Welcome to the latest installment of the Wednesday Wake-Up Call, a roundup of the most pressing conservation issues important to anglers. Working with our friends at Trout Unlimited, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, The Everglades Foundation, Captains for Clean Water, VoteWater.org, and Conservation Hawks (among others), we’ll make sure you’ve got the information you need to understand the issues and form solid opinions.
Above is a great, informative video about why the sage grouse is an important species for everyone who loves to hunt or fish in the West. The greater sage grouse and its habitat are being severely impacted by drought, wildfire, invasive weeds, and human-caused threats. Watch the film about this iconic western bird, and then sign the TRCP’s petition to support the conservation and restoration of sagebrush habitat, which is crucial for so many important game species and integral to our Western way of life.
1. What Does a Corporate Commitment to Conservation Really Mean?
Through our “5% for Nature” campaign and public support for causes such as Stop Pebble Mine and Everglades restoration, Orvis has a reputation as a company with a strong conservation ethos. But folks often wonder how the conservation work fits into the larger company itself. Is it just a marketing strategy that we hope will pay off? The fact is, almost every part of the business is informed by a desire to conserve nature and improve lives. As president Simon Perkins puts it:
At Orvis, passing our outdoor passions down from generation to generation is at the core of our business. That is why we are committed to the sustainable future of fly fishing, wingshooting and the natural world through protecting and restoring habitats, creating sustainable products and ensuring the next generation finds inspiration in the adventure and wonder in nature.
Since 1987, Orvis has dedicated 5% of pre-tax profits to protecting nature, advancing canine health and well-being, and supporting the communities in which we operate, and where our associates live; and just four years later, we invited our customers to join us in our efforts, through the Matching Grant Fund.
Click here to learn more about how Orvis incorporates conservation into our very business strategy
2. Hunters and Anglers Are Critical to Climate Change Action
The evidence of climate change–whether it’s increased forest-fire activity, warming water in trout rivers, or disappearing game birds–is abundantly clear to anglers, hunters, and other outdoors-lovers from coast to coast. Normally, when faced with a conservation crisis, sportsmen and -women are among the first to react, but the politicization of the topic has stymied the level of consensus required to move solutions forward. Writing in Scientific American, Tiffany Turner argues that this is a major problem:
This is especially important because tens of millions of American hunters and anglers are fundamentally affected by climate change. Given how rural and conservative decisionmakers rely on us, this community can be critical in advancing climate solutions. Without our support, climate change proposals are less likely to pass, and this will squander precious opportunities to address the greatest existing threat to our natural environment.
Click here to read the full article in Scientific American
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3. Atlantic Striped-Bass Stocks are Heading Off a Cliff
The folks at the American Saltwater Guides Association are sounding the alarm about the future of a striper fishery that so many anglers love and that supports thousands of jobs. The last good spawning year for stripers was 2015, followed by two average years and then some disastrous ones. This means that those 8-year-old fish are the key to the future, but current regulations put those fish fish squarely in the crosshairs, in the form of a slot limit. If anglers of all kinds continue to harvest these fish at the rate they did last year, they are killing the golden goose.
The key to saving these fish to spawn is to change the current regulations, which is a fairly complicated process in the saltwater world. Click the play button below to hear a short podcast about the issue:
Click here to learn more on the ASGA blog
4. Everglades Foundation Celebrates 30 Years of Protecting the River of Grass
Since 2016, Orvis has partnered with the Everglades Foundation to help restore the flow of water southward from Lake Okeechobee. Last week, the organization celebrated its 30th anniversary–three decades of fighting for the health of North America’s greatest coastal wetlands system–while outlining all that still needs to be done. Congratulations to everyone at EF, and thank you for all you’ve done to bring the River of Grass back to glory and protect coastal estuaries.
Click here for the full story on winknews.com
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