Someone forwarded it to me - and I found it interesting enough to pass on.
Garry
By Steve Tuttle
Newsweek
Updated: 9:21 a.m. ET June 16, 2007
June 16, 2007 - If you're a squirrel or a trout,
we've got some good news for you: Americans are
hunting and fishing less. Every five years, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service puts together a
massive survey of outdoor recreation, and the
2006 preliminary numbers were released today.
They show ominous trends, depending on your
worldviewor species. The number of anglers has
dropped 12 percent since 2001; the hunter count
has fallen off by 4 percent during the same
five-year period. This doesn't mean Americans
aren't spending time outdoors or interacting
with wild animals; "wildlife watching" is up 8
percent since 2001. They're just choosing not to kill them so much.
Though the final report won't be available until
November of this year, the preliminary findings
reveal a downward pattern that worries many
sportsmen: over the last 15 years or so,
millions fewer people have been hunting and
fishing in a country with a rapidly expanding
population. There are countless reasons for the
trend, chief among them urbanization and changes
in America's rural culture. Video games and
cable television vie for the attention of young
kids, and their parents can't find the time or
gain access as readily to the nation's rapidly
disappearing hunting fields and fishing holes.
Mark Damian Duda of the outdoor research group
Responsive Management in Harrisonburg, Va., says
he was especially surprised by the sharp drop in
fishing, but understands it: "We just have less
time overall for recreation, and there's a lot
more competition for the time we do have."
Another problem: traditions are not being passed
down. Duda says 90 percent of the kids who hunt
grow up in a hunting family, and starting from
scratch is difficult. Duda is optimistic about
the long haul, because states are noticing the
trends and working hard to stop the slide.
Another reason he's hopeful: "The old image of
the hunter and fisher as Teddy Roosevelt burns deep in the American psyche."
That may prove true down the road, but the 2006
survey shows that the number of migratory bird
hunters dropped a whopping 22 percent in just
five years; while small-game stalkers fell by 12
percent. The number of big-game hunters has
remained relatively stable over the last half decade, falling only 2 percent.
Still, 12.5 million people over the age of 16
went hunting in 2006, down from about 13 million
in 2001, and they dropped $23 billion on the
stuff it takes to get out in the field (roughly
the same amount of money spent on hunting five years ago).
Fishing participation fell three times the rate
of hunting over five yearsdown a jaw-dropping
23 percent in the Great Lakes region. Freshwater
fishing outside the Great Lakes was off 10
percent; saltwater fishing fell by 15 percent.
In 2006, 13 percent of the U.S. population still
took the rod and reel out for a cast. Nearly 30
million peoplefive million less than 2001-went
fishing, spending an average of 17 days angling
during the year. They dropped about $40 billion
on licenses, equipment and trips to support the activity.
Nicholas Throckmorton, a spokesperson for the
Fish and Wildlife Service, admits that the
hunting and fishing trends are "disturbing." But
he argues that the data is secondary to the
report's real news, that "the value of wildlife
remains high to millions of Americans, who know
that outdoor recreation rejuvenates our spirit
and gets us away from the wired, modern world."
Sportsmen can take heart in the fact that
despite the declining numbers, nearly 34 million
people still found time to fish and hunt in
2006, and spent a combined $75.4 billion doing
it. That's important, because federal taxes on
guns and sporting equipment are spent on
conservation efforts and wildlife refuges;
without those places, many of the 71 million
"watchers" identified in the survey would be
left staring at a starling on a bird feeder.
The real lesson of the report is that as a
nation we're gradually finding new, less violent
ways to interact with nature. If this keeps up
it won't be long before Elmer Fudd goes after
Bugs Bunny with a pair of binoculars.
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc
