Director Steve Williams Remarks for Pheasants Forever Convention in Bloomington, Minnesota

January 11, 2003

It is an honor for me to be here today to mark the 20th anniversary of Pheasants Forever. With 100,000 active members working on tens of thousands of wildlife conservation projects every year, you have good cause to celebrate.

One of my priorities as Director is to restore our partnerships with America's hunters and anglers. I want to start by saying that I know that some of you – our traditional partners – have felt left behind as the conservation mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has expanded
over time. I am committed to renewing our partnership with America's sportsmen and women – people like you, whose ethics and support have been the backbone of wildlife conservation for more than a century.

As you celebrate your 20th anniversary, we in the Fish and Wildlife Service are celebrating the Centennial of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Looking back on the refuge system's history, you have to be amazed by how far we have come. As we both celebrate major milestones, it is also a good time to look for new ways to expand and improve our successful partnership. Strengthening our alliance will be vital to preserving wildlife and habitat over the next 20 years — from this generation to those yet to follow.

I speak in terms of generations because they convey the significance that people have on the land. With the U.S. population expected to grow to 400 million people by the middle of this century, the pressures on our natural resources will continue to increase in coming decades. That's why it is so important to get the people closest to the resources interested and involved. We share a growing belief that positive results depend on providing private landowners and local communities with the tools and expertise to conserve wildlife habitat, and the recreation that depends on it.

I strongly believe we must preserve the hunting tradition. When I was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania, I used to hunt and fish with my dad. With my own son, I've found that some of our greatest experiences together have been doing the same things. These experiences allow parents and kids to bond, but they do more than that. They strengthen our tie to the natural world. Hunting and fishing instill in us a lasting respect for the outdoors. We keep a keen eye on the lay of our land and a steady finger on the pulse of our wildlife.

But I am concerned that in this increasingly urbanized world, fewer folks get the same kind of opportunities I did growing up. For the sake of our children and the future of our resources, we need to get kids to put down the TV remote or the video game and pick up a shotgun or a fly rod.

I'm not just saying this because hunters and anglers contribute a huge share of the money that goes back into fish and wildlife conservation. But we all know that they do, through their license fees and the Federal Aid programs for Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration. The Federal Aid program, by the way, has been one of the most successful user-pays programs the Federal Government has ever used. A small Federal tax on hunting, fishing, and boating equipment, generates substantial revenue for state conservation programs. Federal Aid gives States close to half a billion dollars each year.

Of course I'm concerned about funding for wildlife management, but I'm more concerned about what kind of publics our wildlife managers of the future will have to contend with. If we do not maintain our hunting and fishing traditions, there will be more people who are not familiar with the necessity of balancing wildlife populations with available habitat; who don't understand that deer herds or snow goose populations may need to be thinned; or even worse, who just aren't interested in wildlife and wildlife habitat. Certainly, unless we do something, the kids of the computer age will grow up to be adults who are never out in the field to notice whether our fish and wildlife populations and habitats are healthy.

This would be a tragedy not only for our outdoor heritage and for wildlife, but for our economy as well. The Fish and Wildlife Service conducts a survey every 5 years on the economic value of hunting, fishing, and wildlife-associated recreation. Our latest survey figures show that hunting contributes more than $20 billion dollars to the economy annually. A lot of this money is being spent in rural communities, at independent guide services, or mom-and-pop stores.

When I was Director of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, we had a hunter recruitment program called "Pass It On." We provided mentors, youth hunting seasons, shooting opportunities, and equipment. This program is becoming very popular with Kansas youth. We also had a Walk-In Hunting Areas program which provides landowners financial incentives to conserve natural habitat and public access to private property. By doing so, it links landowners with hunters and gets landowners interested in wildlife conservation. We need more of these kinds of programs.

At the Fish and Wildlife Service, we are working to do our part. We are expanding fishing and hunting opportunities on refuges. Both activities were identified as priorities under the Refuge Improvement Act, and I think that says a lot. In essence, it confirms how important it is to continue those traditions which have so often supported conservation.

Secretary Norton has an expression that sums up this administration's approach to conservation. She calls it the four C's -- communicating, collaborating and cooperating with all people to promote conservation. I'd like to append another ‘C' to the Secretary's list, a very important ‘C': Cash!

