U.S. Fish and Wildlife management now in new hands
This month the U.S. Senate confirmed Aurelia Skipwith as the new director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Appointed by President Donald Trump, Ms. Skipwith is a former researcher and executive at agrochemical giant Monsanto. She recently served as the U.S. Department of the Interior’s deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.
The first African-American to head fish and wildlife, she will lead the agency that decides which species are determined to be endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also shepherds the hunter, angler and boater dollars that pay for most of America’s wildlife management.
In a related development, a motion working its way through Congress would tweak the ways that wildlife management funding is raised and spent.
In 1937, Congress authorized a landmark reorganization of wildlife management. In 1950, Congress did it again with fish restoration and management.
Since then, hunters, recreational shooters, anglers and boaters have paid for most of the land-based and aquatic wildlife management in the United States. The graying of America’s hunters, disinterest in the sport among young adults and stagnant growth in fishing participation have weakened those programs.
Some in Congress are considering upgrading the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, a plan that worked extremely well through the 20th century.
Shared by the United States and Canada, the wildlife management model is based on the principles that fish and wildlife are not the property of the landowner. They exist for the noncommercial use of citizens, and those who use those living resources should pay for their management.
Many wildlife populations that were in jeopardy were saved and enhanced through the plan. Among them, Pennsylvania’s white-tailed deer, which were literally saved from the verge of regional extinction through the use of hunter-shooter dollars.
Hunters, recreational shooters, anglers and boaters pay for wildlife management through the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson acts, which levy federal excise taxes on hunting and fishing supplies, guns and ammunition and boating fuel.
Additional legislation combines those revenues with state fees for hunting, fishing and boating licenses and reapportions the funding back to the states to be spent specifically on wildlife management. Some general tax dollars go to other forms of conservation, but people who do not purchase a hunting or fishing license, boating permit or federal duck stamp do not pay for the management of wildlife.
Counterintuitively, perhaps, the conservation funding upgrades that Congress has in mind do not add excise taxes to the purchase of gear used by a new generation of outdoor recreationists who typically enjoy seeing critters while hiking, biking, camping, crosscountry skiing, picnicking, birding and other wildlife watching, etc. Hunters, anglers and boaters continue to pay the wildlife management tab.
One of the congressional bills that recently moved out of committee would enable state and tribal agencies receiving Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson funds to be more flexible in spending them — allowing investment in hunter recruitment and retention programs, as well as wildlife management.
Another bill would take $1.4 billion annually from revenues on energy and mineral development on federal lands and allocate it to state agencies and tribal nations to conserve fish and wildlife species in need of conservation efforts.
As director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ms. Skipwith would oversee both plans.
Sport show and flea market
If you’re into the outdoors, you need more stuff. Restock your provisions at the January Sport Show and Flea Market, a fundraiser for the Tri-County Trout Club, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Bingo Hall at the Arnold No. 2 Volunteer Fire Department Training and Social Center, 1702 Fifth Ave in Arnold, Westmoreland County. Vendors will sell new, used and vintage or collectable sporting goods including gear for fishing, archery, trapping, camping and hunting. No guns or ammunition. Admission $3, free for TCTC members and under 12 years of age. Get details at 412-298-0964, pabrookie@gmail.com.