Guaranteeing Public
Access For Hunting And Fishing Through "Open
Fields"
Dwindling access to quality
hunting and angling opportunities is a trend
that slowly is pulling
apart the American sporting tradition. Urban sprawl
is voraciously consuming wildlife habitat. Private
landowners who own large tracts of huntable and
fishable land are increasingly opting to lease
their property, shutting out those who cannot pay.
More and more, sportsmen and women are forced on
to public land that grows more crowded by the day.
Parents wanting to introduce their kids to hunting
or fishing have fewer chances to successfully knock
on a landowner’s door to get permission to
hunt or fish like they did when they were growing
up. Consequently fewer and fewer young people are
taking up hunting in particular and it is increasingly
becoming a pastime of a smaller group of wealthier
Americans who can afford to pay for access. As
part of fulfilling our promise to "Guarantee
You a Place to Hunt and Fish," the TRCP
and its partner organizations helped develop
legislation
that directly tackles the access problem. On
March 8, 2005, Senators Kent Conrad of North
Dakota and
Pat Roberts of Kansas reintroduced "Open
Fields" in
the 109th Congress. ("Open Fields" was
initially introduced in the 108th Congress, by
the same Members of Congress.) The "Voluntary
Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program of
2005" bolsters existing state access programs
and encourages the establishment of new state
access programs. "Open Fields" provides
federal funding that states can use to offer
financial
incentives to rural landowners to voluntarily
open their privately-owned lands to hunting,
fishing,
and other wildlife related activities.
Several
states have extremely effective public access
incentive programs, but so many landowners
are signing up, that they consistently are
under-funded. "Open
Fields," if passed into law, will provide
$20 million per year for five years and thus
will open tens of millions of new acres to
hunters and
anglers. The bill allows each state to use
its current access program or design a new
access
program to fit the needs of its sportsmen and
landowners.
It does not place mandates or restrictions
on how each state designs and implements its
own
program.
The $20 million in funding each year comes
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Many
state
access programs also encourage landowners to
make improvements to their acreage that attract
wildlife.
The TRCP and its partner
organizations are working to spread the word
and educate
sportsmen
and
policymakers about "Open Fields." We
believe "Open
Fields" is a simple, commonsense way to
get state fish and wildlife managers better
resources
to implement programs that are already increasing
hunting and angling opportunities for sportsmen
and women around the country and improving
fish and wildlife habitat. This is the beginning
of
a sustained effort to reverse the trend of
fewer and fewer young people joining in the
American
sporting tradition. |
