WASHINGTON – An omnibus budget deal released by Congress early Wednesday morning increases agency funding and includes a measure that reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund – but for only three years.

The spending bill for Fiscal Year 2016 represents a hard-won – and at times bitterly contested – agreement that funds the federal government in the coming year while narrowly averting another shutdown. While acknowledging the hard work by Congress, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers reiterated the need for LWCF legislation that permanently reauthorizes and fully funds the highly successful conservation program.

“Christmas came early for sportsmen late last night when Congress passed a budget deal that not only avoided a government shutdown but also includes a provision to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund for three years at $450 million,” said BHA President and CEO Land Tawney. Read more

Tell Congress to Reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund!

We’ve been asking you to call your Congressman or Congresswoman to renew the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund for the past few weeks. This weekend, it is more critical than ever. We expect a decision, one way or the other, to be made in the next week and we want to make sure the decision is to renew this critical public land and water access program, not gut it!

Contact Representative Dan Benishek (MI-1), Michigan’s representative on the House Natural Resources Committee, and ask him to fully reauthorize the LWCF. Communities in Michigan’s 1st Congressional District alone, where outdoor recreation tourism is a major economic driver, have leveraged over $19 million in LWCF grants in its 50 years, at no cost to taxpayers!

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is the federal version of our Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. The LWCF takes royalties from off-shore gas and oil development and invests them in another non-renewable resource: public recreation land. It provides access for hunting and fishing, as well as outdoor recreation development funds at the federal, state and local level. But for the first time in 50 years, Congress failed to renew it this year. Your phone call can change that!

Want to protect public land, wildlife habitat, hunting rights and fishing access? Join MUCC or renew your membership today!

CWD Found at Wisconsin Captive Facility 25 Miles from Upper Peninsula Border

At both a legislative committee hearing on Tuesday and yesterday’s Natural Resources Commission meeting, DNR Wildlife Division Chief Russ Mason shared that a Wisconsin captive cervid facility within 25 miles of the Upper Peninsula border had tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). He emphasized that it is critical that hunters comply with the ban on importing any live or dead deer from CWD states like Wisconsin. The DNR Law Division recently caught multiple hunters importing deer from other states.

DNR Deer Specialist Chad Stewart also shared that hunter effort in the CWD area has been “exceptional,” which is critical to the DNR having enough samples to determine how prevalent and how far CWD has spread. The DNR has tested approximately 3,500 deer with four positive results, including the recent buck from Clinton County voluntarily checked by a bowhunter just before the start of the firearm deer season. Due to this, Clinton County will be added to the CWD Surveillance Area for 2016.

Like and check out our Facebook page to read through our live notes from yesterday’s NRC Meeting