Wild Life Diversity Funding Initiative


Note: this letter was written June 3, 1996, to U.S. Rep. J. Saxton, chairman of the Oversight Hearing of the House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans.


AT Map By Pat Fletcher


My name is Patrick Fletcher and I am the Trails Chairman of the Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, an organization of almost 70,000 members run by volunteers and professionals to manage the clubs facilities and programs. We are an association of people formed to encourage public respect for the natural environment through providing opportunities for the enjoyment of its beauty and the wise stewardship of its use.

As Trails Chair, my duties include coordination of volunteers for the 117-mile Metacomet-Monadnock Trail in Massachusetts. I am an avid hiker and backpacker who also hunts and fishes, as do a lot of our members. I have section-hiked the MM Trail twice and am section-backpacking on the Appalachian Trail and have hiked over 1,000 miles of this trail to date.

I have found that before I started hiking in 1989, most of my hunting and fishing was an excuse to be outdoors with wildlife, and hiking was just another way to enjoy the watching of this wildlife. Just as I would slowly move through the woods in pursuit of game, I found quietly walking trails gave me a chance to observe the same. In the mornings when I quietly slipped out of a shelter so as not to awake my still sleeping companions and hiked down the trail with the early morning mist, I do not envy them their extra sleep as they are missing the magic hours of the morning when I observe most of the wildlife. I have watched a mother grouse with her young in the spring and saw her fake injury to lure me away from them, and two large bucks in velvet from a ridge along the Appalachian Trail in New York’s Harriman State Park. Each of the encounters is a memory in my scrapbook and treasured forever. I see other less pleasant things, too, like more and more No Trespassing signs tacked to trees along the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail.

A lot of the wildlife I see is game that is there because the sportsman saw in the past it was necessary to establish a trust fund to protect the game they pursued and the future of the sport for future generations. About 1994 I became aware that in the state of Massachusetts, a $5 surcharge was levied on hunting and fishing licenses to buy land. This hit me like a brick. Why wasn’t there the same sort of trust fund as the one started by sportsmen in the 1930s for land purchase by the hiking community. This was the perfect answer to the money problem we had to protect the land for the sport we were enjoying and the wildlife we saw while outdoors.

I started asking about this at club meetings and then I heard of the Wild Life Diversity Funding Initiative. I advised the Appalachian Mountain Club about this exciting idea and at the spring meeting in 1994 both the AMC’s Trails and Conservation committees were supportive of the seeking of new funding sources, provided the funds are used to acquire and protect land for conservation, recreation and enhance, rather than replace, existing public funding. This is the key to our being a part of the WDFI. The funds cannot be a replacement for funds promised to the conservation communities in the form of the Land and Water Conservation Funds and must be a trust fund the same as Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act for hunters.

I want to thank the leaders who in the past saw fit to set aside for future generations land that became habitat for wildlife and a valuable recreational opportunity for us. These sportsmen and conservation people gave to the future generations. I have found many people now don’t have the time to donate to trail work and protection but wouldn’t mind giving a little extra when they buy gear, so that what they now enjoy is there for their children and grandchildren. Please give us the chance to do what the hunters and fishermen did in the 1930s, and join with them for everyone’s benefit.




Jan. 7, 1997

P O S T S C R I P T: The above letter was entered into the Congressional record on June 3, 1996. The Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans is looking at the possibility of establishing a trust fund similar to the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act. This highly successful tax on hunting gear generates $200 million a year for conservation. The subcommittee’s proposal, called “Teaming with Wildlife,” could give $350 million a year from a 5 percent excise tax on recreational gear. This trust fund from hiking and other gear would be on the manufacturing cost of the gear and would be passed on equally to each retailer. The fund would be administered by the Fish and Wildlife service and would give each state $3 for every $1 they spend on conservation.

I would like to see ALDHA members support the legislation when it is introduced this year (1997) and write your support. I strongly feel this Trust Fund, if established, will do more for trails and the conservation effort and is long overdue. We have a chance to get in on the ground floor and make sure this legislation will be in our best interest. For sure, the money is needed and will give us a voice with Congress, and I hope go a long way toward restoring the Land and Water Conservation Funds promised us. I will reply to and answer questions you have about this if you will write me.

Pat Fletcher, “Fletch”
20 Linda Drive
Westfield, MA 01085



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