In 1937, Congress recognized the need for long-term dependable funding for state wildlife agencies and passed the Wildlife Restoration Act. Also known as the Pittman-Robertson (PR) Act, the law imposed a 10 percent manufacturers tax on hunting ammunition and firearms. Tax proceeds are distributed to state fish and wildlife agencies for research, habitat protection, hunting and recreation and species recovery.
In 1950 the Sport Fish Restoration Act – also called the Dingell-Johnson (DJ) Act – placed a 10 percent manufacturers tax on fishing rods, reels, and tackle to be distributed to state fish and wildlife agencies for sport fish restoration. In addition, the Wallop-Breaux Amendment was passed in 1984 expanding the Sportfish Restoration Act to include boating and angling gear. These additional funds support boating access and aquatic education programs.
Generating approximately $450 million annually, PR and DJ funds, along with the sale of hunting and fishing licenses and permits, have been the backbone of state game and sportfish management programs. Historically, PR funds have been instrumental in the recovery of whitetail deer and wild turkey, and most recently, the reintroduction of elk to Tennessee. Likewise, DJ funds are utilized for such programs as trout stocking, largemouth bass and crappie management and stream surveys.
While American sportsmen have traditionally supported game and sportfish management programs, the vast majority of Tennessee’s wildlife is neither hunted nor fished, and a dependable funding source for non-game programs has been harder to sell. Funds from the Endangered Species Act helped to recover such well-known species as the bald eagle but there are many more non-game species in dire need of help.
In the early 1990s, a national movement called “Teaming With Wildlife” (TWW) was initiated to lobby Congress for long-term funding for non-game wildlife species. Like PR and DJ monies, TWW funds were to be gathered through an excise tax on outdoor recreational equipment such as camping gear and binoculars. Although TWW had widespread support, creating a new excise tax hindered the movement’s progress.
Teaming With Wildlife was retooled into the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA.) Under CARA, funds derived from offshore oil royalties would be used to fund management activities benefiting non-game wildlife. CARA passed in the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate. Since then, however, Congress has provided annually appropriated funds for activities surrounding “species of conservation need,” first through the Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Program (WCRP) and now through the State Wildlife Grant (SWG) program. Since the SWG program went into effect in 2001, Tennessee has received more than $4 million, which has been used for such projects as warm-season grass seed harvesters, water control structures, and educational material. These funds have also helped the TWRA create grassland songbird habitat, develop databases and buy land.
Recognition of the gap in conservation funding and the associated risks to nongame wildlife led to the introduction of the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) into congress in 2000. The provisions of CARA provided $350 million in annual funding to be dispersed among the 50 states for wildlife conservation, recreation and education programs. CARA was considered the most important wildlife conservation funding legislation to be introduced in 50 years, and although it rallied tremendous bipartisan support it was not enacted into law.
Undaunted, wildlife coalitions such as Teaming With Wildlife and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (presently the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies) pushed for legislation that would provide adequate, predictable funding for conservation programs. In 2001, the Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Act (WCRP) and the State Wildlife Grants (SWG) programs were enacted into law. Together WCRP ($50 million) and SWG ($25 million) provided $75 million dollars in conservation funding which has been used for such projects as habitat and species restoration and protection, research on life history requirements and threat assessments, support for a mussel restoration facility, species surveys, and database and GIS development.