Subject: Duck Stamps
Date: Jul 1 08:23:17 2003
From: Rick Howie - rick.howie at shaw.ca


To Mary Klein & other Tweeters:

There was a time in the conservation movement when different organizations
aligned themselves along the hunting/no hunting philosophy, and today, some
still do.

But the realization came that the real need was to cooperate in order to
protect habitat. Whatever use that wildlife was put to after that was the
subject of another debate for another time. Without habitat, there would be
limited debate because the species would be gone. Many of the large refuges
in the USA and some in Canada were initially established to protect species
that supported a large hunting economy. However, as we can all attest to,
those same refuges provide habitat for a wide range of non-huntable species
and birders & other recreationists visit these places avidly.

Ducks Unlimited started with a strong support base of hunters and other
conservationists. Today, their mission statement is to protect wetlands and
other habitats for waterfowl and all of the other species that can benefit,
including humans. That diverse base of support is still there, in terms of
the end user of the birds and wildlife that are protected. It includes
hunters, bird watchers, educators, artists, recreationists, farmers and so
forth. My experience with the DU organization is that they embrace and
support all user groups, which can certainly be a fine balancing act given
the oft opposing philosophies that some users may have.

In the end however, the raison d'etre for DU and all of its supporters is
habitat protection for waterfowl and wildlife. And they get out on the land
and do just that. I belong to some conservation organizations that do not
advocate hunting, but in reality, they do very little that results in
protection for the species that they wish to conserve. As you may surnise, I
support DU and its efforts and I think that everyone should be able to join
it without the struggle between hunting and non-hunting ethics. Just as with
my local natural history club, some DU members are hunters and others are
not, but we work together for the common good.

There are enough counter forces to conservation out there that our efforts
need not be fractured and diluted along motivational lines. Protection of
habitat needs to be the paramount motivator and I recommend that we support
organizations that do that.

Sincerely

Rick Howie
Kamloops, BC
rick.howie at shaw.ca