Conservation

How to or deal with!
Alerts & Contacts!
Efforts to Date!

One of the things that many of us take for granted is stewardship of our natural resources in the preservation & protection of our water, land, plants, animals, fish and, most importantly, our RIGHTS!

Identified in a report from Government Watchdog Foundation, 5/1/2003, almost all of the government’s conservation efforts are supported from taxes collected on the sales of hunting and fishing paraphernalia and from license and tag fees. The funds are used for fish, wildlife and habitat conservation. Additionally these funds support educational programs that promote wildlife and habitat conservation. The amounts collected by the government for animal and habitat conservation breaks down as follows:

• $150 million annually through federal excise taxes on guns and ammunition.
• $560 million annually through hunting licenses, tags, permits and stamps.
• $420 million annually through an excise tax on fishing equipment and boats.
• $481 million through the purchase of fishing licenses and permits.

Grand total: 1 billion 611 million dollars are available to the Department of Fish and Wildlife to be used for the management of our fish, wildlife and their habitat.

Additionally, from the $67.7 billion dollars spent on hunting and fishing equipment, 2.2 million industry related jobs are supported. All this so that future hunters & fisherpersons may enjoy the outdoors as we do today.

Fisherpersons & hunters are the largest group of voluntary contributors to conservation of our natural resources. Without us, where would the $1.611 billion dollars come from to support these conservation and management efforts?

Have we gotten your attention yet?

There are many organizations in Michigan, the U.S. and even outside the U.S. who wish to take away our right to choose to hunt and fish away. Even have our own government raids our fees through the legislature to balance their budget in what amounts to an illegal taxation funneling funds away from the organizations we support through our users fee's!

Organizations such as P.E.T.A (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), United States Humane Society, and even the U.N. (United Nations) have a stated agenda's to "Eliminate ALL" hunting, fishing, and private gun ownership in the United States of America! If you believe that hunting & fishing rights do not go hand in hand, then you are looking at the wrong website! If on the other hand we still have your attention and interest, please read on!

We are not alone in this fight to maintain our rights, with many organizations such as MUCC (Michigan United Conservation Clubs), Izaak Walton League, Trout Unlimited and others (see our "Links" page) that are also on the front lines on the state and federal level. Our State organization MSSFA (Michigan Steelhead & Salmon Fishing Association), affiliated MSSFA clubs and Huron Valley Steelheaders have worked with and spoken with several of these organizations in the past and will continue to develop these relationships. Our alliances will allow us to unite and use our combined "voices" to help protect our rights and common interests!

As we work on developing this page, we hope that we can help guide and/or assist you in delivering your voice and your support where it will be the most effective. The menu at the top of the page is a "How To" on contacting your legislator's, legislative alerts where a pressing issue comes up that needs an immediate phone/letter campaign. Communication methods, do's and dont's as well as the results of previous efforts.  Again if you have any questions or comments, please contact us at hvsteelheaders@yahoo.com.