The Balance Wheel: Fall 2003
 Firearms
Industry Commits $500,000 To Fund
State Agency Hunter Recruitment Programs
By Paul Erhardt, National Shooting Sports Foundation
Public Relations Director
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, in partnership
with the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), has announced a
new fund designed specifically for state wildlife agency efforts to
enhance hunter recruitment and retention – the Hunting Heritage Partnership.
The Hunting Heritage Partnership, through a grant program,
will provide much needed direct funding to state wildlife agencies to
help them with programs that provide opportunities for, and remove barriers
to, hunter participation. The fund will award $500,000 in grants in
2003 to agency-designed programs to increase hunter access, recruit
new hunters and keep current hunters active.
“In today’s tight budgetary climate state wildlife agencies
lack funding to improve hunting opportunities, but they don’t lack solutions,”
said Doug Painter, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
“The $500,000 in grant monies from the Hunting Heritage Partnership
will enable agencies to act on new ideas and create hunting opportunities
designed to increase participation among the nation’s 18 million hunters.”
Hunter participation has been inhibited by a number of
factors including urban sprawl and development of once-open farmland.
While state agencies provide the “gateway” to hunting for the large
majority of Americans, reduced funding has threatened current and future
programs. The Hunting Heritage Partnership represents a necessary first
step in providing opportunities for hunters through the initiation of
well-funded creative programs.
“This couldn’t occur at a more opportune time for fish
and wildlife agencies facing budgetary problems. If we lose sight of
the need for recruitment and retention, it will ultimately be counterproductive
to our wildlife conservation mission,” said John Frampton, director
of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
Steve Williams, director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,
agrees, “Increasing hunter participation promotes wildlife conservation
in our nation, and state and federal wildlife agencies need to work
together with industry and conservation groups to the benefit of our
vital natural resources.”
Grants will be awarded to state agencies following a formal
review process conducted by NSSF. The deadline for submissions for this
year was July 1, 2003, and grant awardees will be notified starting
in late August, 2003. For more information, contact Jodi Valenta, NSSF
director for recruitment and retention at (203) 426-1320 or jvalenta@nssf.org.
For more information on the hunter’s role in wildlife conservation,
go to www.nssf.org.
Check the Winter Issue of The Balance Wheel for
an update on how many states received the award and how your state can
take part next year.
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