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Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Plan
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Understanding Climate Change and Wildlife Effects
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
I.
- Renew, Extend, and Create Tax Incentives for Conservation and Access
2.
- Draft and enact comprehensive tax incentives legislation
2.1
- Authorize permanently the conservation tax incentives, enacted for two years in the 2008 Farm Bill
2.2
- Expand AGI deductability for conservation easements
2.3
- Classify hunting and fishing leases as working farms
2.4
- Increase the period for donations of access easements
2.5
- Change excise tax reports to quarterly
2.6
- Establish a more consistent approach to valuing land with tax breaks
II.
- Increase Federal Funding for State Conservation and Access Programs and Initiatives
3.
- Recommend new programs and authorities to promote hunter access.
3.1
- Create a tax credit for fish and wildlife protections, restoration and enhancement and wildlife dependent recreation
3.2
- Revive proposal for a 50 percent capital gains exclusion for conservation land sales
3.3
- Provide federal funds to state-based programs that open private lands to hunters and anglers
3.4
- Authorize the use of non-federal funding to match federal funding for State Access Programs
3.5
- Increase structured hunting programs and recreational shooting opportunities
3.6
- Provide federal technical assistance to states to expand and enhance private land conservation projects on lands enrolled in state access programs
3.7
- Encourage federal or state governments to purchase easements on lands needed to open wildlife corridors
3.8
- Facilitate National Park Service (NPS) purchase of conservation and access easements from willing sellers
3.9
- Provide funding for the necessary infrastructure for enrollment in state access programs
3.10
- Establish formal arrangements with states and 501(c)3 organizations to fund public relations and marketing programs for hunting and fishing
4.
- Improve the Federal Land Transfer Facilitation Act (FLTFA).
4.1
- Develop a Conservation and Recreation Benefits Index (CRBI)
4.2
- Consider how receipts could be directed to a non-federal account where they would be leveraged by nonfederal funding and obligated to a prioritized list of projects chosen based on their CRBI score
4.3
- Establish priorities for acquisition that would include purchase of title and/or easements on lands
5.
- Draft and enact an Upland Conservation Act.
6.
- Establish the Impact Directed Environmental Account (IDEA).
7.
- Identify, in cooperation with state agencies, options for improving Federal Excise Taxes (FET).
7.1
- Seek information from Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Excise Tax working group
7.2
- Consider expanding or reducing the categories of hunting and fishing equipment currently subject to FET
7.3
- Consider including or excluding categories of wildlife dependent recreation and associated equipment
7.4
- Educate consumers and the public about the categories currently subject to FET
7.5
- Develop legislative recommendations to reduce the costs and administrative burdens on manufacturers subject to the FET
8.
- Establish a Blue Ribbon panel of experts on wildlife funding
8.1
- Establish and dedicate funding for implementing State Wildlife Action Plans
III.
- Identify Potential Partnerships for Voluntary Funding for Conservation
9.
- Recommend funding arrangements that pool federal, state, and private funds.
9.1
- Create a new partnership between state and federal agencies, equipment manufacturers and retailers to collect manufacturers’ rebates as funding for wildlife habitat and enhanced outdoor recreation
9.2
- Expand the allowable uses of State Wildlife Grants and new grant programs to include communication and education projects and programs
10.
- Develop a model state ballot initiative to increase funding for wildlife.
Initiative 3
- Improving Wildlife Habitat Conservation
I.
- Develop Baseline Data for Long-Term Goals and Measurable Results
11.
- Expand existing wildlife and habitat databases
11.1
- Create measurable goals and outcomes for implementation of Executive Order 13443
11.2
- Populate a standardized, web-based, one-stop-shop to disseminate population data
11.3
- Coordinate wildlife population and habitat modeling protocols
11.4
- Develop, support, and advertise a web-based capability to help identify public lands available for hunting
11.5
- Review current predator control policies at the state level
II.
- Create Financial Incentives for Private Lands Conservation and Access
12.
- Recommend updates to the timing and amount of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) payment rates
12.1
- Increase rental payments to CRP enrollees who donate or sell hunting access easements on their CRP lands
12.2
- Promote and support added incentives to programs
12.3
- Review CRP rental rates on a more frequent basis
12.4
- Consider new incentives for keeping properties with the best wildlife habitat enrolled in the CRP program
12.5
- Provide incentives to maintain the continuity of large landscapes
13.
- Create a grasslands conservation initiative
13.1
- Develop common metrics and priorities for each state
13.2
- Develop a conservation funding source for a grassland conservation initiative
13.3
- Coordinate a model National Grassland/Shrubland Restoration Act
14.
