By: Taylor Schmitz, Director of Federal Relations for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and 2024 American Wildlife Conservation Partners Chairman
Three days ago, the 119th Congress kicked off with new members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate taking the oath of office to serve as elected officials at the highest legislative body in our country. In exactly two weeks, the country will have a new Presidential Administration with a new cabinet and senior level political positions. As leadership and decision-makers change, it is no secret that policy values and priorities change as well.
With these changes in Washington, D.C., a couple questions arise that are of importance to sportsmen and women. First, how does a new Congress and a new Presidential Administration know what to focus on to improve conditions for sportsmen and women? The answer to this question is that we as outdoor enthusiasts are responsible for promoting our priorities. The question then becomes how do we as sportsmen and women ensure that Congress and the Administration focus on the important issues for wildlife conservation, hunting, recreational shooting, trapping, and other activities that make us sporting-conservationists? Thankfully, a nearly 25-year-old consortium known as the American Wildlife Conservation Partners (AWCP) has been working for roughly a year to develop a collective set of priorities that will meet this challenge. During this time, I had the honor and privilege of serving as the Chairman of the American Wildlife Conservation Partners, where I worked alongside my AWCP colleagues to identify and develop an agenda for the next four years.
In 2000, the American Wildlife Conservation Partners was founded by many of our nation’s leading conservationists, who at the time recognized the need to unify and bring the sporting-conservation community under the same umbrella to promote wildlife conservation, public access for sportsmen and women, and science-based wildlife management principles. The idea was simple, but its impact on the sporting-conservation community has been quite profound. Prior to the establishment of AWCP, we had organizations who served critical niche roles that continue to this day, ranging from policy to deploying boots-on-the-ground wildlife scientists to work alongside state and federal wildlife managers and private landowners to better support wildlife habitat management objectives and public access. However, our community lacked a unifying body to effectively connect all the dots and leverage each organization’s strengths to the betterment of the whole community. This is not to say that our community was ineffective, but rather we were not maximizing our full potential. To fill this void, AWCP was established, and today consists of 52 organizations. This collective force of sporting-conservation organizations works to build unity and consensus around the most pressing issues facing sportsmen and women and ultimately helps our community present a united front to federal policymakers on the most critical issues of the day.
Every four years, leading up to a Presidential election, AWCP evaluates our priorities and develops a collective set of recommendations to guide the next Presidential Administration and the next two Congresses, for a total of four years, in a document known as Wildlife for the 21st Century (W-21). At the outset, it is important to note that W-21 is not everything to everyone. This document does not, and cannot, reflect every single priority of each AWCP organization. At its core, W-21 is a set of mutually agreed upon priorities that represent consensus amongst AWCP organizations. While each AWCP member organization maintains its own primary areas of interest and initiatives, W-21 represents a set of priorities that are developed and driven by the sporting-conservation community at large. W-21 is written in a non-partisan manner and is finalized well in advance of election day because, at the end of the day, conservation and our sporting traditions continue to be bipartisan issues in the nation’s Capital. Put simply, W-21 serves as the blueprint and roadmap as to how we as sportsmen and women can work with Congress and the Presidential Administration to improve conservation, access, and our outdoor traditions.
In the latest edition of W-21, Volume VII contains 9 umbrella recommendations that cover the entire spectrum of challenges and opportunities facing our community. To develop each recommendation contained in W-21 Volume VII, AWCP members volunteered to leverage their respective expertise with the larger partnership to develop the recommendations contained in W-21. It is this type of partnership – leveraging individual strengths in a collaborative manner – that the community’s vision can become a reality. Each of the umbrella recommendations, as outlined below, contain numerous sub-recommendations that strategically identify clear directives to the Administration and Congress on how to deliver meaningful advancements for conservation and access in the 21st century.
1. Funding for Conservation
2. Access
3. Wildlife Migration
4. Energy Development
5. Private Land Conservation
6. Active Management of Federal Lands
7. Species Conservation
8. Wildlife Health
9. Climate Change
While developing recommendations and priorities is a lengthy and sometimes cumbersome process, it is necessary that we as a community are coordinated, organized, and strategic so that we may better tackle the problems we are facing and to identify and advance opportunities to improve our hunting and outdoor traditions. What is even more difficult than developing recommendations amongst 52 organizations with sometimes differing priorities, is the work that is required to make the vision contained in Wildlife for the 21st Century a reality. We all know that coming up with ideas is often one of the easiest steps in a strategic plan. More times than not, the most challenging step is executing the vision.
However, thanks to members of the American Wildlife Conservation Partners, through their consistent collaboration, communication, and coordination, the community’s priorities are well-positioned to become a reality. Over the coming months and years, the organizations that make up AWCP will continue to communicate, strategize, and work to deliver on the recommendations contained in W-21. The reality is that advancing policy does not get done in a vacuum and that is why AWCP is a critical coalition for sportsmen and women. As such, I encourage you to stay abreast of what is happening in Congress and the Administration through our communications channels at the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, and to be ready to engage with your elected officials when the timing in right.
Rachel Barringer - Marketing & Digital Manager, Blaser Group
Allen Forkner - Vice President Public Relations & Brand Management - Gunbroker.Com
Cassie Gasaway - Outdoor Content Creator & Freelance Writer
Jeff Rawlinson - Vice President, National Archery in Schools Program
Tom Ryle - Sales and Marketing Manager, State R3 Lead for Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
Taylor Schmitz - Director, Federal Relations, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation
Facilitators
The Voice of Leadership Panel is an appointed group of outdoor industry leaders who have volunteered to contribute their voices on crucial hunting and outdoor recreation issues to inform, inspire, and educate participants within our community.