Safari Club International to Testify Before House Committee on Hunting and Conservation
Safari Club International 06.15.12
On Tuesday, June 19, 2012, Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) Chairman of Conservation & SCI Vice-President, Dr. Al Maki, will testify before the Space, Science, and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight. The hearing will cover “The Science of How Hunting Assists Species Conservation and Management.”
The hearing will seek to highlight the role that sportsmen and women play in wildlife conservation, both domestically and internationally. Dr. Maki will highlight how the Endangered Species Act (ESA) works against hunters and their conservation efforts. He will speak on this issue from the standpoint of both a professional biologist and an avid hunter and conservationist.
“Government regulations, whether they are a part of the Endangered Species Act or supported by anti-hunting bureaucrats, should not impede conservation funding,” said Dr. Maki. “Hunters have provided too many resources in the form of excise taxes, license sales, and volunteering with organizations like SCI just to be casually overlooked by policy makers.”
Hunters and anglers have voluntarily contributed over $10 billion dollars to conservation efforts through excise taxes alone since the 1937 inception of the Pittman-Robertson Act. They have been, and remain to be, the largest advocates of wildlife conservation. However, their efforts have been largely impeded due to the framework of the ESA.
The Fish and Wildlife Service and environmental groups have used the ESA to prevent the use of hunting as a conservation measure. Dr. Maki will present several examples of the ESA’s inefficiency, including how the Act harms species enhancement within the United States and beyond.
“We greatly appreciate Congressman Broun and the entire subcommittee’s dedication to address government actions that continually undermine hunter engagement in the conservation of our nation’s wildlife,” concluded Maki.
Protecting hunters’ rights and promoting wildlife conservation, SCI’s two areas of focus, historically has been the interest of hundreds of individuals long before SCI was established. But how did SCI as an organization begin?
Forty years ago, there were many safari clubs across the country made up of local, unaffiliated groups of hunters. One such was Safari Club of Los Angeles, which was formed in April 1971 by forty-seven individuals. In early 1972, an out-of-towner from a similar club in Chicago attended one of the monthly Wednesday night meetings, and it was decided that the L.A. club should attempt to combine with the one in Chicago to make it an affiliated chapter. The founder of Safari Club of Los Angeles, C.J. McElroy, went to the Windy City and instituted the new chapter.
Eleven months after the formation of Safari Club of Los Angeles, on March 9, 1972, the name was changed officially to Safari Club International. SCI continued to reach out to other independent safari clubs throughout the United States in an effort to combine them into a single overall organization.
Today, interest in SCI’s two primary missions has grown a worldwide network. Subsequent involvement and promotion of these missions is rooted in each of our 55,000 members, supported through each of our 190 membership chapters found across the globe, and put into action by government representatives and personnel both nationally and internationally.
In this way, we can encourage an appreciation for nature and wildlife so that conservation efforts remain strong, while also fighting to protect our rich hunting heritage. Big changes can be achieved through the endeavors of many who are united in a mission – the mission of Safari Club International.
