Fishing

Sportsmen’s Organizations Oppose Conservation Cuts

March 1, 2011 By Tom Sadler

A deliberate move away from America’s long conservation tradition…

Responding to the draconian cuts passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in HR 1, 42 of the country’s leading hunting, fishing and outdoor organizations sent a letter to the U. S. Senate today urging restoration of funding to conservation programs.

The key point for me:

While we fully acknowledge that conservation programs should shoulder a fair and proportional burden of reductions to the Federal budget as required to address the budget deficit, these provisions of HR 1, in our view, represent a deliberate move away from America’s long conservation tradition and, specifically with respect to the interests of the hunting, fishing and outdoor community. We are very disappointed that the House considered these actions without consultation with the hunting, fishing and conservation community, and appeal to you to please give significant and favorable consideration to our perspectives. These vital conservation programs with long-standing track records of success are foundational to fish, wildlife and habitat conservation, good for the economy in creating jobs particularly in rural communities, and critical to providing opportunities for access to and enjoyment of fish and wildlife resources by America’s sportsmen and sportswomen. [emphasis mine]

You can add your voice with this Action Alert from Trout Unlimited

Full letter after the jump.
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A Conservation Nightmare

February 26, 2011 By Tom Sadler

We were warned

When Bob Marshal wrote, This will be the year that will test the commitment of the outdoors community, he gave us fair and early warning of the assault on conservation that was coming.

The conservation battles sportsmen fought to protect fish and wildlife habitat in the past may seem like speed bumps to the wall being raised in Washington this year.

Hal Herring took up the battle cry when he wrote Are There Any Politicians Who Really Understand Sportsmen’s Concerns?

What is disturbing is that we seem to have lost any conservative political leaders who understand sportsmen’s concerns, or, in the same vein, who recognize that there can be value in undisturbed land, or waters, or that intact ecosystems, with their healthy game and fish populations, also hold economic value in producing clean water, clean air, grazing, wildlife, flood or invasive weed control, all those elements that may not always add to the bottom line of corporate profit, but are the actual bottom line of life on this planet.

Not long after that Kirk Deeter added his voice in Should Conservation Be a Political Issue?

In my humble opinion, conservation shouldn’t be a political issue. It should be a cultural issue. And in that regard, I think those doing the real heavy lifting to protect wild places for fishing and hunting aren’t so much “green” as they are “camo.”

U.S. House takes an axe to conservation

Yesterday Deeter sounded the alarm loud and strong in his reaction to the US House of Representatives passage of HR1, Proposed Conservation Funding Cuts Could Devastate Fly Fishing Resources.

HR1 is a bill in Congress right now that would slash funding for a number of important conservation programs that impact fly fishing from coast to coast. I don’t care what your political persuasion is…if you’re a fly fisher, this should concern you, because any threat to habitat is a threat to opportunity. And in many cases, once a resource is gone, it’s gone.

He joins calls to action from Ducks Unlimited and Trout Unlimited!

Are you getting the message yet? If not, then you are not paying attention!

Indulge your curiosity, try tenkara!

February 20, 2011 By Tom Sadler

In Dylan Rose’s recent blog post on Skate the Fly, Dodging Icebergs and Rocking a Tenkara, he writes about watching Craig Mathews fishing tenkara on the Madison and being intrigued by the whole tenkara thing but not yet convinced.

I’ve yet to get excited about the Tenkara rage. I can’t really place my finger on why exactly. It may have something to do with the fact that it has been described to me as being the “purest form of fly fishing”. That kind of language always makes me vomit a little in my mouth.

Let’s see if I can convince him to indulge his curiosity and keep him from puking on his shoes.
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Virginia’s rivers are an economic engine.

February 15, 2011 By Tom Sadler

One of my favorite statesman, former U.S. Senator John Warner of Virginia, penned a great editorial, Protect Virginia’s rivers, about how important Virginia’s rivers are to our culture, health and economy.

Senator Warner wrote about the value of our rivers as blue ways or water trails:

“A water trail or blueway is a dedicated stretch of river that enjoys special clean-water safeguards and is a destination for fishing, boating and other recreation. Water trails also benefit our economy, bringing valuable tourist dollars to local businesses and providing recreation-related jobs for Virginians.”

Virginia’s rivers are a gift in many ways. Hopefully when the America’s Great Outdoors report is released tomorrow it will include, as Senator Warner hopes, strong support for rivers and water across the county.

By making rivers the centerpiece of America’s Great Outdoors, the administration will ensure the rivers of our states will flow with beauty and vitality, enriching lives for generations to come.

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