News Release - 10/03/2008

White House Conference on Wildlife Policy Concludes

Tasks Conservation and Hunting Community to Carry Policies Forward

RENO, Nev. -- The historic meeting to launch the next century of wildlife conservation concluded today with an announcement of a new program to increase access for hunters and a challenge to carry forward and implement a far-reaching, 10-year Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Plan.

Prompted by Presidential Executive Order #13443, the White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy brought together over 500 leaders in the wildlife community, including more than 30 representatives from state fish and wildlife agencies, to discuss wildlife management and coordination at the state, tribal and federal levels; habitat conservation issues including energy development and climate change; funding for wildlife conservation; perpetuating hunter traditions; and ensuring the vitality and sustainability of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. 

The Conference was the first time in 100 years that a sitting President convened a meeting to address the challenges facing conservation and the nation's hunting heritage and only the third time that a nationwide wildlife policy was considered. The Conference goal was to ground-truth the action plan and to allow participants to take ownership of the implementation.

During the closing session of the Conference, Vice President Dick Cheney announced a new incentive payment through the 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 a $3 per acre incentive if they sign on to their state's hunting access program; the incentive is expected to open an additional seven million acres of quality wildlife habitat for hunting.

The 10-year plan will be finalized in the coming weeks.  The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies will continue to have input in to the development of this document. 

For more information about the White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy, go to www.wildlifepartners.org.

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The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies—the organization that represents North America’s fish and wildlife agencies—promotes sound management and conservation, and speaks with a unified voice on important fish and wildlife issues.

The American Wildlife Conservation Partners (AWCP) is a network of more than 40 organizations, including the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, that work together to conserve wildlife and wildlife habitat as well as to preserve the traditions of hunting and trapping. The partnership is a loose affiliation with partner organizations retaining their autonomy and respecting each other's differences. For more information on the AWCP and the White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy go to: www.wildlifepartners.org.