Climate Big Issue For US Hunters, Anglers - Reuters

[hatrack]

As the snow melts from the towering peaks in the distance, Culebra Creek runs fast and the trout are biting. But Van Beecham, a fourth generation fishing guide, is uneasy. "When I was a kid we never had regular run-off from the mountains in February or March. This is global warming," Beecham said. The early run-offs are one of many signs of warming temperatures that have caught the attention of hunters and anglers around the United States -- an influential group that has its pulse on the outdoors. "If you have early runoffs then you have less water in the summer and autumn," said Oregon-based Jack Williams, a senior scientist with conservation group Trout Unlimited.

Trout like cold water and become stressed on hot summer days, because water levels are lower and temperatures are higher than would have been the case if the run-off came at more traditional times from April to June. "We are finding a lot of concern among anglers and hunters about climate change. These people value traditions and their family and it will affect their children and their ability to enjoy these kinds of outdoor experience," Williams said.

The political run-off could flow as far as the Republican Party, which has broad support from hunters and anglers but which has been reluctant to address global warming. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney both hunt and fish. But both also have ties to the oil industry and they have been less than enthusiastic about embracing political measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions.


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A nationwide survey of licensed hunters and anglers last year commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation found that 76 percent of those polled agreed that global warming was occurring and the same percentage said they had observed climatic changes in the areas where they lived. Eighty percent of the outdoors-types surveyed said they believed the United States should be a world leader in addressing global warming. Half of those polled identified themselves as evangelical Christians -- a key support base for the Republican Party, which has been divided on the issue of global warming. "If the priorities of evangelicals change from social issues like abortion to the environment it could have a profound effect on the Republican Party," said John Green, a political scientist at the University of Akron.

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http://www.ecoearth.info/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=70484&keybold=climate%20change%20hunters%20anglers

[kestrel91316]

1. Some of these folks have a serious disconnect from reality, however.

My ex-BF is a BIG macho hunter and fisherman, living in coastal SoCal. He would complain about environmental problems if they had any potential impact on HIS ability to bag whatever he was after, but saw absolutely no problem with drivng his GAS HOG MEGA-PICKUP to work every day, and to the grocery store etc, none of which were more than 1/2 mile away from his home. That's right, the jerk DROVE 3 blocks to work every day.