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  • June 28, 2012

    Hero for a Day 2012: Providing Access to Carefully Managed Nebraska Wildlands

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  • June 25, 2012

    Why the Farm Bill is Huge News for Hunters and Fishermen

    By Hal Herring

    We got a close haircut with a pair of sheep shears, our shiny boots and new blue jeans are gone, but we can still dance pretty well.

    The Senate has passed a version of the Farm Bill that, in a time of crushing deficit, hunters and fishermen can at least live with. Conservation programs took a hit, losing $6 billion in funding. You say “Farm Bill” to most people and you’ll see their eyelids slowly start to close. But whether we recognize it or not, what’s in the Farm Bill, and what gets funded or cut, is of vital importance to hunting and fishing. A lot of what is there makes up the backbone of what we know as American conservation.

    One of the hardest losses was the reduction in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) from 32 million acres to a cap of 25 million. That’s a tough one for bird and waterfowl hunters, especially in the Midwest, where high prices for corn and other grains are encouraging farmers to bring land into production that for the past few decades might have been important nesting and security cover, not to mention places for us to hunt. There are currently 29 million acres enrolled in CRP, so we are looking at a loss of at least 4 million acres, maybe more since crop prices, driven up by the ethanol subsidies and 7 billion very hungry human beings, are expected to remain at record highs and CRP is, of course, a voluntary program--if you can make more money farming your ground than enrolling it in CRP, you farm it.

    Read Full Post | Comments (16)
  • June 15, 2012

    Hero for a Day 2012: Restoring a Prairie Parcel in Minnesota

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  • June 14, 2012

    Let it Flood: How We Can Create a Fishing and Hunting Paradise, Lower the Deficit and Clean the Waters All at Once

    By Hal Herring

    On May 31st, Congress gave the much-despised Federal Flood Insurance Program an additional 60 days of life. They did it because, even though it is common knowledge that the Program is an epic money-waster, 5.5 million Americans (including me and a lot of people reading this) who live in flood-risk areas depend on it for a safety net.  Nobody wants to see the program die, and nobody wants to see it continue as it is written now.

    It's a 1960's era nanny-state debacle that encourages people to build homes and businesses in places where they’ll be wrecked by floods, over and over again, while the rest of the dry-land dwelling American public picks up the tab to the tune of $38 billion in claims since the program began; $200 million every year, often to rebuild structures that have been flooded out numerous times. The program went $18 billion into debt after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The cost of the record-breaking 2011 floods to U.S. taxpayers is as of yet uncalculated. How do we fix this flabby devil of a federal entitlement?  That is a question that every American taxpayer, hunter, fishermen, and outdoor recreationist needs to understand.

    Read Full Post | Comments (13)
  • June 11, 2012

    Yes, There Are Politicians Who Really Understand Sportsmen's Concerns

    By Hal Herring

    In January of 2011, I wrote a post here at the Conservationist that asked “Are There Any Politicians Who Really Understand Sportsmen's Concerns?” Well, a year and a half later, I’ve got an answer to my question, and that answer is “yes.”

    Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) and Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana) introduced the Sportsman’s Act of 2012, a package of 19 bills to be added to the Farm Bill which is now awaiting a vote in the Senate. Take a quick look at just a few parts of the Sportsman’s Act of 2012, and see if you don’t agree with me that we have something to celebrate if it passes:

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  • June 7, 2012

    Hero for a Day 2012: Improving a Wisconsin Wildlife Haven for Veterans

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  • June 1, 2012

    Hero for a Day 2012: Rehabilitating Ozark National Forest's Bearcat Hollow

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  • June 1, 2012

    After 100 Years, A Montana Creek Returns To Life

    By Hal Herring

    Montana’s Governor Brian Schweitzer led off the fishing on Montana’s Silver Bow Creek late last month, marking a milestone in the restoration of the Clark Fork River watershed. Even the careful coaching of 85-year-old Bud Lilly, the dean of Montana’s fishing guides and the pioneer of catch-and-release flyfishing, could not raise a trout for the Governor. But after over a century of Silver Bow Creek being officially dead (no fishing regulations for the creek even existed until this spring), the fish are back.

    Governor Schweitzer, who has been Governor since 2005, has been an outspoken advocate for restoring the Clark Fork watershed and other lands and waters damaged during the devil-take-the-hindmost pillaging of Montana’s resources during the heyday of the Copper Kings and other extractive industries. It’s fitting that Schweitzer was among the first to fish Silver Bow, even if, as described in the Billings Gazette, he got skunked.

    Read Full Post | Comments (5)

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