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In the early 1980s, conservatives in the West launched a "sage brush rebellion" to wrest control over vast tracts of Western land from distant federal agencies. They found enthusiastic allies in President Ronald Reagan and his controversial Interior Secretary James Watt, as well as among many in the nation's hunting and fishing community.

But in 2003, when a new Republican administration sought to relax federal regulations that protect wetlands and the fish and game that depend on them, it unexpectedly found itself at odds with many of those same often-Republican hunters and anglers.

"You know, this is not a constituency that's overly motivated by people sitting in trees for months if not years," noted Chris Wood of the anglers group Trout Unlimited (TU), whose membership is 2:1 Republican, in a recent interview with National Public Radio. "There are 50 million Americans who hunt and fish. This is generally a moderate to conservative group, and they're very active in their communities.  (They) fill that vacuum right now in the minds of voters who don't really trust the administration on the environment and they don't really trust what they're hearing from the more traditional environmental community. But they probably are willing to listen to the local rod-and-gun club, or the local TU chapter that says, 'Hey, this is a problem. We gotta get worked up about this.'"

"For America's 47.8 million hunters and anglers the protection of the wetlands and waters where we hunt and fish is one of the single most important issues pending before the federal government." -- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

For hunters and anglers, the disappearance of wetlands is definitely something about which to get agitated. For generations, swamps, seasonal ponds, and marshes were considered nuisances that needed to be put to productive use. In California, for instance, nearly 4 million acres -- or 95 percent -- of the state's wetlands have been filled, plowed, and paved over. Today, however, Americans increasingly appreciate the role wetlands play in protecting wildlife and filtering pollutants from our water. Congress amended the Clean Water Act of 1970 to further preserve them.

In 2001, however, the U.S. Supreme Court held that non-navigable, "isolated" waters -- vernal pools and mudflats used by migrating birds -- did not merit Clean Water Act protection. In response, the Bush administration announced in 2003 that it intended to rewrite federal regulations to bring them in line with the high court's ruling. Although the administration asserted that it remains committed to the nation's longstanding "no net loss" wetlands policy, critics of the proposed rule change argued it would lift federal protection for at least 20 percent of the nation's wetlands -- some 20 million acres in all -- from pollution and development.

Relaxation of the "no net loss" policy, critics said, would effectively transfer responsibility for protecting millions of acres of wetlands, creeks, streams, and ponds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers to the states. Critics said this would leave wetlands highly vulnerable to development and environmental degradation because most states lack wetlands protection laws and regulations as strong as the federal government's.

In addition, they argued that while many environmental problems are legitimate state issues, wetlands appropriately fall within the federal government's purview because the issues surrounding them frequently traverse state and even international boundaries. Some 39 states and most environmental groups protested the proposed rule change. Surprisingly, some of the strongest criticism came from a growing alliance of anglers, hunters, and outdoor enthusiasts.

Although the "hook and bullet" set, as this community is commonly known, looks askance at liberal environmentalism, it draws on the progressive environmental tradition of one of the nation's greatest conservationists, Theodore Roosevelt.

Roosevelt, a renowned big-game hunter, made conservation a central theme of his early 20th century Republican presidential administration. He created five national parks, four big-game refuges, 51 bird reservations, and the National Forest Service. He advocated sustainable development, the protection and management of wild game, and the preservation of wild spaces. To Roosevelt, America's vast lands and the natural resources within them were a major source of the nation's economic wealth and global power. "Our position in the world has been attained by the extent and thoroughness of the control we have achieved over nature," he wrote, "but we are more, and not less, dependent upon what she furnishes than at any previous time of history."

Appropriately, the hunting and fishing umbrella group that spearheaded the recent fight against the federal wetlands policy shift goes by the name of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP). While many individual organizations, including state fish and wildlife agencies and groups such as TU, the National Rifle Association, and Ducks Unlimited work to preserve and manage the nation's fish and wildlife resources and habitats, TRCP works to create and amplify a pro-hunting and angling voice in Washington and in statehouses across the country. By most accounts, these organizations are emerging as a powerful new voice in environmental protection.

Recognizing the potential implications of the proposed wetlands rule change, TRCP last year sprang into action, maintaining that "for America's 47.8 million hunters and anglers the protection of the wetlands and waters where we hunt and fish is one of the single most important issues pending before the federal government."

In a letter addressed to President Bush, signed by more than 30 hunting and angling organizations, TRCP observed that America's rich hunting and fishing traditions are "inextricably tied to the protection of habitat, and as sportsmen and Republican presidents have known for over 100 years, isolated wetlands and small ponds are among the most important of all habitats."

While the Bush administration has refrained from rolling out the welcome mat for most mainstream environmental organizations, in December 2004 it invited leaders from roughly 20 hook and bullet groups to the White House to discuss their concerns about the proposed wetlands rule change. Four days later, the White House scrapped its plans to relax the regulations. The administration, however, left related EPA "guidelines" intact, which the groups fear will lead to the draining of more isolated wetlands. They are continuing to press the White House to rescind the guidelines and have called for a nationwide plan to stem the loss of wetlands habitat.

Emboldened by its recent partial victory, the hook and bullet community has set its sights on other issues, including reducing the impact of federal transportation programs on fish and wildlife and securing more funding for "conservation reserves" -- a program to encourage farmers and ranchers to keep sensitive environmental lands fallow. Most notably, TRCP is working with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, ranchers, and other landowners, through a series of conferences in Wyoming, to ensure that energy development is done in a manner compatible with wildlife needs.

Mainstream environmental groups have clearly been in the vanguard of environmental protection since the 1970s and have a vital and ongoing role to play. But as the recent TRCP victory illustrates, by putting conservation back on the environmental agenda, the hook and bullet community is staking out a middle ground in the debate and becoming an important voice in the quest to protect and promote America's environmental quality.

Resources For Action

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
www.trcp.org

Ducks Unlimited
http://www.ducksunlimited.org/

National Rifle Association
http://www.nra.org/

Trout Unlimited
http://www.tu.org/index.asp

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
www.epa.gov

Additional Reading

"The Bush Administration comes down in favor of continuing to protect our nation's vital wetlands," Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
www.trcp.org/pressroom/pr_nonetloss_wetlands.html

"Bush Makes Time for 'Hook and Bullet' Set: Fishing and hunting groups have the administration's ear and are emerging as a lobbying force for environmental issues," Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2004
www.latimes.com

"Outdoor Enthusiasts Question Bush Policies," National Public Radio's All Things Considered, March 1, 2004
www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=1740090

Contacts

Roger Ballentine
Senior Fellow, Progressive Policy Institute
President, Green Strategies, Inc.
1312 18th St. NW
2nd Floor
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 293-1123
(202) 293-1124 (fax)
roger@greenstrategies.com

Jan Mazurek
Director
Center for Innovation & the Environment
Progressive Policy Institute
600 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 547-0001
(202) 544-5014 (fax)
jmazurek@dlcppi.org

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