What We Lose When We Lose Hunters and Anglers
By Michael Frank, Adventure Journal on January 6th, 2012
Even if you don’t hunt or fish, it’s worth understanding the connection between what you do in the outdoors and what anglers and hunters do. It starts, as all things do, by following the money. As hunting and fishing licenses stagnate and decline, so do state coffers that were supporting keeping rivers free of pollution, and state wildlife and conservation offices are starved of funds to both study and argue for studies of game and non-game species. To augment these shrinking funds many states have turned to fee structures at state parks and preserves — which has further tested the means of many hunters and anglers who aren’t in the field just for pleasure, but because they need the food. Fewer people who love the outdoors, no matter how they love it, means fewer conservationists of all stripes.
