Defeat the Sportsmen Heritage Act!!

URGENT – CALLS NEEDED TODAY Defeat the Sportsmen Heritage Act

Please act immediately! We need you to make calls RIGHT NOW or before the end of the workday today, Friday, February 21, at the latest. These bills could be taken up and move very fast Monday, February 24, or soon after.

Senate bill 1996 and its seven companion bills are extremely bad for wildlife and the non-hunting public alike. The goal of this package of bills, collectively called SHARE (Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreation Act), is to further “sportsmen’s” interests by opening more federal land to hunting, fishing, and trapping, allowing the importation of polar bear “trophies” from Canada, and allowing hunting in National Parks.

WE MUST KILL THESE BILLS!

The House has already passed the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2013. Now there is Senate bill 1996, and a package of seven companion bills, all of which would tragically hurt wildlife and take away the rights of the majority of Americans who don’t hunt, trap, or fish.

If enacted, these bills would:

1. Mandate a free-for-all of trappers/hunters/fishermen/recreational shooters on 700 million acres of National Forests and Bureau of Land Management land (BLM) – federal public land that belongs to YOU. Trapping is implicit and defined as a subtype of hunting and as such, trapping is green-lighted without being mentioned again. This is analogous to the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 by Don Young (R-AK), which turned National Wildlife Refuges System from sanctuaries into playgrounds for hunters, anglers, and trappers.
2. Make hunting, fishing, and trapping a “priority public use” of federal lands. National Forests and BLM land are hunted, trapped, and fished already. Many have public shooting ranges. The bills would go even further by placing one class of visitors above the majority of recreationists on federal public lands who don’t hunt, trap, or fish. The bills would be a menace to public safety and interfere with other visitors’ quiet, peaceful enjoyment of nature.
3. Get hunters into National Parks through a backdoor. While hunting is prohibited in National Parks, “skilled volunteers” (read: hunters) would be allowed in the killing (culling) of wildlife populations on federal lands.
4. Allow polar bear “trophies” from Canada be imported into the US. That would stimulate hunting of this imperiled species.
5. Bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating lead in ammunition and fishing sinkers. Lead is a neurotoxin which we’ve eliminated from gasoline, paint, and toys. But 3,000 tons of lead shot and bullets per year are fired into the wild and 4,000 tons per year from fishing tackle is lost in ponds and streams. Many birds of prey ingest spent lead fragments when feeding on animals that were shot and are themselves killed.

What We Need From You:

1. We only want to contact the Senators listed at the end of this alert. Please look at the list of Senators below. If none of your Senators are listed, no action is necessary, but please stay tuned. If you do see your Senator(s) listed, please CALL them immediately – before the end of the workday today, Friday, February 21. See our list of Senators to call below.
2. To the person in the office of the Senator(s), say this:
   “Please ask Senator _________ to call the cloakroom and state that he has concerns about all of the following bills: S.1996 Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act, S. 170 Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act, S. 738 Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act, S. 847 Polar Bear Conservation and Fairness Act of 2013, S. 1212 Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act, S. 1335 Sportsmen’s Act, S. 1634 Hunter and Farmer Protection Act of 2013, and S. 1660 SPORT Act.”

Have the office person read back the bill numbers to ensure they’re correct. If asked for reasons for the Senators to be concerned see 1-5 above.

List of Senators to contact, sorted by state:

<strong>California:</strong><br>Boxer, Barbara – (D – CA) 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3553 Contact: <a href=”http://www.boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/&#8221; target=”_blank” data-mce-href=”http://www.boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/”>www.boxer.Senate.gov/en/contact/</a&gt;

Feinstein, Dianne – (D – CA) 331 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3841 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3841 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.feinstein.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me
Colorado:
Bennet, Michael F. – (D – CO) 458 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5852 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5852 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.bennet.Senate.gov/contact/
Connecticut:
Blumenthal, Richard – (D – CT) 724 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2823 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2823 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Delaware:
Coons, Christopher A. – (D – DE)  127A Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5042 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5042 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.coons.Senate.gov/contact/
Carper, Thomas R. – (D – DE) 513 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2441 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2441 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: carper.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-senator-carper
Hawaii:
Hirono, Mazie K. – (D – HI) (202) 224-6361 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6361 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.hirono.Senate.gov/contact
Schatz, Brian – (D – HI)  722 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3934 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3934 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.schatz.senate.gov/contact
Illinois:
Kirk, Mark – (R – IL)  524 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2854 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2854 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.kirk.Senate.gov/?p=contact
Indiana: Harkin, Tom – (D – IA)  731 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3254 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3254 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.harkin.Senate.gov/contact.cfm
Maine:
Collins, Susan M. – (R – ME) 413 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2523 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2523 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.collins.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email
Maryland:
Cardin, Benjamin L. – (D – MD)  509 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4524 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4524 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Mikulski, Barbara A. – (D – MD) 503 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4654 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4654 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.mikulski.Senate.gov/contact/
Massachusetts:
Markey, Edward J. – (D – MA) 218 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2742 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2742 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.markey.senate.gov/contact
Michigan:
Stabenow, Debbie – (D – MI) 133 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4822 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4822 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.stabenow.Senate.gov/?p=contact
Levin, Carl – (D – MI)  269 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-6221 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6221 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.levin.Senate.gov/contact/
New Hampshire:
Shaheen, Jeanne – (D – NH) 520 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2841 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2841 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.shaheen.Senate.gov/contact/
New Jersey:
Booker, Cory A. – (D – NJ) 141 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3224 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3224 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.booker.senate.gov/?p=contact
New Mexico:
Udall, Tom – (D – NM) 110 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-6621 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6621 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.tomudall.Senate.gov/?p=contact
New York:
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. – (D – NY) 478 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4451 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4451 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.gillibrand.Senate.gov/contact/
Schumer, Charles E. – (D – NY) 322 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-6542 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6542 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.schumer.Senate.gov/Contact/contact_chuck.cfm
Ohio:
Brown, Sherrod – (D – OH) 713 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2315 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2315 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.brown.Senate.gov/contact/
Oregon:
Wyden, Ron – (D – OR)  221 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5244 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5244 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.wyden.Senate.gov/contact/
Pennsylvania:
Casey, Robert P., Jr. – (D – PA) 393 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-6324 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6324 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.casey.Senate.gov/contact/
Rhode Island:
Reed, Jack – (D – RI) 728 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4642 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4642 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.reed.Senate.gov/contact/
Whitehouse, Sheldon – (D – RI)  530 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2921 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2921 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.whitehouse.Senate.gov/contact/
Vermont:
Sanders, Bernard – (I – VT) Class I332 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5141 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5141 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.sanders.Senate.gov/contact/
Leahy, Patrick J. – (D – VT) 437 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4242 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4242 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.leahy.Senate.gov/contact/
Washington:
Murray, Patty – (D – WA) 154 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2621 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2621 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.murray.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme
Cantwell, Maria – (D – WA) 311 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3441 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3441 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.cantwell.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-maria
Wisconsin:
Baldwin, Tammy – (D – WI) 717 Hart Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5653 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5653 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.baldwin.Senate.gov/contact

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