<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3157" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial" text=#000000 bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2>The President's recent Executive Order on Facilitation of
Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation has stimulated some debate on other
listservs. Below I've pasted in the opinion of Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility. What do others on this list think about the
Executive Order?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Matthew</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>********************************************************************</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">From: </FONT><B><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
<BR><BR><BR></FONT></B><A
href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=umU0iDcgk8favSKNw7rk6PQEns%2FWrtml"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=907
</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman">For Immediate Release:
Monday, August 20, 2007<BR>Contact: Carol Goldberg (202)
265-7337<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV align=center><FONT face="Times New Roman"><B>BUSH ORDERS FEDERAL AGENCIES
TO PROMOTE HUNTING <BR>Refuges, Forests and Grasslands Directed to
Maximize 'Hunting Opportunities'</B> <BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <BR>Washington, DC -- A vacationing
President Bush issued an Executive Order directing federal land management
agencies to 'expand and enhance hunting opportunities.' While the order
does not overturn any conservation laws, it establishes a preference for hunting
at the expense of all other activities in the administration of federal lands,
according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
<BR><BR>Although the order explicitly covers national forests, wildlife refuges
and range lands, it also applies to all federal agencies 'that have a measurable
effect on land management,' such as military bases and nuclear weapon
reservations. These federal agencies must now 'evaluate the effect of
[their] actions on trends in hunting participation [and] consider the economic
and recreational value of hunting in agency actions.' <BR> <BR>'This is
political meddling posing as a conservation policy,' stated PEER Executive
Director Jeff Ruch. 'This order reads like it was written by a
lobbyist.'<BR><BR>Issued this Friday, August 17, 2007, the order mandates that
federal land managers: </FONT></DIV>
<UL>
<LI><FONT face="Times New Roman">'Manage wildlife and wildlife habitats on
public lands in a manner that expands and enhances hunting opportunities,
including through the use of hunting in wildlife management'; </FONT>
<LI><FONT face="Times New Roman">Defer to 'private property rights and State
management authority over wildlife resources' and </FONT>
<LI><FONT face="Times New Roman">Foster 'productive populations of game
species and appropriate opportunities for the public to hunt those species.'
</FONT></LI></UL>
<DIV><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman">'The President seems to be saying you can
never have too many deer and that public lands should be run as a salad bar for
trophy animals,' Ruch added. 'It would have made more sense to have Dick Cheney
sign this executive order instead.' <BR><BR>The edict does provide that any
actions should be 'consistent with agency missions.' Further, it
stipulates that the directive 'does not create any right or privilege,
substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States [or] its departments' <BR><BR>'This may amount to no more than
meaningless pandering to the 'hook and bullet' vote but, if vigorously
implemented, has the potential to change what happens on the ground,' Ruch
concluded, noting that most federal lands except national parks already allow
hunting. 'There appears to be no shortage of hunting opportunities;
perhaps the reason for the decline in hunting licenses lies elsewhere.'
<BR><BR>The action enshrines an entity called the Sporting Conservation Council,
created by outgoing Interior Secretary Gale Norton in 2006, to help develop 'a
comprehensive Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Plan [setting]
forth a 10 year agenda for fulfilling' the goals of the Executive Order.
<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>********************************************************************<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>
<BR>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3132" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial" text=#000000 bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT
size=1>______________________________________________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><STRONG>The Xerces Society for Invertebrate
Conservation</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=1>The Xerces Society is an international
nonprofit organization that </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=1>protects the diversity of life through
invertebrate conservation. </FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=1>To
</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=1>join the Society, make a </FONT></FONT><FONT
size=1>contribution</FONT><FONT size=1>, </FONT><FONT size=1>or read about our
work, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1>please visit </FONT><FONT size=1><A
href="http://www.xerces.org/">www.xerces.org</A>.</FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1>Matthew Shepherd</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1>Senior Conservation Associate</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1>4828 SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, OR 97215,
USA</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1>Tel: 503-232 6639 Cell: 503-807 1577 Fax: 503-233
6794</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1>Email: </FONT><A href="mailto:mdshepherd@xerces.org"><FONT
size=1>mdshepherd@xerces.org</FONT></A><FONT size=1> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT
size=1>______________________________________________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1></FONT> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>