Plan Overview

Initiative 1 - Sporting Conservation Council
- I. - Legislation Regarding Sporting Conservation Council
  - 1. - Pass legislation authorizing the Sporting Conservation Council
    
    1.1 - Provide a ten-year term for the Council.
    
    1.2 - Consider amending the Federal Advisory Committee Act to allow non-governmental, nonconsensus advice to federal land managers
    
    1.3 - Consider an exemption for information provided by landowners about species of concern under the Freedom of Information Act
    
    1.4 - Identify opportunities to promote cooperating agency status for state agencies
Initiative 2 - Increasing Public and Private Funding for Wildlife Conservation
Initiative 3 - Improving Wildlife Habitat Conservation
Initiative 4 - Expanding Access to Public and Private Lands
Initiative 5 - Educating, Recruiting, and Retaining Hunters
- I. - Promote Hunting Among Various Demographic Groups
- II. - Promote Hunting Through Public-Private Partnerships
Initiative 6 - Coordinating Federal, State, Tribal, and International Action
- I. - Assess Existing Lines of Coordination
  - 32. - Produce and act on a rigorous assessment of existing authorities related to hunting and game conservation
    
    32.1 - Convene an expert panel of natural resource management and legal professionals
    
    32.2 - Identify relevant authorities and craft a user-friendly compendium for use by relevant federal employees
    
    32.3 - Identify conflicting authorities and craft potential statutory and regulatory language to clarify and/or reconcile these conflicts
    
    32.4 - Develop a user-friendly compendium of relevant authorities that will be shared with federal employees and non-federal partners
    
    32.5 - Collect and update formal coordination agreements that should be established or updated
    
    32.6 - Produce a detailed proposal for a Public Land Law Review Commission
- II. - Enact Improvements
Initiative 7 - Understanding Climate Change and Wildlife Effects
- I. - Establish Lines of Communication
  - 36. - Establish an advisory relationship among federal land management agencies, state agencies and conservation organizations on climate change
    
    36.1 - Assess the potential of forests and wetlands on federal lands to sequester carbon biologically
    
    36.2 - Identify the programs and/or authorities necessary to create an insurance pool against carbon loss during sequestration contracts
    
    36.3 - Work with private sector partners to determine whether a market would exist for the proposed insurance pool
    
    36.4 - Develop mechanisms that would enable receipts from private sector insurance payments to be retained for improving or expanding wildlife species habitat
    
    36.5 - Direct revenue from future climate change initiatives such as “cap and trade” to wildlife, habitat, and conservation education
    
    36.6 - Incorporate carbon exchange rates in creating incentives for landowners to conserve habitats
- II. - Improve Data and Policy
  - 37. - Publish guidance to ensure federal agencies consider effects of climate change on wildlife, habitat and wildlife-dependent recreation
  - 38. - Refine CCSP data to describe climate effects on wildlife populations and habitats
    
    38.1 - Ensure that CCSP and other available data are made available for inclusion into the various agency management planning and decision-making processes
    
    38.2 - Develop models and forecasts that will relate climate-related changes to biological responses of at risk game species, populations, and habitats
    
    38.3 - Use expanded research partnerships with natural resource agencies to assist in the design, construction, and implementation of adaptation strategies
    
    38.4 - Analyze species requirements and habitat dependencies in relation to projections for climate change effects and impacts
    
    38.5 - Include state, university, and tribal partnerships in determining effects of climate change on at risk wildlife
    
    38.6 - Develop monitoring programs by federal biological research and management agencies for incorporating climate change effects on at risk game species, populations, and habitat
Initiative 8 - Conserving Wildlife and Developing Oil and Gas on Public Land

34.3 - Establish a formal, routine coordination and communication among federal, state, and tribal wildlife managers

Text from the Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Plan, 2008, Page 35

Establish a formal, routine coordination and communication among federal, state, and tribal wildlife managers—possibly relying on the Cooperative Conservation Task Force.

Assessment of Status: Partially Complete

While the Cooperative Conservation Task Force is dated, there are many venues for routine coordination and communication. These venues include the Federal Interagency Coordination on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR), Landscape Conservation Cooperatives and most recently a task force created with AFWA and the USFWS. While state and federal communication has been a focus, it appears that continued efforts could be made to incorporate tribal wildlife managers.

Supporting documentation and findings

The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

The The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies is an example of routine coordination and communication between wildlife managers.

Interview with Kevin Kilcullen USFWS 2.13.13

In an interview with Kevin Kilcullen of the USFWS service, he stated that there is a lot of coordination going on and that the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives are a good venue for coordination. Additionally, refuges 15-year plans are another venue for communication and coordination. Finally, state wildlife actions plans are a state venue that could fold in federal partners.

AFWA and USFWS Letter Regarding Coordination

The US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies agreed to establish a small state-federal working group. The goal of the working group is to increase communication between state and federal agencies and tackle opportunities for "quick wins."

Joint AFWA-FWS Meeting Follow-Up Letter

Landscape Conservation Cooperatives

The USFWS's Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCC's) have as their mission, "to provide the science and technical expertise needed to support conservation planning at landscape scales..." As part of this effort, LCC's bring together various stakeholders at a cross boundary level to address broader habitat issues. Therefore, LCC's may provide a venue for formal, routine communication and coordination.

Landscape Conservation Cooperatives Website

The Federal Interagency Coordination on Outdoor Recreation

The Federal Interagency Coordination on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR) was established as a part of the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. One of the roles of FICOR is to coordinate on outdoor recreational opportunities. FICOR includes the US Forest Service, the Department of the Interior, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the US Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA, but does not include state or tribal entities.

FICOR Charter

FICOR Website

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Plan Overview

34.3 - Establish a formal, routine coordination and communication among federal, state, and tribal wildlife managers

Assessment of Status: Partially Complete

Supporting documentation and findings