SPORTSMEN PAY MORE THAN THEIR FAIR SHARE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 13, 1993                   TAG: 9302150276
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: M. RUPERT CUTLER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SPORTSMEN PAY MORE THAN THEIR FAIR SHARE
NOTHING any hunter says will change the view of spokespersons for groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Carla Bennett's letter, Jan. 28, "Wildlife sanctuaries now killing fields") that hunting is unethical. Most American citizens, however, hold the view that hunting - conducted in a sportsmanlike ("fair chase") manner within a legal framework that protects the breeding stock - is ethical behavior, and that is my view.
I personally initiated the refuge-system study Ms. Bennett cites ("hunters have turned 259 of our 452 national wildlife refuges into bloody killing fields") when I was chief executive officer of a pro-biological-diversity (not anti-hunting) group in Washington, D.C., called Defenders of Wildlife. The study's conclusion: Refuge-habitat destruction by "secondary uses" (oil exploration and development, domestic livestock grazing, clear-cut logging, military target practice, waterskiing, etc.) and by the poisoning or diversion of their water supplies by urban and agricultural developments - not hunting - constituted the worst threats to the integrity and success of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Well-regulated hunting takes only the "biological surplus" not apt to survive the winter. Habitat destruction eventually takes every individual animal and eliminates every wildlife-related recreational opportunity. It is the real wildlife-loss culprit.
Bennett declares that hunters and trappers fill "virtually every" Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries managerial position. Whether or not that's true, the board providing policy direction to the game department's staff includes environmental educator Amanda T. Macauley of Richmond (her outdoor pursuits are white-water canoeing, rock climbing and backpacking) and Elsa A. Porter of Alexandria, a consultant on organizational innovation and effectiveness. Ms. Porter, a former assistant secretary of administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce, interestingly enough has been awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Alabama!
Bennett asserts that Virginia sportsmen "don't even cover the game wardens necessary to police them." In fact, all game-department programs, including law enforcement, are paid for by sportsmen through license fees and excise taxes on their gear. And as your Outdoor Editor Bill Cochran reported Feb. 2 ("Sportsmen could really use passage of boating bill"), the game-protection fund - hunting and fishing license-fee monies only - is being robbed today to cover the cost of administering the state's boat-law enforcement, boating safety and boat ramp-maintenance programs. The 2-percent boat-titling tax should go to the game department, but it doesn't and won't unless SB 815, pending before the General Assembly, is passed.
Those who enjoy the fruits of Virginia's excellent nongame as well as game-management programs and its prize-winning environmental-education efforts, such as Virginia Wildlife magazine and the teacher-training program, "Project Wild," but who don't buy hunting or fishing licenses or make a contribution to wildlife on their state income-tax return, should consider themselves subsidized by sportsmen, and not the other way around.

M. Rupert Cutler of Roanoke is president of The Wildlife Society, Virginia Chapter.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB