The growing political clout of fishermen and hunters on environmental issues.

[DonInDenver]

Today's Denver Post has a great article on the growing clout that fishermen and hunters are wielding on environmental issues: [url "http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_4119425"]http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_4119425[/url]

Politicians are hearing us!!!
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[doggonefishin]

This is a great development to see! Thanks for posting this.
It is interesting to see what can be accomplished when we anglers pull together. It is sometimes disappointing when I see these cyberspace cat fights between the fly fishers vs the bait anglers vs the bass enthusiasts vs the trouters vs the C&R'ers vs the hook & cookers etc,etc... We have much more in common than differences and can be a real political force if we are unified.

Sportsmen are a unique constituency, in that we derive benefits from, and are threatened by both conservative and liberal politics. For instance, conservatives have advanced measures that threaten to sell off our public lands and water to corporations for mining,timber, and development operations, endanger clean water laws needed to sustain good fisheries,and weaken wilderness laws that protect many of our native trout. However, they help sportsmen with regards to gun control legislation, taxes, and most importantly, IMO, extreme environmental and animal rights initiatives which are direct attacks on our ability to fish and hunt. Liberals are much stronger on the environment,which is very helpful to us, but are the ideological "home base" for the most ardent opponents of fishing and hunting. (animal rights fanatics and extreme enviromentalists, that view fishing and hunting activity as uniformly wrong) This requires us to always be thoughtful and observant when faced with political issues, and not get locked into one party or ideology with regards to determining the best policy regarding fishing and hunting. OK, off the soapbox now, Tight lines.
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