http://journalstar.com/sports/recreation/outdoors/article_da5e3d70-b0a6-11de-8e52-001cc4c002e0.htmlJoe Duggan: Alarm is sounding, but do we hear it?
BY JOE DUGGAN / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Sunday, October 4, 2009 12:25 am |
Sometimes I just want to ignore the alarm bells ringing for the future of hunting and fishing.
The experts tell us traditional outdoor sports are in a downward trend of participation that, unless reversed, ends with hunters and anglers as endangered species.
In Nebraska, frankly, that's hard to imagine.
Sure, we've seen declines in permit sales, like the rest of the nation. But somehow we feel insulated here.
It just seems like the hunting and fishing traditions run deeper and stronger in Nebraska, where even city dwellers like me can stay connected to land, water and wildlife. More importantly, we're passing our outdoor traditions down to our children.
Any downward trend will take much longer to seriously affect hunters and anglers in Nebraska, I've always thought. Guess it's sort of like seeing a tornado drop out of the sky and taking solace from the probability that it won't hit your house.
Then I listened to someone a few weeks ago who made the alarm bells sound louder than ever.
I was at a dinner hosted by the Nebraska Sportsmen's Foundation, made up of representatives from some of the state's leading conservation groups. The dinner was at the Lincoln Izaak Walton League, which invited guests to shoot a round of trap while the buffalo burgers were on the grill.
Among the guests was Lincoln Sen. Tony Fulton, who has worked to pass legislation important to hunters, anglers and conservationists. After dinner, Fulton shared a bit of his personal background, which explained why he's been a friend to outdoors enthusiasts.
He grew up in Auburn, a small, rural city about 75 miles southeast of Lincoln, In Auburn, he was a hunter and angler.
Then he made a surprising revelation - the shooting he did an hour earlier on the Ike's trap range was the first time he'd fired a shotgun in almost 20 years.
Like many others who grew up in small towns, he moved to Lincoln to attend the university. Then he met a city girl, fell in love, got a job, got married and started a family.
Now 37, he's father of five children who play baseball, enjoy gymnastics and study tae kwon do. But they don't hunt and fish.
He wishes they did, but the rigors of career and parenthood, coupled with a lack of opportunity, has prevented Fulton from introducing his children to the activities he once took for granted.
In other words, as a kid, hunting and fishing were easy and accessible, so he hunted and fished. As an adult, they're not, so he doesn't. And neither do his children.
Now replicate Fulton's story by the thousands. That's how outdoor traditions vanish, not over years and years, but in just a single generation.
Fulton thanked foundation members for inviting him to the range. It underscored the power of a personal invitation - to hunt, fish, shoot, watch wildlife or just get outside.
An invitation can keep someone in the community of American anglers and hunters, a community whose conservation achievements have no equal in the world. What will happen to wildlife and wild lands if hunters and anglers slowly fade into the sunset?
Reversing the downward trend will take time and lots of approaches. Many conservationists have been working hard in the trenches for years on some of those approaches. They deserve our respect, and our help.
The ending to this story is far from written.
But now I'm convinced we're all in the book, even Nebraskans.
Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.
