FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] TWW/CARA: NWF on slashing of State Wildlife Grants

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

Thought this would be of interest and disturbing to all of you. I am printing 
the whole below so you can see the need for action.

Good Birding!!!

Jeff R. Wilson
OL' COOT / TLBA
Bartlett Tenn.


Dear Birding and Watchable-widlife Friends,

Recent Congressional developments concerning the State Wildlife Grants
(SWG) are not promising.

See the thoughtful statement and press release (below) currently being
circulated by the folks at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF).

The statement says it all... and says it well.

It looks like Senate will be out over the weekend and resume consideration
of the omnibus bill on Tuesday, after the MLK holiday.

Tuesday would be an excellent time to call your two Senators' offices
(Capitol switchboard: 202/224-3121), letting them know that backpedaling on
the State Wildlife Grants is no way to fulfill the promises made when CARA
was derailed in 2000. (I'd normally encourage you to call your House
members, too, but, hey, time is short, and the Senate is where the major
retreat is taking place.)

You all know the potential states' role for enhanced bird conservation and
related activities. These SWG funds only BEGIN to make it a reality for a
diverse cross-section of wildlife.

It also looks like we are in for a long struggle to regain lost ground,
especially getting yearly appropriations to include vital education and
wildlife-recreation elements while at the same time re-building the case
for long-term, guaranteed wildlife funding.

Stay tuned...... and...never give up..... never.

                Paul
                ABA

____________________________

Immediate Release:                
January 17, 2003                           
Contact:   Adam Kolton: 202-797-6636

Conservation Funding Promise To States Being Betrayed

Senate Proposes Slashing State Wildlife Agency Assistance; Financial Burden
may be Passed on to American Hunters and Anglers

WASHINGTON -- State wildlife agency grants will be cut in half from last
year's funding level under the FY 2003 Interior Department appropriations
bill headed for an imminent vote in the U.S. Senate.

The Senate bill would cut the state wildlife grants to $45 million this
year, down from the $100 million included in the Senate's original version
of the legislation and the $85 million actually appropriated in FY 2002.

"If allowed to stand, this meager substitute will betray the promise
Congress made three years ago to set up a growing source of diversified
wildlife funding to directly assist state wildlife agencies," Mark Van
Putten, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) said.
"What's worse, this cut would come at the very hour state wildlife agency
budgets are under intense pressure given the deficit picture facing many
state governments throughout the nation. 

"If this bill passes as is, it means increasing the financial burden on
America's sportsmen and women who provide the bulk of revenues to state
wildlife agencies through license and user fees and surcharges on hunting
equipment," added Van Putten.

The state wildlife grant program was part of a compromise measure Congress
authorized in 2001, in what at the time was called a "compromise" for not
passing the far broader Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) what would
have guaranteed annual conservation funding of $2 billion, the majority of
it flowing directly to the states and local communities. The program was
designed to help states aid in the recovery of threatened and endangered
species and to prevent new species from becoming threatened or endangered.
"NWF along with the vast majority of the nation's sporting and conservation
groups worked hard to pass CARA and warned that the compromise that was
substituted for it was likely to become a promise that would never be
fulfilled," Van Putten said.  "That warning is coming true.  Everyone who
cares about conservation and who believes we need to provide the states a
diversified source of wildlife funding should get on the phone to their
Senators and Representatives to reverse this mistaken action and restore
full funding to the state programs.

"We can restore this funding if people who care will hold Congress' feet
to the fire," he added. 

Additional information about the needs and uses of state wildlife agency
funding is available on the Internet at
<http://www.teaming.com/site/index.cfm>




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