- Create new options for keeping family-owned private lands intact when inherited
14.1
- Create programs that identify lands and important wildlife habitat that are at risk of fragmentation
14.2
- Develop new incentives to maintain continuity of large landscapes
14.3
- Consider exemptions and transferable credits that could be enacted in the years remaining before the inheritance tax expires
III.
- Improve Habitat on Federal Land: Biofuels and Invasive Species
15.
- Recommend projects, initiatives and new or improved authorities to enhance wildlife habitat on federal lands by promoting biofuel production
15.1
- Initiate a biofuels initiative to reduce risks of catastrophic wildfire causing habitat loss
15.2
- Develop investment tax credits that encourage the development of improved technologies for utilizing woody biomass for cellulosic ethanol
15.3
- Ensure that mechanisms that will ensure long-term provision of biomass from federal lands are in place
15.4
- Authorize federal agencies to retain receipts from the sale of woody biomass to provide priority funding toward habitat restoration in areas impacted by harvest
15.5
- Develop a national strategy for wind farm siting that will protect the grassland/shrubland steppe and associated wildlife
15.6
- Create bond authority to facilitate the use of timber receipts for improved forest health
16.
- Recommend improvements for controlling species that have detrimental impacts on hunting and fishing opportunities and targeted species
16.1
- Assess the extent and severity of habitat loss and degradation resulting from outbreaks of native pests, diseases, or invasive species encroachment
16.2
- Assess the existing infrastructure and capacity to combat the most prevalent threats
16.3
- Identify the issues most relevant to hunting access and game species conservation
16.4
- Draft recommendations for addressing the threats identified
16.5
- Target specific conservation education programs for urban landowners and ranchette owners
Initiative 4
- Expanding Access to Public and Private Lands
I.
- Reduce Liability for Access to Private Land
17.
- Draft model state legislation on liability for landowners who provide public access to their property
18.
- Evaluate and assess public safety risks and risk liability associated with shooting and hunting, commensurate and consistent with other public land recreational activities
II.
- Expand Wildlife-Dependent Recreational Opportunities on Federal Land
19.
- Integrate conservation and hunting opportunities into the next Transportation Bill
19.1
- Establish a Federal Open Trails public land access program with federal, state, private, tribal, conservation organizations, and landowner partners
19.2
- Create a fund to assess current practices
20.
- Establish a one-stop-shop website of information on hunting on federal land
20.1
- Create uses of advertising profits from websites
20.2
- Offer a “vertical” search engine with information regarding structured hunting programs
20.3
- Establish a map page that will allow users to identify opportunities to hunt on public lands
21.
- Recommend improved and enhanced access to public lands where hunting is allowed
21.1
- Assess interagency opportunities for improving and enhancing hunting opportunities for the disabled
21.2
- Request an interagency data call for a compilation of opportunities to access adjacent public lands through lands they oversee
22.
- Establish shooting ranges in urban areas as a part of urban centers for outdoor activities
22.1
- Improve connectivity of school groups to the outdoors
22.2
- Develop a model “hunting easement” similar to a conservation easement for use in providing or protecting hunting opportunities
22.3
- Expand and develop partnerships among federal agencies to determine accessible federal lands for hunting and recreational shooting
22.4
- Explore shooting range and hunting opportunity potential assessed as part of the military Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process
22.5
- Fund or implement programs resulting from the call for proposals improving federal land access
22.6
- Facilitate an effective federal government-wide process to use non-federal funds for acquiring hunting and shooting access to federal lands
III.
- Provide Specialized Training for Federal Employees
23.
- Recommend and implement a training curriculum for federal employees on the history, ecology, and management of hunting on public land
23.1
- Explain the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and the American system of conservation funding
23.2
- Communicate a consistent framework that will assess the impacts of project proposals on wildlife populations and hunting opportunities
23.3
- Market strategies to better communicate the availability of existing programs designed to provide educational outreach and technical assistance for private landowners.
23.4
- Establish more scholarships and stipends from private entities to bring new people, youth, and minorities to outdoor/hunting/wildlife conferences
24.
- Require all federal land management supervisory personnel to complete a state-sanctioned hunter education course, or an equivalent program
25.
- Teach best practices for hunting programs in formal training for federal land Managers
Initiative 5
- Educating, Recruiting, and Retaining Hunters
I.
- Promote Hunting Among Various Demographic Groups
26.
- Waive or discount entrance fees for federal hunting lands for veterans and active duty military personnel
26.1
- Identify opportunities to expand and enhance hunting on DOD bases
26.2
- Develop a Wounded Warrior Hunting and Fishing Program
26.3
- Expand opportunities for disabled veterans to hunt on federal land
27.
