A Treasure, Vanishing at 6,000 Acres a Day
Sunday, February 18, 2007; Page B06
The Feb. 11 front-page article "Hunting's Bind of Less Space and Time" touched on a major threat to the future of this sport in America -- loss of hunting grounds -- but did not explain how serious the problem really is.
The U.S. Forest Service recognizes how dire it has become, noting that each day 6,000 acres of open space, forests and prized hunting grounds are lost. That's the equivalent of nearly 500 football fields disappearing under development sprawl during my commute to and from work. If these trends continue, we will lose 64 million acres of open space -- more than eight times the size of Maryland -- by 2020.
One solution available to our government to forestall the loss of America's beloved hunting grounds is for Congress to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is our most effective tool for conserving open space and forests. The fund is authorized to receive $900 million annually but was allocated only $58 million in President Bush's fiscal 2008 budget proposal.
It's not enough to develop more hunters if the places to hunt keep disappearing under a tide of housing developments and strip malls.
CRAIG W. CULP
Communications Director
Eastern Forest Program
The Wilderness Society
Washington
