WSF Applauds Release of Wildlife for the 21st Century Volume 7

Bozeman, Montana — Today, the American Wildlife Conservation Partners (AWCP) released its seventh volume of Wildlife for the 21st Century (W21).

The comprehensive publication focuses on solutions to conserve wildlife and their habitats nationwide, bolstering public access, and protecting our outdoor traditions. The recommendations in W-21 will aid policymakers in the next presidential Administration and the next two Congresses in making decisions on sporting-conservation issues and practices that are vital to current and future generations of sportsmen and sportswomen and other conservationists. 
 
AWCP comprises the nation's top 52 sporting-conservation organizations representing America's hunter-conservationists, professional wildlife and natural resource managers, outdoor recreation users, conservation educators, and wildlife scientists.
 

"WSF has been a supporting member of AWCP since its beginning in 2000," said Gray N. Thornton, President and CEO of the Wild Sheep Foundation. "These documents have been invaluable in identifying issues of importance to the hunting, fishing, trapping, and recreational shooting communities and making sound recommendations for their resolve. For wild sheep, we are particularly keen to see migration corridors and wildlife health included in the document recommendations."

 
The specific recommendations made by the AWCP are featured in nine distinct sections of the report. Each recommendation includes detailed descriptions of the issues and action items to address the issues. These recommendations encourage collaboration and cooperation between federal agencies, state fish and wildlife agencies, and private landowners and support the implementation of sound, science-based conservation efforts. 
 

1. Funding for Conservation - Protect and secure permanent and dedicated conservation funding
2. Access - Enhance access for hunters, shooters, and other outdoor recreationists 
3. Wildlife Migration - Institutionalize and support wildlife migration corridors and seasonal habitats 
4. Energy Development - Ensure wildlife and habitat goals are integrated into the planning, development, and operations of all energy sources and impacts are mitigated 
5. Private Land Conservation - Incentivize private landowners to conserve wildlife and habitat and provide access for hunting 
6. Active Management of Federal Lands - Increase active management of federal lands and reduce litigation through collaboration
7. Species Conservation - Achieve greater results from an improved Endangered Species Act
8. Wildlife Health - Support and assist state fish and wildlife agencies in addressing wildlife health challenges 
9. Climate Change - Sharpen climate policy focus on habitat conservation, restoration, and carbon solutions  

"Losing the amount of wildlife we do to vehicle collisions, including wild sheep, is tragic, not to mention big game species trying to get to preferred seasonal habitat having to run a gauntlet of roads and highways," Thornton added. "And as we all know, the number one killer of wild sheep today is disease. We can do better. We're all hoping that the power of this document, which is well-vetted with obtainable solutions, will resonate with our elected officials. This is what sportsmen-led conservation looks like, and we're proud to be a part of it."
 
You can find a copy of Wildlife for the 21st Century, Volume 7 here.
 

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The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), based in Bozeman, Mont., was founded in 1977 by sportsmen and other wild sheep conservationists. WSF is the premier advocate for wild sheep, having raised and expended more than $145 million, positively impacting these species through population and habitat enhancements, research and education, and conservation advocacy programs in North America, Europe, and Asia to “Put and Keep Wild Sheep On the Mountain®”. In North America, these and other efforts have increased bighorn sheep populations from historic lows in the 1950s-60s of 25,000 to more than 85,000 today. WSF has a membership of more than 10,000 worldwide. www.wildsheepfoundation.org.