- Recommend new and better means of communicating with youth and minorities
27.1
- Engage Americorps volunteers to be mentors
27.2
- Use new technology to reach a new generation
27.3
- Create electronic games that involve hunting and fishing, plant and animal identification, and promote nature acronyms for texting
27.4
- Promote geocaching for youth and minorities.
27.5
- Establish a speakers’ bureau for school lectures and activities
27.6
- Develop an image for media use of a young or minority person that enjoys the outdoors
27.7
- Include a teacher or a teachers’ council to advise a hunting foundation
27.8
- Create and support an exchange program for federal and state employees to teach once a week or once a month in the local schools
28.
- Develop and fund a hunting access and conservation program within the Youth Conservation Corps
28.1
- Initiate a mentoring corps and engage former hunters
28.2
- Create a national coalition consisting of NGOs, industry, state, and federal agencies
28.3
- Create a national youth and minorities hunting coalition
II.
- Promote Hunting Through Public-Private Partnerships
29.
- Commission a Presidential Hunting and Shooting Sports Partnership Council
29.1
- Imitate the structure of the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation
29.2
- Focus on recruitment and retention of hunters and shooters
29.3
- Seek other funds beside the Pittman-Robertson funds
29.4
- Promote hunting to young and minority people, the disadvantaged and handicapped through structured hunting, shooting mentoring, and education programs
29.5
- Place curricula on the role of hunting in conservation and wildlife management
29.6
- Provide family programs and teaching camps on a variety of outdoor and adventure activities
29.7
- Engage energy companies on opportunities for youth and minorities hunts on company properties
29.8
- Develop ideas and mechanisms for capturing the imagination and interest of young and minority people and demographics
29.9
- Achieve overall gains in career conservationists.
29.10
- Promote the ten-year Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Plan and measure progress
29.11
- Provide funding incentives to states that have effective programs in hunter recruitment and retention
29.12
- Administer grants to state agencies for programs directed at generating youth and minorities involvement in hunting
29.13
- Report periodically on progress toward increasing recruitment and retention
30.
- Issue new regulations to promote responsible filming and photography on public land
30.1
- Clarify how commercial crews can seek permission to film on public land
30.2
- Involve the public in reviewing filming proposals
30.3
- Ensure that the media continues to have the ability to inform the public about public lands
31.
- Amend Executive Order 13443 to require specific performance, reporting, and updates to the Action Plan
31.1
- Develop a requirement for relevant federal agencies to ensure that federal staff are hired, trained, and rewarded in a manner that promotes hunting and fishing
31.2
- Incorporate opportunities for hunting and recreational shooting into public land management, planning, and decision-making
31.3
- Charge the Sporting Conservation Council with issuing annual recommendations for implementing Executive Order 13443 and this action plan
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
33.
- Expand and enhance cross-boundary efforts to use hunting as a wildlife management tool
33.1
- Identify a population control issue
33.2
- Agencies will work with states to assess the possibility of utilizing qualified volunteers to assist in culling operations
33.3
- Authorize the use of contraceptives only upon a joint conclusion that none of the above alternatives are available and/or adequate
34.
- Recommend improvements and enhancements to state-federal coordination on wildlife conservation and hunting opportunities
34.1
- Improve the ability of states to match federal funds with a model state law creating new dedicated state funds
34.2
- Complete an objective report on liability and other legal impediments to supervised participation in youth and minorities hunting
34.3
- Establish a formal, routine coordination and communication among federal, state, and tribal wildlife managers
34.4
- Clarify and simplify state and federal regulations on hunting
34.5
- Develop best management practices for hunting and wildlife conservation consistent across both state and federal agencies
34.6
- Promote federal legislation that clearly enhances the state fish and wildlife agencies’ role, their right and jurisdiction to manage wildlife
34.7
- Distribute drafts of model legislation that ensures wildlife species remain the jurisdiction and responsibility of states, provinces, and federal wildlife management agencies
35.
- Convene an International Congress on Wildlife Conservation among heads of state and their representatives
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
I.
- Develop and Use Landscape-Level Assessments of Wildlife
39.
- Continue the Healthy Lands Initiative
39.1
- Seek full funding for the Healthy Lands Initiative
39.2
- Consider other landscape-scale initiatives in new project areas
40.
- Publish standards and protocols for on-site and off-site considerations for oil and gas development and impacts for wildlife
40.1
- Include statewide mapping efforts to identify areas of high importance to wildlife habitat in pre-lease planning
40.2
- Use the USGS Healthy Lands Initiative geospatial framework to assess the health of habitats and their resources and monitor changes in landscapes
40.3
- Use the USGS estimates of the oil and gas resources of all onshore federal lands to identify areas of imminent conflict
II.
- Improve Collaboration on Project Design
41.