We all know that in order to make great things grow, sometimes the best feed is financial fertilizer. We believe that supporting voluntary, cooperative initiatives will serve as the best means to achieve our conservation goals. That's why this administration is determined to get the necessary funding on the ground to develop a wide array of conservation initiatives that sustain not only wildlife but also soil, water, and habitat.

We've already seen what cooperative efforts and a little bit of cash can do. It is important we continue our work together through programs like the North American Wetland Conservation Acts Grants Program – NAWCA, and the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. NAWCA provides matching grants to private or public organizations or to individuals who have developed partnerships to carry out wetlands conservation projects. In December 2002, the President signed a bill authorizing further NAWCA appropriations through Fiscal Year 2007.

I mentioned earlier that we share a belief in providing private landowners and local communities with the tools and expertise to conserve wildlife habitat. I am very thankful to your remarkable dedication to this belief. Most notable recently has been your role in crafting an extremely important piece of legislation: the 2002 Farm Bill. That accomplishment will create incredible opportunities at the local level.

We have also enjoyed many productive partnerships through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, which provides landowners with cost-share incentives to undertake important habitat enhancement activities on their property. Often private landowners can maximize their resources by getting funding from both Pheasants Forever and the Service, through cost-sharing grant programs. Beyond cash, landowners can get other assistance. In central Wisconsin, Pheasants Forever members often supply seed and plant food plots on private property restored through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife or other conservation programs.

Private landowners are in the best position to know what is right for them on their land; that's why we recognize the importance of assisting them in voluntary stewardship efforts on private lands. To aid in this partnership approach, this administration is committed to providing grants and other financial incentives to states and private landowners. In FY 2002, for example, we have given more than $100 million to States and private landowners under a variety of grants. The Service administers many other landowner stewardship incentives, including the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, that are similar to those you've helped open up through the Farm Bill.

The Bush Administration's FY 2002 budget contained funding for two new programs: a $40 million Landowner Incentive Program and a $10 million Private Landowner Stewardship Program — $50 million dollars in total.

The Landowner Incentive Program is designed to assist States by providing grants that help protect and restore habitat on private lands. This makes it possible to conserve Federally listed, proposed species, or others determined to be at-risk. Private landowners receive technical and financial assistance for their involvement in habitat protection and restoration. Similarly, the Private Stewardship Grants Program fosters voluntary conservation efforts on private lands by funding projects that help imperiled or at-risk species.

These programs emphasize the fact that effective conservation is a cooperative effort. Grassroots organizations like Pheasants Forever are increasingly important liaisons between the people closest to the land and those of us in Washington who can help provide the proper incentives to meet our shared natural resource conservation needs.

I mentioned at the beginning that we are preparing to celebrate the Refuge System's Centennial next March. We would not dream of taking credit alone as it has been a partnership effort from the very beginning. The refuge system was established by Theodore Roosevelt and other hunters who were concerned about the depletion of waterfowl. It goes to show that conservation has long been important to the sportsmen and women of America. The reverse is just as true: the sportsmen and women will always be important to conservation.

In recent times, the refuge system owes a debt to groups like Pheasant Forever. Many of our refuges encompass "wetland management districts" or "waterfowl production areas." While these areas are purchased specifically for their waterfowl production value, they include upland acreage that provides excellent habitat for other wildlife -- deer, fox, rabbits, and, of course, pheasants.

Your contributions are not forgotten. I recently wrote an article for your newsletter citing a local chapter in Montana that donated $50,000 to help one of our refuges purchase more than 1,500 acres for a waterfowl production area. By supporting waterfowl productions areas and national wildlife refuges, local Pheasants Forever chapters are ensuring the protection and maintenance of high-quality habitat which will ultimately sustain the hunting tradition for generations to come.

I was pleased to be invited to this event today. Now I wish to return the gesture. I hope you will join the Service as it celebrates the upcoming Centennial of the National Wildlife Refuge System on March 14, 2003. Like your 20th Anniversary celebration, the Centennial not only offers us an opportunity to laud some remarkable milestones in the history of conservation, it also gives us another chance to put our heads together and envision a future that will celebrate the legacies that we can leave behind.

Thank you. I'd welcome any questions at this time.