USSA Urges Appeal in Case to Ban Hunting on Refuges
(Columbus) - The Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund is urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to appeal a judge’s decision handed down yesterday that likely will outlaw hunting on 37 units of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Preliminary indications are that U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina’s decision will require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to perform costly and lengthy studies on the environmental impact of hunting on the entire refuge system before it can expand hunting opportunities on any refuge.
The USFWS already studies the impact of hunting on refuges through the required refuge plans it completes as well as national migratory bird studies. Adding more studies only succeeds in miring down the process so that no one will be able to hunt on refuges.
The decision also runs contrary to current law. In 1966, and again in 1997, Congress expressly recognized the legitimacy of hunting on units of the refuge system and directed the USFWS to facilitate and increase these opportunities whenever they are determined to be compatible.
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA), which manages the Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund, will seek from Congress redress on this baffling decision.
“The court’s decision is bad for the refuge system,” said Rick Story, senior vice president for the USSA. “We are urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to appeal the judge’s ruling. I can assure you that the Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund will back them 100 percent.”
The Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund collaborated as defendant interveners in the case with Safari Club International, Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, Izaak Walton League and the California Waterfowl Association.
The case was filed in 2003 in the Washington, D.C. Federal District Court by the Fund for Animals, which has since merged with the Humane Society of the United States. It originally sought to ban hunting on 39 units of the 100 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System. The case claimed that the USFWS, which manages the refuges, failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires extensive Environmental Impact Statements, prior to establishing hunting programs.
In September of 2005, Judge Urbina granted a motion for partial dismissal of the anti-hunters’ case, ruling that since the goals outlined in the USFWS strategy are not final agency action there is no need for comprehensive environmental studies.
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund is the nation’s only litigation force that exclusively represents sportsmen’s interests in the courts. It defends wildlife management and sportsmen’s rights in local, state and federal courts. The SLDF represents the interests of sportsmen and assists government lawyers who have little or no background in wildlife law.
USSA Calls on Michigan Congressman to Take Up Fight
Against Anti-Hunting Stamps
(Columbus) - The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance has called upon Congressman John Dingell, D – Michigan, to urge the U.S. Postal Service to put a freeze on the ill-gotten money earned through the sale of anti-hunting postage stamps. Sportsmen are demanding that profits gained from the stamps not be allowed to fund the voter issue campaign to outlaw dove hunting in Michigan.
Rep. Dingell has been a longtime champion for the rights of sportsmen in his state and around the country. He was a co-sponsor of the Refuge Reform Act of 1997. The act, which was heavily supported by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA), protected hunting on wildlife refuges. Rep. Dingell has also been a staunch proponent of gun rights in Congress.
Zazzle.com, the online business which has been selling customized postage stamps featuring animal rights and anti-hunting slogans, has reported that it will remove stamps whose sales benefit the Committee to Restore the Dove Ban and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) from its website and discontinue their sale.
The U.S. Postal Service regulations that allow for the sale of customized postage stamps specifically prohibit “contents or images actively advocating or disparaging the religious, political or legal agenda of any person or entity, including but not limited to content or images designed to influence a specific piece of legislation. Partisan or political contents or images supporting or opposing any referendum conducted by federal/state/local government.”
The USSA, in a letter to U.S. Postmaster General John Potter on August 15, urged the U.S. Postal Service to take further action:
“The USSA also urges the USPS to determine how much money HSUS has received from the sale of these illegal stamps and direct HSUS and Zazzle.com to return these ill-gotten proceeds; or in the alternative, to prohibit Zazzle.com from using those funds to support HSUS’ anti-hunting political agenda in Michigan.”
“It is unconscionable to think that anti-hunting organizations such as HSUS and those in Michigan attempting to ban dove hunting can use the USPS as a source of funds as well as a political soapbox,” said Rick Story, executive vice president of the USSA. “They made monetary gain from these illegal stamps and we want to see to it that it is returned.”
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance protects the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, legislatures, at the ballot, in Congress and through public education programs. For more information about the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and its work, call (614) 888-4868 or visit its website, www.ussportsmen.org.