- Establish specific game and wildlife population and habitat goals and objectives for oil and gas development projects
41.1
- Issue a joint Secretarial Order to form a team whose goal is to assess landscape-level assessment units on all federal, state, and local units
41.2
- Direct existing planning policy to reinforce the desirability of having all interested state and tribal governments involved in plan development
41.3
- Conduct pre-development assessments prioritized by energy potential
41.4
- Require consideration of state/tribal established fish and wildlife habitat/population goals and objectives in formal planning processes
41.5
- Require annual coordination and map sharing between state and federal agencies
41.6
- Require annual federal agency consultation with state agencies to review new data prior to new leasing offerings and decisions to avoid or mitigate impacts to wildlife
42.
- Produce a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between federal agencies and western governors
42.1
- Establish agreement between states and federal agencies to share uniform mapping information on wildlife migration corridors
42.2
- Seek opportunities to work with land trusts and NGOs for conserving wildlife corridors
42.3
- Create incentives for federal land managers to partner on wildlife corridor conservation with private landowners and industry
42.4
- Establish and utilize mitigation accounts for funding for wildlife friendly fencing and conservation easements
43.
- Establish a formal working relationship between federal agencies and state wildlife managers
43.1
- Discuss specifics involving the AFWA and its Energy and Wildlife Policy Committee to determine needs and opportunities to refine EPACT 2005
43.2
- Establish and fund an energy liaison position among the BLM, USDA Forest Service, and AFWA
43.3
- Support an Energy Wildlife policy workshop focused on seeking solutions and promoting joint understanding of process, policies, goals, and objectives
44.
- Authorize a program to formalize the BLM Pilot Oil and Gas Offices that were established by the Energy Policy Act, 2005
45.
- Collaborate with industry and wildlife biologists on updating best management practices as new technologies are developed
III.
- Formalize Wildlife Expertise in Leasing
46.
- Reissue policy guidance contained in IM 2004-110 Change 1
47.
- Collaborate on development of pre-project conservation plans for sustaining wildlife in conjunction with landscape-scale assessments on energy development
48.
- Ensure timely preparation of NEPA analyses
49.
- Develop a national strategy for wind farm siting that coordinates with conservation goals for the grassland-shrubland steppe wildlife community
50.
- Improve cross-jurisdictional geo-spatial tools to support pre-planning decisions
51
- Incorporate state and regional wildlife plans into federal land use planning
IV.
- Create Incentives to Improve Wildlife Outcomes
52.
- Recommend new incentives for identifying lease areas and using new technology
52.1
- Investigate options for federal lease trades and buy-backs
52.2
- Identify or support incentives for industry to avoid development in migration corridors and crucial habitats
52.3
- Seek partnerships for increased donation of conservation easements and wildlife-friendly fencing
52.4
- Develop year-round drilling proposals with industry in exchange for less surface impact through use of best management practices
52.5
- Enhance conservation in key areas using credits off-site
52.6
- Create a Conservation Challenge Fund for every acre disturbed
52.7
- Educate oil and gas company staff on the benefits of wildlife conservation
V.
- Establish a Monitoring Protocol for Adaptive Management
53.
- Publish a standardized, peer-reviewed, monitoring protocol to guide all land management and wildlife agencies and industries in adaptive management
53.1
- Conduct necessary budgetary analysis to consider using federal and state onshore oil and gas revenue to fund monitoring
53.2
- Include information on wildlife corridors and other particular habitat features
53.3
- Build upon and expand existing monitoring and data storage for adaptive management and development of best management practices
53.4
- Establish panels to review data under OMB’s Data Quality Act guidelines and make recommendations on adaptive management.
53.5
- Apply a monitoring plan based on the protocol to each record of decision
VI.
- Accomplish More Off-Site Conservation
54.
- Identify opportunities for off-site conservation
55.
- Recommend new policy to promote off-site conservation
55.1
- Establish clear authority by statute and have new regulations developed defining science experience based mitigation practices
55.2
- Clarify further implementation of off-site conservation strategies and practices to be accomplished
VII.
- Optimize Funding for Federal Land Energy Programs
56.
- Recommend optimal allocations of funding for operation, training, and cost recovery
56.1
- Complete an overall review of the BLM budget
56.2
- Ensure the maximum use of BLM training
56.3
- Develop proposed cost recovery authorities for the USDA Forest Service and BLM
57.
- Assess options for a Wildlife Mitigation/Habitat Enhancement Fund
57.1
- Collect a percentage of fees from drilling permits and allocate these funds for mitigation, monitoring, and conservation
57.2
- Share oil and gas revenues with the states to benefit displaced or affected wildlife
57.3
- Consider using federal and state on-shore oil and gas revenue to fund monitoring
58.
- Develop cellulosic energy crops
Actions for 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