Posted on 02/01/2007 10:24:39 AM PST by neverdem
In the field
Lawsuits threaten traditional outdoor activities
By Ken Bailey
Outdoors Editor
(Feb 1):
Sportsmen and women, and the many activities they enjoy, continue to be targets of anti-hunting, anti-trapping and anti-fishing groups.
The tactics used by many of these groups have changed in recent years, with less emphasis on public demonstrations and more on creating havoc through frivolous lawsuits.
One such lawsuit was filed last fall against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife concerning the status of the Canada Lynx.
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, affiliated with the U.S Sportsmen’s Alliance, filed to represent sportsmen in Maine in this precedent-setting lawsuit brought by animal activists to derail hunting, fishing and trapping for abundant game wherever endangered or threatened species exist.
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| The Canada lynx is the subject of a lawsuit that could threaten other hunting and trapping activities in Maine. (Image courtesy of Corel Corp.) |
On Jan. 4, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation asked U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. for permission to join a federal lawsuit brought by the Animal Protection Institute against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
In October 2006, the animal rights group sued to expand endangered and threatened species protections to healthy and abundant wildlife populations.
"Our goal is to prevent the animal rights movement from manipulating the Endangered Species Act to ban hunting, fishing and trapping," said Rob Sexton, USSAF vice president for government affairs. "The case could set a precedent that affects the future of hunting, fishing and trapping and how they are used as wildlife management tools."
At issue is the legal argument brought by anti-hunters that trapping of any species should be banned in order to prevent the possibility of inadvertently catching federally protected Canada lynx, bald eagles and gray wolves. Years of data compiled by Maine biologists have yet to prove this to be a problem.
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"It is important for sportsmen to understand this lawsuit represents far more than a strike against a single sport," said Sexton. "The trappers won’t be the only ones impacted. If antis can stop all trapping in a place where there is a risk of catching a Canada Lynx, they can just as easily try to stop fishing in bodies of water where there is a risk of catching an endangered species of sturgeon."
This lawsuit also treads on states’ long-standing authority to manage fish and wildlife. An unfavorable decision would virtually require judges to close hunting, fishing and trapping.
As the Maine case develops, the USSAF continues to defend sportsmen’s rights in two nearly identical lawsuits brought against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. They also would set dangerous precedents that put traditional hunting, fishing and trapping activities in jeopardy.
The USSAF has filed to join the Maine case, along with the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, Maine Trappers Association, Fur Takers of America, and individual sportsmen Oscar Cronk, Donald Dudley and Alvin Theriault.
Age a barrier to hunting?
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and other hunting advocacy organizations have launched new campaigns in a number of states to tear down age and other barriers that prevent people from hunting. Could Maine be next in line?
The effort is part of the national Families Afield campaign, established by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, National Shooting Sports Foundation and the National Wild Turkey Federation to urge states to review and eliminate unnecessary hunting age restrictions and ease hunter education mandates.
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| The Families Afield program will introduce more youngsters to hunting and fishing. In the fall of 2005, Vincent Forzetting of Lincolnville took his first deer with a bow. (Photo by Angelo Forzetting) |
Legislation addressing these concerns is being prepared and introduced in 2007 in California, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and its partners have been consulting with state officials and sportsmen’s leaders to craft legislation that addresses the specific needs of the five states, while removing and reducing unnecessary restrictions on hunting.
The National Rifle Association is backing the bills in North and South Dakota, and is expected to join the effort in the remaining states. The groups advocate the concept that newcomers to outdoor sports should have the opportunity to experience hunting before making large investments of time and money in equipment and training.
"These states are taking bold first steps to ensure hunting traditions continue to be passed on to the next generation," said Chris Dolnack, NSSF senior vice president. "Our Families Afield partnership with the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and National Wild Turkey Federation is squarely aimed at helping to eliminate barriers to entry and to increase opportunities for participation. It will truly make a difference for the future of hunting."
To date, Families Afield legislation and regulations have been approved in 12 states. Two of those states, Michigan and Ohio, established apprentice hunting programs. First-year results appear extremely promising. More than 17,500 apprentice licenses were sold in Michigan, plus more than 9,500 in Ohio, during 2006. These 27,000 new hunters suggest a 33 percent jump in the two states' combined population of hunters age 15 and younger.
Families Afield was developed after results of a study, called the Youth Hunting Report, showed that youngsters are less likely to take up hunting in states that have more restrictive requirements for youth participation. However, states that have removed barriers to youth hunting have a much higher youth recruitment rate.
Studies have also shown that supervised youth are the safest class of hunters.
