Season’s Extension - May Drastically Hunting and Fishing
Climate change may drastically affect how we hunt and fish, but sportsmen, conservationists and unions have a plan to save our seasons
The hunt was a bust. It was early October, usually the best time to walk along the small streams of central Pennsylvania in hopes of jumping waterfowl, but this year was different. The sleeves of my lightweight shirt were pushed up and sweat blurred my vision. I’ve never been so miserable while wearing camo and carrying a shotgun.
More and more sportsmen are facing similar challenges. Weather patterns and seasons have changed. Stripers are running up the East Coast later, mule deer are moving into higher altitudes and coming down later in the fall, bass lakes are drying and birds are altering their migration patterns.
"I’m not seeing elk in the lower country where I used to hunt in the fall," said Bill Geer, director of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Center for Western Lands. "Instead, I have to hump farther back into higher mountains to even see them. I have no doubt warmer fall seasons and the absence of early snow are a direct effect of climate change."
The evidence is undeniable: Climate change is affecting how you hunt and fish, and it’s happening now. In 2008, the Wildlife Management Institute compiled studies from some of the nation’s leading hunting, fishing and conservation organizations into a report, Season’s End (http://www.seasonsend.org), documenting how climate change is altering fish, wildlife and their habitats.
Season’s End documented that overall temperatures could increase by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, which would mean less snow, more floods and higher sea levels. The impact on fish and wildlife would be substantial. Waterfowl habitat from prairie pothole wetlands to coastal regions would change drastically, reducing numbers of ducks and geese. Up to 42 percent of America’s trout and salmon habitat would be lost by 2100. Whitetail deer would face increased mortality through a rise in infestations of disease-carrying insects.
"It’s too late to prevent all the adverse effects of a warmer and drier environment," said Geer, "but we can prevent the worst impacts if we develop strategies to help fish and wildlife adapt."
A new report, Season’s End 2, to be released later this year, will attempt to provide a science-based plan for developing adaptation strategies that will help fish and wildlife maintain self-sustaining populations.
Sportsmen-conservationists and unions also are working to ensure that adaptation strategies get the support they need from the federal government. Congressional legislation currently being developed would help combat climate change, in part by allocating funds to assist federal and state agencies in implementing adaptation measures.
"We are at a tipping point concerning climate change legislation," said Joe McCartin, legislative representative for the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters and member of the TRCP’s climate change working group. "We need to make sure provisions for adaptation, job growth and energy efficiency are addressed. If no federal investment in new technologies occurs, we cannot move forward."
Learn more about TRCP’s work on climate change and other sportsmen’s issues at http://www.TRCP.org
