By Bob Marshall

by Bob Marshall

Sportsmen Cheer Roadless Rule Victory

Looks like backcountry hunters and anglers--not to mention elk herds and trout populations--won't have to contend with logging trucks and four-wheelers in the near future.

That's the near-term impact of the decision last week by the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that reinstated the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule as the law governing 49 million acres of inventoried roadless areas located on the nation's national forests and grasslands.

The ruling overturned a 2008 lower district court's decision enjoining the rule and should resolve uncertainty about federal management of roadless areas across America. 

The Roadless Rule is a multiple-use management regulation that limits road building and timber harvest on undeveloped public lands managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture outside of Idaho. The decision was cheered by sportsmen and wildlife officials, as well as the tens of thousands of jobs related to hunting, fishing and other backcountry recreation.

By Hal Herring

Every one of us who loves to hunt, and who appreciates living in a nation where the rule of law protects that we which we cannot protect by our own efforts, has something to celebrate today. On October 20th the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The ruling could not come at a better time: this is opening weekend for us here in Montana, and in every state across the nation, hunters are sighting in, checking packs and tree stands, sharpening knives and greasing up boots, getting ready for or already immersed in the greatest and most intense time of the year.

The ruling upholds a law that powerful special interests in the timber, mining, and energy arenas sought to overturn (please check out the attached document with a list of the groups who sued to overturn it). These special interests did not oppose the Roadless Rule because there were tremendous supplies of minerals or timber, or energy on the lands in question, or because there were not already millions of miles of trail open. These interests opposed the Roadless Rule because (as we have seen with the theater-of-the-absurd “debate” over reducing federal deficits by cutting the miniscule amounts invested in conservation) they oppose, on ideological grounds, any questioning of the monarchical rule of unquestioned development and the dominion of the few, no matter the costs.

By Dan Ashe

Editor’s Note: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Director Daniel M. Ashe is the person ultimately responsible for the welfare of the nation's fish and wildlife and its habitat. This enormous duty puts Ashe in a perfect position to realize how much damage the threatened budget cuts to federal conservation programs would inflict on those priceless resources—and, as a lifelong hunter and fisherman, he also understands how much those cuts would harm our sports and their future.

This is his response to Conservation Editor Bob Marshall’s recent column about the specific losses those potential cuts would cause, and explains why sportsmen must exclude conservation programs in any calls for budget reductions.

by Dan Ashe

Like all duck hunters, I know that, oftentimes, the worse the weather, the better the hunting. I look at our current conservation climate in much the same way.

Although our nation is going through some rough economic weather right now, we can’t lose sight of the fact that there are still enormous needs – and opportunities - for fish and wildlife conservation.

I understand and respect hunters, anglers, and shooters who believe that in the current budget climate, conservation programs should share in any cuts. This community has always put what is right ahead of what is easy, and I believe the reluctant support some may give for budget reductions comes from genuine patriotism.

But we should recognize that America has always found a way to enrich her conservation legacy despite difficult times. During the Civil War, President Lincoln inked a land deal for what later became Yosemite National Park. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl era, hunters supported landmark legislation that created the Federal Duck Stamp and the Wildlife Restoration Act, contributing to the establishment of 142 wildlife refuges across the nation in that decade alone.

By Bob Marshall

Estuaries Stil Being Hammered

Wetlands in general are still being lost across America, and coastal estuaries are taking the brunt of that assault, according to the latest tally by the federal government. "Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminous United States, 2004-2009," released last week by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) is the most up-to-date state of the continent's wetlands. And while it shows key conservation programs aimed at interior wetlands have slowed the rate of loss in those habitats, coastal estuaries are still plummeting at record rates.

In the five years of the study, coastal wetlands experienced decline by 110,000 acres or 2.4%, about the size of 84,000 football fields. This rate of loss far surpasses that of all other wetland habitat types.

Coastal estuaries are arguably the most important wetlands habitat. They are responsible for almost all coastal and marine fisheries production, from shrimp to snapper, they provide buffers for hurricane storm surges, and they are critical to bird migrations from waterfowl to neo-tropicals.