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Note: Session titles beginning with an asterisk (*) have student presenters.
ABSTRACT: The Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (the Pittman-Robertson Act) and the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act (the Dingell-Johnson Act) are two of the oldest and most enduring sources of funding for fish and wildlife conservation in the United States. Through these programs, excise taxes paid by hunters and anglers for almost a century have played an essential role in America’s wildlife conservation success story. The dollars generated through hunters’ and anglers’ purchases have fueled a self-supporting user pay/public benefit fish and wildlife conservation system. Since the inception of these programs, it was a given that most of the people purchasing the relevant taxable items were hunters and anglers. Within the last decade, however, the proportions of user groups paying into the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Trust Funds have shifted. Filling out the ranks of traditional hunters and anglers are growing shares of non-hunting target shooters, non-hunting target archers, and, potentially, non-fishing boaters. With this diversification of audiences comes differing levels of awareness and understanding of how the tax revenues are spent - as a result, the conservation community needs to take measures to ensure these new users understand and support the fact that they are helping to fund state-based conservation. This presentation discusses how the shift in the makeup of America’s fish and wildlife conservation contributors represents both a critical new challenge as well as a potential opportunity for the conservation community.