As the 110th Congress heads into the waning months, CSF is focused on the following issues that impact hunters, anglers and conservation.

The Firearms Excise Tax Issue
Firearms manufacturers pay their federal excise taxes, used for wildlife conservation, like you pay yours; every two weeks.  All other manufacturers pay their taxes quarterly. Changing the schedule would help the firearms industry and increase funding for conservation.

Landowner Tax Incentives for Habitat Protection
Legislation to allow tax relief for private landowners who set aside conservation easements for listed species helps landowners - and wildlife.

Secure Assured State Funding for Wildlife Management
As wildlife adapts to climate change, money to help states manage their wildlife resources must continue to flow from the federal government. We support legislation that recognizes the states' needs for an assured funding source.

National Fish Habitat Action Plan
This plan brings together all the stakeholders from fishing clubs to federal agencies to restore our nation's waterways and stretch conservation dollars.  It's not pie-in-the-sky but planning based in the best fisheries science we have.

The Clean Boating Act
For 35 years, the Environmental Protection Agency exempted recreational boaters from the regulations that addressed water pollution from supertankers. A federal judge ruled against the exemption in 2006. Federal legislation is needed to fix the problem before September 30, 2008 when EPA regulations for 18-million recreational boaters will have to apply for permits pertaining to incidental runoff from their outboards to their livewells to bilge water to rain runoff!

ANTI-HUNTING LEGISLATION

Protect America's Wildlife Act
The method of using aircraft to control Alaska's predatory wolves is the most effective means to an end.  Federal legislation to ban a state-exclusive wildlife management tool is opposed by the hunting and conservation community.

Bear Viscera; ‘Bear Protection Act of 2008'
Bear poaching and interstate trafficking in their gall bladders is already illegal under the Lacey Act. This legislation would divert resources away from state and federal enforcement agencies.

Polar Bears; ESA Listing and Importation of Trophies
Polar bear populations have tripled in the last 40 years - they are certainly not ‘endangered'.  Hunting fees pay for research and management as well as help sustain local communities in polar bear country. 

USAID Hunting Conservation Programs
Language that threatened to deny funding for African conservation programs supported by hunting appeared in the ‘omnibus'  spending bill passed in 2007.  Thanks to the efforts of the CSC, the language was modified.