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Search Terms: "Conservation and Reinvestment Act", House or Senate or Joint

Document 10 of 92.

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MAY 4, 1999, TUESDAY

SECTION: IN THE NEWS

LENGTH: 925 words

HEADLINE: PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
DENNIS J. FOSTER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
MASTERS OF FOXHOUNDS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE
SUBJECT - "THE CONSERVATION AND REINVESTMENT ACT"

BODY:

Mr. Chairman, my name is Dennis Foster and I serve as Executive Director of the Masters of Foxhounds. The Masters of Foxhounds often works closely with the Wildlife Legislative Fund of America on conservation and wildlife restoration issues, and I am testifying today on behalf of both organizations. I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about S. 25, the "Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA)."
The Masters of Foxhounds Association of America is the governing body of organized mounted fox, coyote and drag hunting in the United States of America and Canada. The Masters of Foxhounds is an international corporation (Canada & USA) which works to promote the sport of foxhunting, to preserve open spaces and wildlife habitat for all country sports, and to educate the public in an attempt to assure fair and accurate representation for sportsmen involved in foxhunting. It also monitors and guides foxhunts to assure that sportsmen adhere to fair sporting practices and promotes good public relations.
The Wildlife Legislative Fund of America (WLFA) is a coalition of national sporting and conservation organizations and includes hundreds of state and local hunting, fishing and trapping clubs representing over 1.5 million American hunters and anglers.
The Masters of Foxhounds and the WLFA both strongly support CARA and were pleased to see it reintroduced in the 106th Congress. We support of the legislation's attempts to allocate a portion of receipts from outer continental shelf revenues to aid important conservation and recreation programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Fund also known as Pittman- Robertson. We believe that CARA represents a responsible reinvestment of revenue from non-renewable resources into invaluable renewable resources such as conservation and recreation. Specifically, I would like to take some time today to discuss provisions in Title III of the legislation that are of particular interest to our groups.
Title III of CARA addresses funding for wildlife restoration through the Pittman-Robertson account managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We encourage your efforts in this legislation to bolster and extend this highly successful program that provides aid to wildlife management and helps support a wide array of habitat conservation efforts.
Since 1939, Pittman-Robertson has collected and disbursed more than $3 billion for wildlife conservation and recreation projects across America. The funds are derived from an eleven percent excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition, a ten percent tax on pistols and revolvers, and an eleven percent tax on archery equipment sold specifically for bowhunting. These taxes are well worth the benefits provided to important wildlife conservation. We recognize and applaud the significant role Pittman-Robertson funds have played in protecting all wildlife, game and non-game species alike. However, we suggest that it would not be appropriate for a fund sustained by hunters to be used specifically for non-game wildlife. Therefore we are very pleased that CARA does not to earmark these new funds expressly or exclusively for non-game programs. The framework that CARA outlines for use of the funds will allow state fish and wildlife professionals the flexibility to spend the money on wildlife as each individual state determines, while authorizing conservation education efforts as well. Providing flexibility to the states has been a feature of the Pittman-Robertson program and CARA continues that tradition. We strongly support this approach and would oppose amendments to dictate to the state agencies how to spend or earmark these additional monies.
We know that some groups have taken issue with the land acquisition provisions of Title II of the bill, and we would like to suggest a "fix" to address both their concerns, as well as some of ours. CARA would allocate a percentage of the revenues earned from OCS development to revitalize the LWCF matching grant and UPARR programs by providing matching grants for the acquisition and development of conservation and recreation resources. To assuage the concerns of those uncomfortable with these land acquisition provisions, we suggest that the Title II allocation be reduced by at least three percent and that these funds be reallocated to Title III. This would align the Senate measure with the House legislation which provides 10 percent of federal OCS revenues to Title III and the Pittman-Robertson account.
Further, we would like to address issues relating to the match required for states to receive Pittman-Robertson funds. Presently, states must provide a 25% match to the 75% federal contribution. To come up with this non-federal match, states charge license fees to hunters. While we fully support increased Pittman-Robertson funding, we are concerned that the increased federal dollars coming in will put pressure on the states to increase their license fees to provide for their match. To avoid this problem, the bill provides a transition period during which the federal share may be 90 percent. It may be appropriate to extend this transition period to avoid putting upward pressure on license fees. This would ensure increased wildlife restoration funding without placing further burdens on the states, and, through them, on the hunters who provide for the fund through excise taxes in the first place.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify regarding this important legislation.
END

LOAD-DATE: May 6, 1999

Document 10 of 92.


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