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I$O Years of Sportsman-Sup 18~ 1872 1887 1900 1903 1934 New York Sportsmen's Club Formed to enforce game laws and protect game from market hunting and poaching. First of many conservation- minded sportsmen's groups. Boone & Crockett Club Formed by Teddy Roosevelt and 100 other prominent and influential sportsmen, to fight for the preservation of big game species in North America. Pelican Island, FL, the first unit - National Wildlife Refuge Syste~, established by President Th~odor Roosevelt. Today, these refuge encompass nearly 40 million a~._. Yellowstone National Park Created by Congress. With the strong support of sportsmen, it becomes the first of many wild areas set aside for recreation and wildlife protection. Lacy Act Passed, again with the strong support of sportsmen, ban- ning all commerce in illegally-taken game. Its enforcement soon puts an end to market hunting in the U.S. Migrator' Passed re=r. 'to purchas~ support ~ and prot The First Environmentalists Are Still The Best In 1844, a good fifty years before the term "conservation" was coined, the New York Sportsmen's Club was formed to protect and preserve declining game species. This marked the beginning of a period of intense conservation activity by hunters and anglers. They would soon establish hundreds of similar organizations across the nation. Led by President Theodore Roosevelt, sportsmen proposed and supported the first laws to conserve wildlife and protect habitat. In 1900, Roosevelt dramatically strengthened the federal wildlife program by establishing the first wildlife refuges and the national forest system. Not content with these initial efforts, in 1937, hunters and anglers pro- posed laws to fund the newly-estab- lished state fish and wildlife agen- cies. Their effbrts resulted in the Pittman-Robertson Act, which pro- vided money fbr wildlife from an Placement of wood duck nesting boxes is one of many important conservation activities financed by hunters and anglers. excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition. Today, this 11% tax provides some $180 million each year to conservation. Additional excise taxes-again establishect with the strong support of sportsmen- were later placed on handguns and equipment used in sportfishing and archery. Still more conservation rev- enue comes from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses, duck scamps, tags and permits. The sportsman's contributions to conservation now total $20 billion dollars-and they will contribute another $10,000 in the time it takes to read this pamphlet. Wildlife agencies also receive some funding from state taxpayers but each dollar that comes from the states' general funds is matched by over nine dollars from sportsmen. The money has been well spent: since the early 1900s, state wildlife agen- cies have returned many species to their past abundlince (see back page). As has been the ca,re fi)r many years, the purchase q'a hunting or fishing license remains the most effi, ctive contribution to comervation that anyone can make.