County Commissioners Protecting America's Natural Resources 

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America's Wildlife Heritage Act

This important legislation was introduced as H.R. 7151 in the 110^th Congress. 

The Conservation Leaders Network worked with county commissioners in several targeted states and generated letters of support from California, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and New Mexico.

National forests and BLM lands are managed for multiple purposes, and are stewarded for the benefit of current and future generations.  True multiple-use management is premised on the concept that no single use shall supersede another, and therefore balances the management of fish and wildlife, recreation, clean water, logging, mining, grazing, and energy development.  The concept that we can provide values over the span of many generations forms the basis of science-based sustainable forest and land management in the United States.

However, over the course of the last eight years, and particularly in the waning days of the previous administration, the scales were tipped in favor of increased development on our national forests and BLM lands, placing fish and wildlife, recreation, clean water and other fundamental social and economic public benefits at risk.   

As late as November and December of 2008, the Bush administration was changing the rules concerning fish and wildlife management on national forests and BLM lands. These so called “midnight” regulatory changes were part of a concerted long-term effort to make it easier to log, mine, drill, and otherwise develop federal lands at the expense of reduced safeguards for fish and wildlife.  And while development of resources is a necessary and legitimate use on our public lands, the previous administration overreached.

What Bush failed to realize is how unpopular these changes are with so many elements of the American public: 

• Sportsmen rely on national forest and BLM lands for unparalleled hunting and fishing opportunities and counties rely on sportsmen’s dollars to sustain economic well being.
• Recreationists target national forest and BLM lands for world-class recreational experiences – from whitewater rafting to wildlife viewing to simple recreational driving.  Those experiences are diminished, along with the businesses that support them, and eventually evaporate without healthy populations of fish and wildlife.
• State fish and game agencies, along with governors, rely on national forests and BLM lands to “play their part” in conserving important fish and wildlife resources that are the responsibility of multiple jurisdictions.  As the Western Governors Association recently stated, “To a great degree, the viability of wildlife is an indicator of the functionality of ecosystems – and so contributes to the sustainability of our communities, our economies, and our general well-being.”

The time is right to balance the scales, recognizing that true multiple-use means producing and sustaining all public values, including populations of fish and wildlife. 

America’s Wildlife Heritage Act, set to be re-introduced in the House of Representatives in April 2009. 

The Act would accomplish the following: 

• Provide the Forest Service and BLM with an affirmative duty to maintain healthy and robust populations of fish and wildlife when planning and carrying out multiple-use activities. 
• Ensure the sustainable delivery of multiple benefits to current and future generations of Americans by recognizing that healthy fish and wildlife populations are indicators of healthy lands, and only healthy lands can sustain social and economic benefits over time.

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Masthead photo credits: Rolf Sklar, Curtis J. Carley FWS, NOAA