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"Hunting is a remarkably safe sport to begin with, and hunting accidents are even rarer in states where parents decide at what age their children are allowed to hunt," said Dolnack. "Another up-side to an early introduction is the fact that youth who are permitted to try hunting at an early age are more likely to continue their involvement in the sport, which would help reverse the trend of declining sportsman numbers."
Sportsmen and women are encouraged to support the Families Afield bills in their state legislatures. To make grassroots action easy, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance features the Legislative Action Center on its website, ussportsmen.org. The resource allows visitors to find and send messages to their lawmakers.
The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation work nationwide, representing more than 1.5 million sportsmen through member clubs and individual constituents. The organizations provide legislative, legal defense and public education services to defend and advance sportsmen's rights in Washington, D.C. and in all 50 states.
All anglers and hunters have the responsibility to introduce youngsters into outdoor activities at an early age. Today, hunting, fishing and other traditional outdoor activities compete against video games and web-surfing for our youths’ attention. Once introduced, children can then make decisions later in life on what activities are important to them.
The future of traditional outdoor activities is in the hands of today’s computer generation. How will it end up?
Have a safe week in your part of the great outdoors.
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The greenies want to make sure it's impossible to obtain food off the land. When they finish off all but corporate American agriculture, they'll have the means to bring us to our knees.
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This is bullshit!! I remember trapping the neighborhood dogs that used to get in my fox and brush wolf traps and I released them unharmed. Even IF one catches a lynx, call the DNR to release it
"This lawsuit also treads on states' long-standing authority to manage fish and wildlife. An unfavorable decision would virtually require judges to close hunting, fishing and trapping."
I also scan the USSF website often. I think the point of countering the antis on this is what I've posted above. We can't afford to have activist judges in the wildlife management business, as many of these judges believe Bambi dances in the woods with wolves and other critters.
If you care about wildlife issues in your state you better keep an eye on bills in your state legislature, because the antis are behind a lot of them, usually with direction and backing from the Humane Society of the U.S. This is one of their admitted tactics.
We have several of these bills introduced in Tennessee every year.
bttt
Thanks for the Heads Up. I know for sure our Governor is in cahoots with our DNR to grab land at every opportunity. :(
This just came in via email:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Beth Ruth (614) 888-4868 ext. 214
Feb. 1, 2007
Sportsmen Win First Round in Court Fight to Protect Trapping
(Columbus) - A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit that attempted to use the threatened Canada lynx as a pawn in the anti-hunters’ lawsuit to ban trapping in Minnesota. The decision will allow trapping to continue in the state.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz dismissed the suit brought by the Humane Society of the United States against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to ban trapping for abundant game wherever endangered or threatened species exist. The anti’s had argued that since the state holds a population of Canada lynx, a species protected under the Endangered Species Act, all trapping of any species should be stopped to prevent incidental catch of lynx. There is no data proving this to be a problem.
The dismissal was in accordance with a settlement in which the DNR agreed to apply for a federal incidental take permit. The permits are distributed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for activities that could possibly result in "take" of threatened or endangered species. Trapping will continue while the permit process moves forward.
“We are satisfied that the agreement will not disrupt trapping in Minnesota,” said U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation President Bud Pidgeon. “However, there is still work to be done. Two nearly identical lawsuits that threaten trapping, hunting and fishing wherever endangered species exist are still pending in Minnesota and Maine.”
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, along with the Minnesota Trappers Association, Fur Takers of America, National Trappers Association, and Minnesota trappers Todd Roggenkamp and Cory Van Driel, represented the sportsmen’s interests as parties in the suit.
“This case could have turned Minnesota’s trapping industry upside down,” said Charles Andres, president of Fur Takers of America. “We are glad to know that trapping will continue status quo while the federal permits are acquired and reviewed.”
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund is the nation’s only litigation force that exclusively represents sportsmen’s interests in the courts. It defends wildlife management and sportsmen’s rights in local, state and federal courts. The U.S. SLDF represents the interests of sportsmen and assists government lawyers who often have little or no background in wildlife law.
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is a national association of sportsmen and sportsmen’s organizations that protects and advances America’s heritage of hunting, fishing and trapping.
That's very good news!
At this very moment there are three fat hares under my bird feeder, looking for a snack and chewing the bark off of my Red Twig Dogwood bushes.
Wish I had my Hav-A-Heart out there...husband frowns on my plinking off pesky critters out the window with my .22! ;)
"Wish I had my Hav-A-Heart out there...husband frowns on my plinking off pesky critters out the window with my .22! ;)"
LOL.
I'm going to buy a lottery ticket next time I make that big trek to town, and if I win I'm buying you that 10 acres next to me. You're my kind of neighbor.
Keep dreamin!!!!!!
Wa-Hoo! We'll have tons of fun. Every day will be an adventure. Fingers crossed for ya! :)
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