The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) joins the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), and other partners at the 2012 SHOT Show to announce the start of a yearlong celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program (WSFR), one of the most significant and successful partnership approaches to fish and wildlife conservation in U.S. history.

Inability to access lands and waters – whether public or privately owned – is the No. 1 reason why sportsmen stop hunting and fishing. That’s why the TRCP and our partners worked to include a sportsmen-designed program in the 2008 Farm Bill that incentivizes farmers and ranchers to make their lands publicly accessible for fish and wildlife dependent recreation.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is seeking to offer an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill now being debated on the Senate floor. Hatch’s amendment would permanently enshrine 10 different appropriations “riders” -- essentially directions from Congress to the administration about how they must spend, or not spend, funds -- into permanent law.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced a proposal to provide additional hunting opportunities on 10 National Wildlife Refuges. 

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) may have recently been focused on dog ownership and cock-fighting legislation, but they strongly reminded sportsmen in recent weeks that a national ban on hunting is still No. 1 on its hit list.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) -- the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry -- is encouraging all hunters, shooters and gun owners to contact their United States Senators and Representatives to urge them to become an original co-sponsor of the Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Sports Protection Act, legislation that will clarify that Congress has not given the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to regulate ammunition and its components under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

House Bill 1451, introduced by Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D- Houston), would classify sporting dog owners as commercial dog breeders and subject them to costly new regulations, warrantless home inspections, and expensive new permit fees.

Recently, the U.S. Forest Service proposed a new set of National Forest System Land Management Planning Rules, the interpretation of which could severely impact sportsmen.  In response, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) submitted comments to the Forest Service requesting changes be made to protect sportsmen. 

Cuts proposed by the House of Representatives would slash funding for a range of policies affecting fish and game management, hunting and angling access and public- and private-lands administration.

Often times you’ll hear sportsmen say “it won’t happen here.”  They’ll say that they know there are real threats to our right to hunt, fish, or trap out there – in other states – but they don’t think that it could ever happen to them where they live.   Nothing can be further from the truth nor more dangerous for our sports.