16 U.S.C. § 3741 : US Code - Section 3741: Findings

Search 16 U.S.C. § 3741 : US Code - Section 3741: Findings

The Congress finds the following:
(1) Three-fourths of all American children and adults
participate in wildlife-related recreational activities other
than hunting, fishing and trapping.
(2) In 1985, Americans spent over $14 billion on non-
consumptive wildlife-related recreation.
(3) The United States and Canada are inhabited by approximately
two thousand six hundred vertebrate species of native fish and
wildlife, which have provided food, clothing, and other
essentials to a rapidly expanding human population.
(4) Over 80 percent of vertebrate fish and wildlife species in
North America are not harvested for human use.
(5) The continued well-being of this once-abundant fish and
wildlife resource, and even the very existence of many species,
is in peril.
(6) In 1967, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
reported that forty-five common migratory bird species, which are
not hunted, had exhibited significant declines in abundance, and
that thirteen of these species have experienced widespread,
systematic declines of 46.9 percent during a twenty-year study
period.
(7) There have been nationwide declines in frogs and other
amphibians.
(8) Over two hundred and seventy-five of vertebrate fish and
wildlife species in the United States are now officially
classified as threatened or endangered by the Federal Government.
(9) During the past decade, fish and wildlife species,
including invertebrates, were added to the rapidly growing list
of threatened and endangered species in North America at the
average rate of over one per month.
(10) Currently, eighty-two species of invertebrates in the
United States are listed as threatened or endangered under the
Endangered Species Act [16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.], and another nine
hundred and fifty-one United States invertebrate species are
candidates for listing under that Act.
(11) Proper management of fish and wildlife, before species
become threatened or endangered with extinction, is the key to
reversing the increasingly desperate status of fish and wildlife.
(12) Proper fish and wildlife conservation includes not only
management of fish and wildlife species taken for recreation and
protection of endangered and threatened species, but also
management of the vast majority of species which fall into
neither category.
(13) Partnerships in fish and wildlife conservation, such as
the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Program, the Federal Aid
in Sport Fish Restoration Program, and the North American
Wetlands Conservation Act [16 U.S.C. 4401 et seq.] have
benefitted greatly the conservation of fish and wildlife and
their habitats.
(14) A program that encourages partnerships among Federal and
State governments and private entities to carry out wildlife
conservation and appreciation projects would benefit all species
of fish and wildlife through such activities as management,
research, and interagency coordination.
(15) Many States, which are experiencing declining revenues,
are finding it increasingly difficult to carry out projects to
conserve the entire array of diverse fish and wildlife species
and to provide opportunities for the public to associate with,
enjoy, and appreciate fish and wildlife through nonconsumptive
activities.