Copyright 2000 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
July 20, 2000, Thursday
SECTION: PREPARED TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 684 words
HEADLINE:
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL ROGERS, SR. PRESIDENT SAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL
BEFORE THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES
SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES CONSERVATION, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS
BODY:
Delivered on Behalf of Safari Club
International by the Honorable Ron Marlenee
Mr. Chairman and Members of
the Subcommittee. Safari Club International appreciates this opportunity to
appear before the Subcommittee today to testify in support of H.R. 4790, the
Hunting Heritage Protection Act.
Safari Club International and the
sportsmen that it represents hold the belief that nothing is as important to the
future of wildlife and its habitat than the 15 million sportsmen who fund and
protect it. This is enforced with wildlife statistics and vast amounts of
habitat acquired and protected with sportsmen's dollars. This legislation
supports and reinforces that premise. We applaud and support this effort. This
bill is identical in many regards to the Sportsmen's Bill of Rights Act of 1996,
H.R. 4144, which was introduced by Bill Brewster in the 104th Congress, and the
Sportsmen's Bill of Rights, H.R. 1719, which was introduced by Duke Cunningham
in the 105th. Congress. We are very glad to see the bill back in this
incarnation as H.R. 4790. H.R. 1719 had fifty co-sponsors, including Messrs.
Young, Tanner, Chambliss, Peterson, Smith, Pombo, Goode, Hill, Barcia, John and
Hunter. There was also a Senate version in the 105th Congress, S. 751,
introduced by Senator Shelby, and cosponsored by Senators Murkowski, Craig,
Bums, Lott, Cochran, bond and Grams. Safari Club International was part of a
coalition of sportsmen's organizations that supported all of these previous
bills, and we support this bill for the same reasons.
The previous bills
noted that there are more than 15 million hunters and 30 million fishermen in
the United States and that they have generated more than six billion dollars for
wildlife research and conservation. Those bills had language virtually identical
to Sections 3 and 4 of H.R. 4790. These are the key provisions of the bill and
we support them wholeheartedly.
Section 3 sets the Congressional policy
that the federal public lands shall be managed so as to "support, promote and
enhance recreational hunting opportunities...". H.R. 4790 adds the provision
that land management decisions shall not result in a net loss of hunting
opportunities. We feel that this is a valuable addition to the legislation.
Section 4 requires that "federal public land and water shall be open to
access and use for recreational hunting..." with certain exceptions. This is a
core provision, especially considering the activity that we have seen during
this Congress to extend some variety of federal protective status to more and
more land or to make sweeping modifications of the regulations under which
federal lands are managed.
H.R. 4790 adds a new concept in Section 6 -
the requirement for the development of recreational hunting resources
conservation plans. We support this novel concept. We have just filed our
comments on the Forest Service proposal to prohibit mad construction or
reconstruction in roadless areas, and we noted the appalling
lack of information in the voluminous papers produced by that agency about the
use of the National Forests by hunters. While the Forest Service noted that the
use of the Forests by hunters was significant and was increasing, it cited no
information about the nature of access required for hunting to occur. This is a
major issue to sportsmen, as identified in a questionnaire that SCI administered
to all 150 of its chapters around the country. Yet the Forest Service appears to
be ignoring it.
When you consider the enormity of the landholdings of
the federal government, the importance of a bill like H.R. 4790 becomes obvious.
The United States contains approximately 2.3 billion acres of land. More than
one-quarter of that land - 650 million acres - is managed by the Federal
government, primarily by the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, the
Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service.
We recommend
to the Subcommittee that it consider and evaluate the earlier versions of this
legislation to determine if there were provisions that could be incorporated
into this bill.
END
LOAD-DATE: July 22, 2000
