Why Conservation Matters

Strengthening Partnerships between State Fish & Wildlife Agencies, Industry, and their

Customers

Imagine where would we be… • Without deer and deer hunting? • Or turkeys? Or elk? Or bass? • Or waterfowl, doves, squirrels, etc.?

• Without shooting ranges? • Without shooting programs? • Without hunter education? • Without public land? Or public boat/fishing access?

Where would we be without state fish and wildlife agencies, license

buyers, and the industries that support them?

Conservation Matters!

And conservation funding is how it happens.

Hooks and Bullets: How Conservation is

Funded

Greatest Story Never Told…a 4 Billion Dollar Conservation

Machine

Sources of Funding for States

Conservation Funding

License Dollars

Tax Check-offs, etc.

General Fund

Equipment Purchases

Amount of Excise Tax

Numbers of Licenses

Land mass of State

Congressional Approps

50%

50%

Excise Taxes --

fishing equipment and trolling

motors

Import Duties –

boats and yachts And fishing equipment

Fuels Tax -- Highway Trust

Fund motor boat and small engine

fuels

Interest from the

Trust Fund

Multi-State Conservation

Fixed $3 million

SFR Grant Admin – Fixed w/ CPI adj.

(1.6%)

Nat’l Outreach & Communication

RBFF (2%)

BIG (2%) & CVA (2%)

$800K Fisheries Commissions &

$400K SFBPC

Coastal Wetlands Act (18.5%)

NAWCA & Nat’l Coastal Wetlands

USCG Boating Safety

(18.5%)

States - Sport Fish Restoration & Boating

Access (57%)

2017 Sport Fish Restoration and

Boating Trust Fund ~$580 M

All DJ Excise Taxes Collected

56%

16%

6%

6%

16%

Motorboat Gas

Small Engine Gas

Imports Duties

Fish Equipment

Based on Annual Averages

Wildlife Restoration Program Funding Cycle

Wildlife Restoration Account

North American Wetlands Conservation Program

(~$20M per year)

$3,000,000 Multistate Conservation Grants

$629,410,911 Wildlife

Restoration Program

Hunter Education: Section 4c =$142.6M Section 10 = $7.9M

to USFWS for Migratory Bird Program

(~$4M last year)

11% tax on bows, quivers, broadheads, points, arrow shafts (adjusted each year) 11% tax on firearms & ammunition

FWS Administration

10% tax on pistols, handguns and revolvers

Custom Duties

$780M for 2017

All PR revenue collected in 2016 $787,495,000

30%

30%

35%

4% 1%

Pistols & Revolvers

Firearms (other)

Shells & Cartridges

Bows, Broadheads

Arrow Shafts

= $2400 ~$240 for conservation

= $250 ~ $25 for conservation

= $800 ~$80 for conservation

One example…

= $50 ~$5 for conservation

= $40 ~$4 for conservation

= $10 ~$1 for conservation

Typical Sport Shooter (Me)

One time Purchase of those 3 firearms: • $345 FET

Annually Purchase:

• 5 boxes .22 rimfire……..$25 FET* • 2 flats of 12 ga…………….$20 FET* • 1000 rounds .223………...$40 FET*

Match with 25% license dollars…..$143

Total Conservation Funding $573

*(Annual FET from ammo purchase is more than many resident hunting licenses)

State use of Pittman-Robertson excise tax

$10.7B to conservation from inception (1937)

FY2017 receipts exceeded $780M

Matched 75:25 by state license dollars

Provide “on-the-ground” benefits, including:

• Species Restoration • Wildlife Management • Habitat Management • Land Acquisition • Operations and Maintenance of Public Lands • Public Shooting Ranges • Hunting, Shooting, and Recruitment Programs • Hunter Education

Funding for Wildlife Restoration Program (1937), Sport Fish Restoration Program (1950), and State Wildlife Grants

(2001), since inception

$0

$100,000,000

$200,000,000

$300,000,000

$400,000,000

$500,000,000

$600,000,000

$700,000,000

$800,000,000

$900,000,00019

3919

4219

4519

4819

5119

5419

5719

6019

6319

6619

6919

7219

7519

7819

8119

8419

8719

9019

9319

9619

9920

0220

0520

0820

1120

14

Wildlife Restoration Funds Sport Fish Restoration Funds State Wildlife Grants

Economic Impact

Total expenditures for angling, hunting, and wildlife associated recreation are the equivalent of a 145 billion dollar business in this country – Annually. That’s 9th on the Fortune 500 list…just behind General Electric… Or, if we were a country, we would rank 58th in GDP of countries just behind Vietnam…

Industry Agency Coalition

• Fish and Wildlife Business Summit • Branding Conservation • Sharing the Information • Resolving Excise Tax Inequities • Recruitment, Retention, Reactivation

Conclusions Keeping hunters hunting, shooters shooting, anglers angling, and boaters boating… • Is vital to state fish and wildlife agencies • Is vital to industry • Is vital to retailers • Is vital to conservation NGOs • Is vital to conservation

We must all hang together or we will surely hang separately! (Ben Franklin 1776)