Today is National Public Lands Day. It’s also National Hunting and Fishing Day. We were pleased to see that the White House Proclamation [check prior link] directly links the two days.
Hunting and fishing also play a large role in funding conservation efforts, for example through fishing licenses and Duck Stamps — works of art that for nearly a century have helped protect habitats for birds and other wildlife.
According to the federal Fish and Wildlife Service:
Funds from an 11 percent excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition [Internal Revenue Code of 1954, sec. 4161(b)] are appropriated to the Secretary of the Interior and apportioned to States on a formula basis for paying up to 75 percent of the cost approved projects. Project activities include acquisition and improvement of wildlife habitat, introduction of wildlife into suitable habitat, research into wildlife problems, surveys and inventories of wildlife problems, acquisition and development of access facilities for public use, and hunter education programs, including construction and operation of public target ranges.
Public Law 91-503, approved October 23, 1970, (84 Stat. 1097) added provisions for the deposit of the 10 percent tax on pistols and revolvers, one-half of which may be used by the States for hunter safety programs. This amendment also provided for development of comprehensive fish and wildlife management plans as an optional means for participating in the program, and changed the maximum limit from $10,000 to one-half percent for Puerto Rico and to one-sixth percent for the Virgin Islands and Guam.
On October 25, 1972, the Act was further amended by P.L. 92-558 (86 Stat. 1172) to add provisions for the deposit of the 11-percent excise tax on bows, arrows, and their parts and accessories for use in wildlife projects or hunter safety programs.
 |
| Driftless Area Red Cabin Site
Photo by J. Harrington
|
Many Minnesotans, especially from the Twin Cities area, fish for trout in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Federal funds help support habitat projects such as at the Red Cabin Site. In fact, the kinds of efforts that have been going on in the Driftless Area have helped to shape Trout Unlimited’s updated strategic plan. Those who hunt and fish have long been willing to contribute to the preservation and restoration of the habitat, on both public and private lands, needed to support fish and wildlife and nongame populations such as pollinators and songbirds.
A secret came a week ago though I already
knew it just beyond the bruised lips of consciousness.
The very alive souls of thirty-five hundred dead birds
are harbored in my body. It’s not uncomfortable.
I’m only temporary habitat for these not-quite-
weightless creatures. I offered a wordless invitation
and now they’re roosting within me, recalling
how I had watched them at night
in fall and spring passing across earth moons,
little clouds of black confetti, chattering and singing
on their way north or south. Now in my dreams
I see from the air the rumpled green and beige,
the watery face of earth as if they’re carrying
me rather than me carrying them. Next winter
I’ll release them near the estuary west of Alvarado
and south of Veracruz. I can see them perching
on undiscovered Olmec heads. We’ll say goodbye
and I’ll return my dreams to earth.
********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment