Don’t just dream of an all-expense paid trip to Panama’s tropical waters to fight marlin or sailfish on the end of the line or to New Mexico to hunt elk where monster bulls grow to Boone and Crockett scores of 400+.  Make it happen by applying for TRCP’s Escape to the Wild, a TV program that takes hardworking union members on the hunting or fishing trip of a lifetime.

On season three of the popular program, lucky winners will also venture to the Great North for a chance at the granddaddy of the deer family-moose, trek the expansive tundra to hunt caribou and watch the skies darken with geese at a premier waterfowl destination.  And there are another five adrenaline-pumping adventures lined up for the best season yet.

Apply now, and you could be one of the lucky union winners to win the trip of your dreams and share your story on national television like Jason Berkley, a letter carrier with NALC Local 352 and winner of the elk hunt on season 2.

"I think the show was extremely effective in sharing my family’s story, so much so that there was not a dry eye in my house the night it premiered. I think it was pretty awesome the way the show focused on my family and our story, rather than just the hunt, like so many other hunting shows do," Berkley said.

Apply now for your chance to win the hunting or fishing trip of a lifetime.  The deadline for applications is April 15, 2008 or June 1, 2008, depending on which trips you select.

Season two of Escape to the Wild has come to an end, and we want to know what you thought about it… the good and the bad.  Your feedback will help us improve the program with each new season and ensure that we can continue to fulfill the hunting and fishing dreams of hardworking union members like you.

We thank everyone who visited the USA forums and completed a short Escape to the Wild survey for the chance to win a $100 gift certificate to Cabela’s in a random drawing.  Wessley Ringgold, a steamfitter with UA local 602, is the lucky USA member who will be heading to Cabela’s with $100 in his pocket.  (Visit USA website and the forums often to learn about similar giveaways and opportunities throughout the year).

According to Brother Ringgold, Escape to the Wild is the "highlight" of his weekend when he’s not out hunting or fishing.  "I really enjoy the personal stories and the great hunting and fishing trips the union members go on," he said.  "Having union sponsors for a hunting and fishing show is a great way to showcase the skill and pride that union workers instill in their work and recreation habits."

Do you have a favorite episode, suggestions for destinations or game, ideas for making the surprises even more dramatic, general feedback?  We want to hear from you.  Click here to share your thoughts on the USA forums or email Kate Cywinski.

With so much misinformation surrounding the environmental consequences of biofuels production, it’s often difficult to separate fact from fiction.  Those pithy, persuasive advertising slogans are difficult to ignore. One of my favorites: Live Green, Go Yellow, Fill Up, Feel Good. Despite all the glowing, flowery rhetoric from the corn ethanol industry, not all biofuels are created equally.

In fact, corn ethanol’s environmental impacts are vast and many-and don’t believe otherwise. Simply put, the facts are stacking up against the production of corn-based ethanol (and some other biofuels), while political leaders and farm groups continue to tout ethanol as a viable, environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels. 

The most recent example: A new study by The Nature Conservancy and the University of Minnesota finds that converting land for biofuel crops results in major carbon emissions, which actually worsens the problem of global warming instead of reducing it.  Touted as a first-of-its-kind study, it was published recently in the online version of Science. According to the study, demand for ethanol in America and worldwide is causing producers to convert forests and grasslands into crop fields. The result: losing that vegetation releases far more carbon than is actually saved by replacing fossil fuels by ethanol and other biofuels.

Joe Fargione is the biologist who conducted the study for the University of Minnesota and the Nature Conservancy. Let’s just say he did the heavy lifting-big time. He poured over reports on land-use changes around the world and calculated a "carbon debt" from the land being cleared for biofuels production.

"We analyzed all the benefits of using biofuels as alternatives to oil, but we found that the benefits fall far short of the carbon losses," he said.  "If you’re trying to mitigate global warming, it simply does not make sense to convert land for biofuels production."

The study calculates that it will take 93 years for the carbon losses from plowing one acre of healthy grassland to equal the savings from corn ethanol produced on that land.  In effect, Fargione’s research asks a simple question: Is it worth it. And the answer, according to natural resources officials across the country, is becoming increasingly clear: No.

Is it worth the loss in wildlife habitat, such as thousands of acres of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands? Is it worth the mounting pollution of our cherished fisheries? Is it worth threatening our aquifers by using up billions upon billions of gallons of water to produce it? Is it worth the increase in global food prices? Is it worth the billions in public subsidies?

