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7 Major Sportsmen’s Groups Call on Congress to End Shutdown

Bucks Skeeter Yamaha

WASHINGTON – Today at 2 p.m. EDT, seven major sportsmen’s groups from across the country will host a teleconference calling on Congress to end the shutdown that has closed hundreds of wildlife refuges, Forest Service and BLM areas at the start of hunting seasons across the nation. They also will urge Congress and the administration to make habitat conservation efforts a priority.

The shutdown is limiting hunting opportunities and is hurting the country’s wildlife-related recreation economy, which in 2011 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated at more than $144 billion. For instance, the shutdown closed more than 329 federal wildlife refuges for hunting, and more than 271 are shut to fishing, affecting local economies.

These closures compound the cuts proposed by Congress to programs that conserve wildlife habitat, such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act and others. The shutdown also undermines efforts to reauthorize the Farm Bill, which includes critical elements of national conservation policy.

Who:

• Dr. Steve Williams, President, Wildlife Management Institute and former Director of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Pennsylvania)

• Land Tawney, Executive Director, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (Montana)

• Whit Fosburgh, President/CEO, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (Washington, D.C.)

• Gaspar Perricone, Co-Director, Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance (Colorado)

• Miles Moretti, President/CEO, Mule Deer Foundation (Utah)

• Howard Vincent, President & CEO, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever (Minnesota)

• Desirée Sorenson-Groves, Vice President, Government Affairs, National Wildlife Refuge Association (Washington, D.C.)

When: Monday, Oct. 7, at 2 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. CDT/12 p.m. MDT/11 a.m. PDT

To join, call 877-876-9177 and reference conference ID “Sportsmen.”

RSVP to Katie McKalip at kmckalip@trcp.org or 406-240-9262 or Tom Fazzini at tom@westendstrategy.com or 202-776-7700.

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Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing.