tradition seems irrelevant. Yet it is an irrelevance which has value … Regarding what you describe as a schism, I would point out that hunters, fishermen, and environmentalists should be the best of allies and could speak with a powerful political voice if they could overcome their suspicions of one another.”
Source: The Sierra Club Web site
Related Topic: Hunters concerned about global warming
According to a 2006 survey conducted by the National Wildlife Federation, the majority of hunters and anglers think the United States is not effectively dealing with climate change. Out of 1,031 licensed hunters and anglers polled, 73 percent think global warming is impacting or will impact hunting and fishing conditions, and 78 percent said addressing the problem should involve energy conservation, the development of more fuel-efficient cars, and an increase in the use of renewable resources.
Source: Live Science
The full survey is available as a PDF from the National Wildlife Action Web site. National Wildlife Action is a sister organization of the National Wildlife Federation.
Source: The National Wildlife Action Web site
Reference Material: Hunting numbers
According to a 2006 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report, over 87 million U.S. residents age 16 and older fished, hunted, or watched wildlife that year. During that year, 29.9 million people fished, 12.5 million hunted, and 71.1 million participated in at least one type of wildlife-watching activity, including observing, feeding, or photographing wildlife.
The full 2006 report is available as a PDF from the FWS Web site.
Source: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Web site
Noted environmental group the Sierra Club now boasts 118,184 members who fish and hunt. The Sierra Club Web site offers a map highlighting the number of Sierra Sportsmen from each state.
Source: The Sierra Club Web site
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