2017 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 67
BY SENATOR THOMPSON
A RESOLUTION
To commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the American System of Conservation
Funding.
WHEREAS, more than a century ago, sportsmen and women were among the first
conservationists who realized America's natural resources were in peril and could not sustain
unregulated harvest and habitat destruction; and
WHEREAS, sportsmen and women took it upon themselves to support laws that
stopped excessive harvest of fish and wildlife, established game and fish agencies to protect
fish and wildlife and their habitat, and supported fishing and hunting license fees to help
fund the new agencies' efforts to provide for healthy natural resources for future generations;
and
WHEREAS, upon realizing that license fees alone were insufficient to restore and
sustain healthy fish and wildlife populations, sportsmen and women supported excise taxes
on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment, hunting equipment, and fishing equipment to
raise additional funds to support restoration and enhancement efforts of state agencies; and
WHEREAS, this "user-pays, public-benefits" system became known as the Wildlife
and Sport Fish Restoration Program, and it began eighty years ago with the passage of the
Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act in 1937, and then was bolstered with the passage of
the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act in 1950, and the Wallop-Breaux amendment
to the Sport Fish Restoration Act in 1984; and
WHEREAS, the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program also permanently
linked revenue from hunting and angling licenses to conservation, creating the American
System of Conservation Funding as it exists today; and
WHEREAS, the combined contribution of the American System of Conservation
Funding to state fish and wildlife agencies exceeds fifty-seven billion dollars, more than any
other single conservation effort in American history; and
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WHEREAS, the manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and hunting, fishing and
boating equipment have collected excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment,
manufactured fishing tackle, electric trolling motors, marine electronics, and motorboat fuel
and distributed these funds to the states through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and
WHEREAS, this cooperative partnership between industry, hunters, anglers, trappers,
boaters, recreational shooters, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and state natural resource
agencies has resulted in the most successful model of fish and wildlife management in the
world, restoring populations from coast to coast and in Alaska and Hawaii.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend America's hunters, anglers, trappers, boaters, recreational shooters,
industry, state fish and wildlife agencies, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their
leading role in restoring healthy populations of fish and wildlife and other natural resources,
both game and nongame, to the abundance we see today, and does hereby commemorate the
eightieth anniversary of the American System of Conservation Funding.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the director of the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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