Please read the following alert from GOAL regarding the potential theft of monies raised from our license purchases as well as the monies raised through the Pittman-Robertson tax we all pay on all our equipment, ammunition etc. If enacted these amendments would divert minimally 5.5 Million dollars (each year) of sportsmen’s hard earned money to agencies that very well may use it to stop our traditional hunting, fishing and shooting activities. These funds are presently used to maintain and preserve for future generations open spaces. They also support safety, women’s and youth educational programs. This money grab is in my humble opinion a blatant and disgraceful attack on sportsmen and their traditions. Not only that but they want to use our own generosity and long standing support of wildlife and conservation to do it. If you do not know who to contact regarding this political Pearl Harbor go to the GOAL web site. They can guide you in contacting your elected representatives.

House Budget Alert!!!

April 21, 2010

Inland Fisheries and Game Fund and Wildland Stamp Account under Attack!!

As the Massachusetts House of Representatives prepares to debate the Fiscal Year 2011 state budget (H.4599) Gun Owners’ Action League (GOAL) has been made aware of proposed amendments to the budget that would once again raid our wildlife management and land acquisition funds. The proposed amendments, #149 and #152 filed by Representative James Murphy of the 4^th Norfolk District proposes the following:

• Establish a “Wildlife Rehabilitation Account” within the Inland Fisheries and Game Fund.
• Divert all proceeds from the sale of the $5.00 Wildland Conservation Stamps to the new account. (This alone totals approximately 1.5 million dollars a year.)
• Divert one dollar from the sale of every sporting, fishing, trapping and hunting license and deposit it into the new account.
• Divert contributions and any grant monies from the federal government or other public and private sources and deposit it into the new account. (It is unclear from the language, but this may include all of the federal Pittman-Robertson approximately $4,000,000 a year. See more information about this funding below.)
• Mandate that the Director of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) distribute the funds in the wildlife rehabilitation account equally to all nonprofit organizations licensed by the DFW that provides wildlife medical treatment, caring, rehabilitation, and releasing of nongame wildlife and endangered species in the commonwealth. These groups include the HSUS and the MSPCA, two organizations that have worked to destroy professional wildlife management nationally and locally.
• A full listing of licensed rehabilitators can be found at: http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/wildlife/rehab/wildlife_rehab_index.htm
• Amend the laws regarding the use of the Inland Fisheries and Game Fund to include the medical treatment, caring, rehabilitation, and releasing of nongame wildlife and endangered species.

All sportsmen/women, gun owners, conservationists, etc. should take this threat to professional wildlife management and land conservation very seriously. We all must remember that less than a decade ago, in 2003, we all had to join forces to fight back against an all out assault on the entire Inland Fisheries and Game Fund. 

While the treatment and rehabilitation of these animals may well be a worthwhile endeavor, it is not the appropriate use of these funds. For nearly a century sportsmen/women and gun owners have led the way in wildlife management and land conservation. In doing so we willingly funded the majority of these efforts when all others have refused to do so. Now others are trying to take what we have worked so hard to establish.

GOAL is urging all of our members to contact their State Representative (Senators will not have any input on this bill until later in the process.) and ask them to oppose House Budget (H.4599) Amendment numbers 149 and 152. Please do not take this threat lightly, call now! Debate on this bill is scheduled to begin the week of April 26^th.

Respectfully Submitted: Nish