SCI ADVOCACY’S BIG 5 SUMMER SERIES 2022
Safari Club International is proud to present the Big 5 Summer Series! Throughout this summer, SCI highlighted the most pressing issues affecting hunting and conservation around the world through panels, informative sessions, and testimony from the experts. SCI members and advocates received the most updated information on our legislative priorities around the world and have opportunities to take action. Below find the schedule of SCI’s top five topics for Summer, 2022.
Series 1: Week of 6/19, International Hunting Imports
Series 2: Week of 7/17, State Management Authority and Pittman Robertson
Series 3: Week of 7/31, Traditional Ammunition and No-Net-Loss
Big 5 Series Wrap Up
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SCI Advocacy needs you to take action! Signing our pledges and contacting your legislators is the most effective way to stand up for the hunting community. SCI is always First for Hunters and with your help is protecting the freedom to hunt around the world.
What We Stand For OPPOSE Section 439 OPPOSE Lead Ammo Bans OPPOSE the RETURN Act OPPOSE HR 7398 No-Net-Loss PetitionSERIES ONE: INTERNATIONAL HUNTING AND IMPORTS
International hunting is a proven method of successful species and ecosystem conservation across the globe, and especially in southern Africa. It provides direct benefits in support of wildlife conservation programs and local communities: funding for range state government programs, assistance in controlling problem animals, “boots on the ground” anti-poaching, and community livelihoods improvements like social services and distributions of hunted meat. Yet, some individuals and organizations routinely advocate against international hunting, primarily based on misinformation, misguided emotions, and an unwarranted desire to dictate how range states should manage their wildlife. State and federal governments in the United States, UK, EU, or anywhere else in the world have no right to dictate the management of wildlife of a sovereign nation.
Learn More About International Hunting
Events
In conjunction with the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation: Unintended Consequences: How American Trophy Import Bans Harm Conservation Efforts Abroad. Featured a panel discussion with SCI’s EVP Ben Cassidy on June 23.
Just steps from the U.S. Capitol, SCI is uniquely positioned to take on the biggest threats to hunting and conservation. Watch the message below from SCI’s EVP of International, Government and Public Affairs Ben Cassidy.
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Watch the videos below from our champions in the House, Senate, and hunting community standing on the side of hunting, conservation, and Safari Club International!
Series 1 RecapSERIES TWO: STATE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY AND PITTMAN ROBERTSON
Safari Club International strongly supports state fish and wildlife agencies’ authority to manage the natural resources within their respective states. State wildlife managers and agency personnel provide technical expertise that is crucial to sustainable, state-based management and, ultimately, state agency funding. These trained experts within the agencies ensure that management decisions and on the ground conservation efforts are done so with a personal and strong understanding of their potential impacts on the resource, users, and agency goals.
Unfortunately, state wildlife management authority continues to be challenged by federal overreach. Recent examples of these types of challenges can be seen with the RETURN Act (H.R. 8167) that would effectively do away with Pittman-Robertson and eliminate a primary funding source of conservation efforts for state fish and wildlife agencies, and with the Prohibit Wildlife Killing Contests Act of 2022 (H.R. 7398) that would severely limit predator management on federal lands.
Events
Our Big 5 Summer Series continued on Thursday, July 21st at 12:00pm EST where we heard more on this important topic from various state agency directors including Georgia Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Mark Williams, Missouri Department of Conservation Director Sarah Parker Pauley, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Director Tim McCoy, Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Brian Nesvik, and Nevada Division of Wildlife Director Tony Wasley.
Watch the Panel
Ben Cassidy and Melissa Bachman discuss the RETURN Act, its implications for the hunting community, and why it’s bad for conservation.
Series 2 and 3 RecapSERIES THREE: TRADITIONAL AMMUNITION AND NO-NET-LOSS
Safari Club International (SCI) routinely advocates for increased hunting access and against restrictions on hunting access, especially on public lands. Restrictions on hunting access can take many forms. The physical closure of hunting land is the most obviously example. But banning the hunting of a particular species, or prohibiting a method of harvest, are other ways in which hunting access is lost. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recently proposed to reduce hunting access by phasing out the use of a traditional method of harvest-lead ammunition-on National Wildlife Refuges. SCI’s “Big 5 Summer Series: Access and the Threat of Proposed Restrictions on Lead Ammunition” convened a panel of experts to discuss the use of traditional lead ammunition in hunting, and how a federal ban on lead ammo will impact hunter access.
Watch the Panel
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The Fish and Wildlife Service’s draft 2022-2023 Hunt Fish Rule contains a phaseout of lead ammunition on a number of wildlife refuges, which will harm hunting access, but also includes a mixed bag of increased opportunities on National Wildlife Refuges across the country. SCI, through our Hunter Advocacy Action Center, submitted thousands of comment letters to Director Martha Williams expressing opposition to a lead ammo ban from the hunting community. SCI President Sven Lindquist also submitted comments, here.
Thank you to the thousands of advocates that used our Hunter Advocacy Action Center (HAAC) to OPPOSE Lead Ammo Bans! Your voice is being heard. SCI will continue to fight for your hunting rights in D.C. and all over the world!
Series 4 and 5 Recap