Meanwhile, the ethanol industry is crying foul, saying the study is too simplistic and doesn’t factor in the economic benefits derived from growing corn-based ethanol and other biofuels in the U.S. and abroad or the environmental costs of burning fossil fuels.

Please. We’re neither talking about economic impacts nor the environmental toll wrought from our continued dependence on petroleum. No, we’re talking about the fallout of how biofuels are harming the environment-both here in the U.S and across the globe-and whether corn ethanol (to name one biofuel) is the answer to our long-term energy needs.

I don’t want to beat up on farmers. They’re good people. Corn prices are up, and they’re cashing in. But corn ethanol must be phased out-and fast. Simply put, we need to transition into the next generation of biofuels. Let’s mandate cellulosic ethanol-not the corn-based variety.

Fargione did note that some biofuels do not contribute to global warming (and habitat destruction) because they do not require the conversion of native habitat, which, in the long run, is good news for farmers.  These include waste from agriculture and forest lands and native grasses and woody biomass grown on marginal lands unsuitable for crop production. The study urges that all fuels be fully evaluated for their impacts on global warming, as well as impacts on habitat conversion.  I couldn’t agree more.

"We will need to implement many approaches simultaneously to solve climate change-there is no silver bullet. But there are many silver BBs," said Fargione. "Some biofuels may be one silver BB, but only if produced without requiring additional land to be converted from native habitats to agriculture."

"All the biofuels we use now cause habitat destruction, either directly or indirectly," Fargione added.  "Global agriculture is already producing food for 6 billion people.  Producing food-based biofuel, too, will require that still more land be converted to agriculture."

And that doesn’t bode well for anyone-hunters, anglers or the average taxpayer. As one official said recently "Corn ethanol is bad science, bad environmental policy and bad economic policy."

Misinformation?  The evidence-it mounting by the day-suggests otherwise.

Babe Winkelman is a nationally-known outdoorsman who has taught people to fish and hunt for more than 25 years. Watch the award-winning "Good Fishing" and "Outdoor Secrets" television shows on Versus (formerly OLN), Fox Sports Net, WILD TV, WFN and many local networks.  Visit www.winkelman.com for air times where you live.

Click here to learn more about the conservation programs in the Farm Bill, including the biofules issue.   

Many of America’s Western lands that offer some of our best hunting for mule deer, elk, pronghorn and sage grouse - as well as blue-ribbon fishing for cutthroat, rainbow and brown trout - also are being pressured for oil and gas development. Past energy projects illustrate the drastic effects energy development can have on fish and game populations if their needs are not studied and addressed before, during and after the development process.

Impacts not anticipated during energy planning, like road kill and poaching, add to the stresses wildlife must endure during development. In Sublette County, Wyo., a county with two of the largest gas fields in the state, road kill has increased exponentially since the boom began, with numerous incidents of multiple-animal kills by vehicles servicing the gas fields. 

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) believes there is a need to better balance fish and wildlife management with energy development on these lands. "The TRCP supports responsible development of our nation’s energy resources," said TRCP Energy Initiative Manager Steve Belinda. "We maintain that careful project planning, including how to manage fish and wildlife, done prior to our public lands being leased for development, will result in a win-win situation where industry, fish and wildlife, local communities and sportsmen will benefit.

"Energy development strategies should be based on the most current science available and consider lessons learned from past actions," continued Belinda, a former Bureau of Land Management (BLM) biologist. "As long as the BLM persists in basing its decisions on outdated information, we’ll continue to see development plans being green-lighted that do not serve the best interests of fish, wildlife and our public lands." 

In 2007, citing concerns about how development will affect fish, wildlife and sporting opportunities, the TRCP protested more than 1 million acres in 12 lease sales in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Following these protests, 185,500 acres were withdrawn from auction by the BLM.  So far in 2008, the TRCP has protested more than 240,000 acres in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

"Opening these public lands to energy development without building in provisions to conserve fish and wildlife populations does a disservice to all American sportsmen," said TRCP President and CEO George Cooper. "We need to make sure Americans from across the country have the opportunity to live the dream of stalking mule deer or pronghorn on these wide-open Western landscapes. Such opportunities are disappearing under the current model for developing energy resources on public lands. As sportsmen, we owe it to our hunting and fishing heritage to speak up on behalf of our irreplaceable natural resources."

Hunters and Anglers for Responsible Development (HARD), the TRCP’s grassroots energy campaign, keeps sportsmen informed about public lands energy development and helps amplify the sportsmen’s voice for hunting, angling and habitat concerns across the Rocky Mountain West. To learn more about HARD, visit www.ResponsibleSportsmen.org.