ODFW issued a press release this week to announce hopeful progress being made on state and national levels towards increasing funding for fish and wildlife conservation. The Oregon Governor signed HB2829, the Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund, this month which “puts $1 million in General Fund aside, to be matched by $1 million in private funds raised by ODFW, as seed money towards an alternative, sustainable funding source” and also creates the Oregon Conservation and Recreation Advisory Committee to determine funds distribution.
Meanwhile, as mentioned in our newsletter last week, another conservation funding bill, HR 3742,was introduced in the US House. “Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (H.R. 3742), introduced on July 12 by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Fortenberry (R-NE) and currently supported by 70 Members of Congress including Oregon Representatives Bonamici, Blumenauer, DeFazio, and Schrader. The bill would dedicate approximately $1.3 billion annually to state fish and wildlife agencies and an additional $97.5 million for tribal fish and wildlife managers to implement science-based wildlife action plans like the Oregon Conservation Strategy, with funding coming from the general treasury.”
From Jim Martin: “I was proud to represent Oregon’s sportfishing industry on the task force that developed the concept of the Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund. Our taskforce realized that we couldn’t possibly meet the conservation challenges of fish, wildlife and nature with the dwindling funds associated with hunting and fishing licenses. This outdated funding model has been struggling for the last few decades. We need a new strategy. Thank goodness the Oregon legislature and Oregon governor have agreed it will be up to the general public to fund conservation in the future, supplementing funds from hunters and anglers. Hopefully, Oregon leadership on this issue will influence the US Congress and our federal administration to take similar leadership, establishing a national conservation fund to provide federal match to our Oregon conservation fund. Developing a national and state-wide conservation strategy is meaningless without funds to implement the strategy. The world is changing fast. We’re talking about our children’s futures.”
You can read the full ODFW Press Release here.