Conservation conference offers ideas for the 21st century
By BABE WINKELMAN

Theodore Roosevelt

In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt uttered these prophetic words: "The natural resources of our country are in danger of exhaustion if we permit the old wasteful methods of exploiting them longer to continue."

Those words were spoken at the Governor's Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources, which Roosevelt convened by bringing the nation's top policymakers together.

The purpose of the conference was to elevate "conservation as a national duty." Roosevelt did his part, to be sure. Few, if any, presidents did more to advance the cause of natural-resources conservation (some call it the real "green" movement) and hunting than Roosevelt—he an avid hunter and the gold standard for protecting wildlife and wildlife habitat.

A century later, a new conference— this one, the 2008 White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy— was convened recently in Reno, Nevada. The two-day event was sponsored by AmericanWildlife Conservation Partners, a coalition of roughly 50 organizations that includes the National Rifle Association, Pheasants Forever, the Izaak Walton League of America, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and other conservation groups. The conference, called to improve hunting opportunities and wildlife habitat, stemmed from an executive order President Bush signed in 2007 establishing a bipartisan coalition to map a 10-year strategy for "guiding the future of wildlife conservation and our hunting heritage."

The issues facing hunters in contemporary society are vast and many, issues that Roosevelt probably could not foresee or even imagine. Access to hunting lands is shrinking as urbanization marches on, swallowing up wild spaces and available hunting lands. As a result, hunter numbers continue to fall, and will continue to fall as the baby boom generation leaves hunting.

Youth recruitment into hunting is a vexing problem that state natural-resource agencies continue to grapple with on a daily basis, a problem whose solutions, we're learning, require more than special hunts year after year. Far too many kids are hooked a wired culture (computers, the internet, television, video games and more) that does nothing to nurture an outdoors life beyond what they watch on the National Geographic Channel.

The reality is we're loosing the vast majority of an entire generation to this electronic culture that has no earthy understanding about the joys of nature. Our c hildren knowmore about the latest video game than they do about what it's like to get their hands dirty playing in the outdoors. If you don't think this loss has consequences, you may want to consider we're losing the next generation of potential conservationists— citizens who pay the bills for wildlife conservation.

This is a sobering analysis, but the facts speak volumes. If we can't recruit more hunters, our odds of protecting hunting and wildlife habitat are greatly diminished.

Facts are facts.

The conference did address a handful of issues that, if successfully carried out, could help conservation—even hunting access— in the 21st century.

President Bush wants to make conservation tax incentives, which are extremely popular and effective, a permanent part of the tax code, and expand them to include conservation donors who make their living in the hunting and fishing business. Congress should make this a priority item, and pass it.

During the closing session of the conference, Vice President Dick Cheney announced a new incentives program through the wildly popular Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to landowners who allow public hunting access on their property. Landowners who are enrolled in CRP will now be eligible for $3 per acre incentive if they sign on to their state's hunting access program.

This is an innovative and laudable concept, but many wildlife officials believe the incentive is too small for landowners to take the plunge. I agree. Still, if commodity prices continue to fall, more and more landowners may want to stay in CRP and any extra rental payment will help—even if it includes hunting access.

According to the conservation officials, the new CRP incentive could open up an additional 7 million acres of wildlife habitat to hunting. We'll see.

Lastly, Vice President Cheney announced a new $204 million effort to "restore, improve and protect" at least four million additional acres of wetlands over the next five years.

According to Cheney, federal agencies will focus their efforts in four areas: the Mississippi River basin; the gulf coast; the Great lakes, and the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR).

Some of have argued that the conservation conference held in Nevada recently was more about politics and President Bush trying to secure a legacy than anything truly meaningful for conservation. After all, President Bush is leaving office, and the next president will have to tackle these issues and many others.

True enough. Still, the conference did create a blueprint for some sound policy initiatives, and you can bet your backside that Teddy Roosevelt would have fought to get all of them passed.

It's up to our next president to show the same leadership.

Babe Winkelman is a nationally known outdoorsman who has taught people to fish and hunt for more than 25 years. Watch the award-winning "Good Fishing" and "Outdoor Secrets" television shows on Versus (formerly OLN), Fox Sports Net,

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