{"id":1324,"date":"2012-09-25T18:39:37","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T18:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/?p=1324"},"modified":"2012-09-25T18:39:37","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T18:39:37","slug":"nwf-poll-sportsmens-strong-support-for-conservation-access-to-public-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/nwf-poll-sportsmens-strong-support-for-conservation-access-to-public-lands\/","title":{"rendered":"NWF Poll– Sportsmen’s Strong Support for Conservation, Access to Public Lands"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
National Wildlife Federation released its poll on September 25, 2012 that reaffirms sportsmen's strong support for conservation, access to public lands --\n\n\nBOULDER, Colo. - Hunters and anglers believe protecting public lands should be given\npriority, even if it means limiting energy production on those lands, according to a\nnew national\npoll<http:\/\/www.nwf.org\/News-and-Magazines\/Media-Center\/News-by-Topic\/Wildlife\/2012\/09-25-12-Sportsmen-Poll-Public-Lands-Protection-Trumps-Energy-Production.aspx<\/a>>\nreleased Tuesday by the National Wildlife Federation.\n\nThe poll conducted by Chesapeake Beach Consulting shows threats to America's\nconservation heritage are priority issues for sportsmen, on par with gun rights.\nNearly 80 percent of the hunters and anglers surveyed support opening access to\npublic lands now inaccessible.\nAn overwhelming majority of sportsmen believe it is a priority to conserve fish and\nwildlife habitat on and manage public lands for fishing, hunting and other outdoor\nrecreation.\n\n``It's encouraging to see these poll results reflecting what many of us hunters and\nanglers have known all along - a safe full of guns or a rack full of rods will do us\nno good if we don't maintain the integrity of our public lands and healthy\npopulations of fish and wildlife,'' said John Gale, the regional representative for\nthe National Wildlife Federation.\n\nAmong the poll's key findings:\n\n *   Given a choice between protecting America's public lands and prioritizing the\nproduction of oil, gas and coal, 49 percent want to protect public lands and just\n35 percent choose fossil fuel production.\n *   Conservation is just as important as gun rights, according to nearly half (47\npercent) of sportsmen polled. Another 13 percent believe conservation issues are\neven more important than gun rights.\n *   Supermajorities say Congress should update the 1872 Mining Law to ensure public\nlands are protected and royalties generated are used to clean up abandoned mines\n(82 percent favor) and restore Clean Water Act protections to wetlands and\nwaterways, including smaller creeks and streams, to protect our health and\nimportant fish and wildlife habitat (79 percent favor).\n *   Two in three sportsmen polled (66 percent) believe we have a moral\nresponsibility to confront global warming to protect our children's future.\nAdditionally, 69 percent agree the U.S. should reduce its carbon emissions that\ncontribute to global warming and threaten fish and wildlife habitat.\n *   Sportsmen strongly believe BP should be held accountable and fined the maximum\namount allowed for the 2010 Gulf oil disaster (81 percent) and that those funds\nshould be used exclusively to restore the fish and wildlife habitat of the Gulf of\nMexico and its fishing and hunting heritage and not for infrastructure projects\nsuch as roads, bridges, ports and convention centers (87 percent).\n\n``Through shifting political winds, sportsmen have not flinched in their\nconservation values,\" said Larry Schweiger, NWF president and CEO. \"Candidates at\nall levels should answer this simple question: What's your plan for protecting our\noutdoor heritage for our children's future? These are ethics that sustain America's\nwildlife, outdoor economy and healthy families.\"\n\nSome Western lawmakers have shown they are listening to sportsmen and women, Gale\nsaid. He pointed to a bill by U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. Heinrich's\nbill, the HUNT Act, would direct federal agencies to inventory all public land\ngreater than 640 acres where hunting and fishing are legal but physically\ninaccessible. It would also set aside a percentage of resources from the Land and\nWater Conservation Fund to secure access on these lands, a provision celebrated by\nhunters and anglers across the nation.\n\n``In addition, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester from Montana recently introduced the Sportsmen's\nAct of 2012, a legislative package that supports wildlife and habitat conservation,\nresource management funding,  and promotes access and opportunity for hunting and\nangling on public lands,'' Gale said.\n\nSupport for maintaining access to public lands and keeping the fisheries and habitat\nhealthy cuts across political and ideological boundaries, said Bill Dvorak, a\nColorado fishing guide and outfitter.\n\n``I don't think any one issue gets sportsmen's attention more than attempts to sell\noff or close public lands,'' Dvorak said. ``Hunters and anglers and business owners\nlike me couldn't do what we love or make a living without the national forests or\nBureau of Land Management land.''\n\n\nRead the poll memo and slide deck at NWF.org\/Sportsmen<http:\/\/www.nwf.org\/sportsmen<\/a>>\nand get more National Wildlife Federation news at\nNWF.org\/News<http:\/\/www.NWF.org\/News<\/a>>.\n\n***\nPoll background:\n\nThis national public opinion poll conducted among 800 self-identified hunters and\nanglers was conducted by Chesapeake Beach Consulting from August 27 through\nSeptember 1, 2012 for the National Wildlife Federation.  The sample for this survey\nwas randomly drawn from a list of self-identified hunters and anglers. To qualify, a\nrespondent must have indicated they were a hunter, an angler or both as well as a\nregistered voter. All interviews were conducted by telephone, including 15 percent\nof the interviews by cell phone. The margin of error for this study is plus or minus\n3.2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
National Wildlife Federation released its poll on September 25, 2012 that reaffirms sportsmen’s strong support for conservation, access to public lands — BOULDER, Colo. – Hunters and anglers believe protecting public lands should be given priority, even if it means limiting energy production on those lands, according to a new national poll<http:\/\/www.nwf.org\/News-and-Magazines\/Media-Center\/News-by-Topic\/Wildlife\/2012\/09-25-12-Sportsmen-Poll-Public-Lands-Protection-Trumps-Energy-Production.aspx> released Tuesday by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"anons"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/bow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}