By Chris Hennessey, Northeast Public Lands Coordinator, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
Most of us who love hunting and fishing know they are more than just leisure activities-- they are a way of life, a part of who we are.
Some of life’s most important lessons are not imparted in a classroom but in a duck blind, a deer stand or waist deep in a river, rod in hand. Hunting and fishing teach the importance of preparation, planning, hard work, patience and ethics.
Young men and women who go afield learn to endure difficult weather conditions, appreciate wildlife and learn early and often that you don’t always get a trophy.
The lessons nature can teach us may seem outdated, but they are quintessentially American and worth preserving.
America’s hunting and angling heritage is embattled on many fronts. From urban sprawl and habitat loss to a shift among youth to team sports and electronics, threats to our outdoor heritage abound.
Yet the biggest threat to the future of our sports isn’t societal or cultural; it is the simple fact that we are losing access to places to hunt and fish.
As more and more farms and private forests are subdivided, sold or placed off-limits, and as streams are posted against angling, fewer sportspeople are heading afield.
Nationwide, loss of access is the No. 1 reason cited by Americans who drift away from their hunting and fishing roots.
Fortunately, there is a bright spot.
For 50 years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has been our nation’s most important tool to ensure outdoors people have access to public lands to hunt and fish.
It has represented a bipartisan commitment to safeguard our sporting heritage by conserving lands with high wildlife-habitat value and important water resources that support healthy fisheries, and by securing access for recreational opportunities that fuel an $887 billion annual outdoor recreation economy supporting 7.6 million American jobs.
The LWCF does not use our tax dollars-- it is funded by royalties oil companies pay to the government for drilling offshore in public waters.
Matching grants leverage investments from states and local governments to provide financial support for shared land-conservation strategies and tools such as voluntary conservation easements that improve outdoor recreation by permanently securing irreplaceable lands.
Funding from the LWCF has made possible public access and recreation projects across Pennsylvania.
One of the single largest beneficiaries of LWCF dollars in the Commonwealth is the great Allegheny National Forest in the northwest corner of the state, but hundred of projects have benefited.
The LWCF has helped finance additions and improvements to state gamelands and access to rivers and lakes, including the construction of campgrounds and boating facilities.
Regrettably, this critically important program will expire in 2018 unless Congress acts.
Without the LWCF, tens of millions of dollars for critical outdoor projects in Pennsylvania would disappear.
We can’t allow Washington politics to curtail important hunting and fishing activities in Pennsylvania-- we’ve already lost too much land and access as it is. Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and allied sporting organizations are calling on our elected representatives to save the LWCF from extinction.
In a democracy, there is no room for bystanders. With the number of sportspeople in Pennsylvania shrinking, we must speak louder and be more vigilant in protecting our outdoor heritage.
Let us all rededicate ourselves to preserving our public lands and making them accessible so that these great traditions continue to thrive, for the next generation and beyond.
Chris Hennessey is Northeast Public Lands Coordinator for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and he lives in State College. He can be contacted by sending email to: chris@backcountryhunters.org. You can follow him on Twitter.
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