Sponsor Statement for HJR 26

In the early years of the Twentieth Century hunters, fishers and trappers initiated and led our country toward a new conservation ethic. These men and women of vision recognized the importance of conservation and the need for financial and political support for America's natural resources. They carried out that vision with such exemplary measures as the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act, and the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act. Both of these Acts were widely supported by America's hunters, fishers and trappers as a self-imposed tax on the products they used in the field to provide necessary funding for fish and wildlife conservation.

America's hunters, fishers and trappers did not stop with the above efforts. They formed many associations and foundations through which they came together to raise other funds from the private sector to assist public agencies in their work to conserve and restore wildlife. Millions of dollars have been raised and spent on conservation projects by such groups as Ducks Unlimited, the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and Safari Club International. Here in Alaska, these same kinds of efforts are taking place.

Why have hunters, fishers and trappers been so willing to take money out of their own pockets for wildlife and fisheries conservation? It is because they care about wildlife and the habitat it depends upon. They have very close ties to the natural world and are spiritually and culturally immersed in the way of life humans have enjoyed for hundreds of thousands of years. Those spiritual and cultural aspects of human tradition were and remain important enough to hunters, fishers and trappers that they continue to be willing to support them financially and politically.

HJR 26 is designed to provide a measure of protection to the natural right of humans to continue to provide for their sustenance and spiritual well-being by recognizing their right to do so in a place other than natural law. Furthermore, the important efforts initiated in the early years of this century are still very much supported by hunter, fisher and trapper conservationists. However, their uses of wildlife are being more and more restricted by others who do not support conservation done for human uses, and also are philosophically opposed to human uses of replenishable natural resources. Hunting, fishing and trapping are cultural traditions going back many thousands of years. It is a culture especially important here in Alaska and I feel strongly we should all work to ensure its future.