American Fisheries Society * American Fly Fishing Tackle Association *
American Sportfishing Association * Archery Trade Association * Association
of Fish & Wildlife Agencies * B.A.S.S LLC * Berkley Conservation Institute *
Boone & Crockett Club * Catch A Dream Foundation * Conservation Force *
Dallas Safari Club * Ducks Unlimited * Houston Safari Club * Izaak Walton
League of America * International Game Fish Association * National Wildlife
Federation * National Wild Turkey Federation * North American Grouse
Partnership * Orion the Hunter's Institute * Pheasants Forever * Quail
Forever * Quality Deer Management * Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation * Shimano
American Corp * The Conservation Fund * The Nature Conservancy * The
Wildlife Society * Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership * Trout
Unlimited Whitetails Unlimited * Wild Sheep Foundation * Wildlife Forever *
Wildlife Management Institute

April 10, 2012

The Honorable John Boehner The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Speaker Minority Leader

United States House of Representatives United States House of
Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi:

We are writing on behalf of 33 of the country's leading conservation and
sportsmen's organizations and trade associations to inform you of our strong
support for the RESTORE Act and Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)
amendment included in the Senate passed Surface Transportation bill. That
amendment, which passed with an overwhelming 76 bipartisan votes, directly
addresses several of the most urgent conservation, access and funding
problems facing American hunters and anglers today. As the Transportation
authorization process continues, we strongly urge you to work to ensure that
the RESTORE/LWCF amendment passed in the Senate is included in the final
legislation. This amendment received 76 votes in part because of the breadth
and depth of support from America's 40 million strong hunting and angling
community.

The RESTORE Act component of the Senate amendment dedicates 80 percent of
Clean Water Act penalties associated with the Deepwater Horizon spill to
restoration of Gulf of Mexico resources and economies. This coastal region
is treasured by sportsmen throughout America as it supports some of the best
hunting and fishing in the world. It hosts millions of ducks and geese
during the winter - roughly 70 percent of the waterfowl that use the Central
and Mississippi flyways. Roughly one-third of all saltwater recreational
fishing trips take place in the Gulf of Mexico. It is critical to this
region that these funds are invested in a manner that restores the natural
resources and returns fuel to the tank of this multi-billion dollar hunting
and fishing economic engine.

Sportsmen have unique firsthand knowledge of, and appreciation for, what
LWCF investments can do for rural economies and for sportsmen seeking more
and better hunting and fishing opportunities. Not only will the Senate
amendment we ask you to support make investments in LWCF consistent with the
legislation originally authorizing the fund, it includes language from the
"Making Public Lands Public" legislation that currently enjoys strong
bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. (H.R. 1997) This
language in the amendment will direct 1.5 percent or a minimum of $10
million annually of the LWCF funds authorized to projects that secure public
access to existing federal lands. This will potentially open hundreds of
thousands of acres

of currently inaccessible public land to hunting and fishing and very
directly address one of the leading causes of declines in hunting and
fishing participation.

Together, the RESTORE and LWCF elements of this amendment included in Senate
Surface Transportation bill make much needed investments in resources that
drive a massive outdoor recreation component of the United States economy.
The total contribution from outdoor recreation in the U.S. in 2006, the year
for which the most recent statistics are available, is over $730 billion a
year and hunting, fishing and other "human powered" outdoor recreation
combine to generate 6.4 million U.S. jobs. This all adds up $88 billion in
federal and state tax revenues. The investment represented in the amendment
we ask you to support will make a very meaningful impact on maximizing this
contribution to our nation's economic recovery.

We hope that you will promote conservation and American jobs by actively
supporting the retention of this amendment in the final conference report on
the Surface Transportation bill. Thank you for your sincere consideration of
these significant conservation initiatives.

___________________________________________________________________________ _
____________________________

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