COHA Field Wire: Congress Considers Massive Cuts to Wildlife Programs

Congress Considers Massive Cuts to Wildlife Programs

California's Wildlife Urgently Needs Your Help

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee recommended massive cuts to federal conservation programs that are critical to the health of our nation's waterfowl and wildlife resources. If approved, these cuts would seriously impact habitat conservation efforts in California and beyond, and the wildlife, outdoor traditions and jobs that depend upon them. Please join the California Outdoor Heritage Alliance (COHA), many of our member organizations and other conservation interests in opposing these drastic reductions. Your letters are urgently needed. Facing deadlines, the House and Senate must act quickly on this funding measure

To write your U.S Senate representative, click the below links and copy the sample letter text into the contact template provided:

http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe

http://boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/policycomments.cfm

To find your U.S. Representative, click below and follow the link to your representative contact page, then copy the sample letter text into the the email template provided.

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Sample Letter Text:

I am writing to express my serious concern regarding the substantial reductions being proposed in the House of Representative's version of the temporary funding bill, H.R. 1. Specifically, I am very concerned about the cuts that directly impact our wildlife and their habitats - most notably the substantial reduction or complete elimination of funding for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act and State Wildlife Grants.

The proposed cuts to the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) would devastate waterfowl and wetland conservation efforts in California and throughout the nation. In California alone, over 100 NAWCA projects have conserved nearly 700,000 acresof habitat vital to waterfowl and other wildlife and fish species - including many rare, threatened, and endangered species. Further, NAWCA is the exact kind of cost effective program that should be encouraged in tough economic times. Nationwide, every federal NAWCA dollar translates to more than $4 on the ground via matching contributions from non-federal sources, including private organizations like California Waterfowl and Ducks Unlimited. Thus far in California, $69 million in federal NAWCA funding has stimulated partner contributions of $324 million.

I am also very concerned about the proposed cut to State Wildlife Grants (SWG). California traditionally receives over $3 million annually in SWG funding to improve the California Department of Fish and Game's ability to manage state wildlife areas, ecological reserves and other lands for at-risk fish and wildlife species.

Finally, the proposed cuts to these programs would also have a devastating impact to our economy. America's hunters and anglers spend about $76 billion a year, or $208 million per day, pursuing their passion. These hunting and fishing dollars support more than 1.6 billion jobs and generate more than $25 billion a year in federal, state, and local taxes. Cutting available funding for NAWCA and SWG will not only jeopardize our fish and wildlife resources, but also our hunting and fishing traditions and the jobs they generate.

For all of the above reasons, I urge you to restore funding to these critical wildlife programs when the U.S. Senate considers this funding proposal in the near future. Thank you in advance for your consideration of my concerns.