NC Camo Alert
Clean Water Act Protections Under Attack
Take Action!
Duck hunters and anglers know the value of wetlands, and streams. These places provide the opportunity for sportsmen to hunt and fish and enjoy our outdoor sporting heritage and traditions.
Immediate action is needed to stop an amendment to the federal Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill (HR 2354) that bars the Corps of Engineers from restoring longstanding Clean Water Act protections to isolated water bodies and wetlands that are critically important to fish and wildlife resources. This disabling amendment also erodes the Corps’ ability to clarify the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction to include these valuable isolated water bodies and wetlands under protections of the Act.
Isolated water bodies and associated wetlands provide habitat for waterfowl, woodcock, fish, and furbearers and enable sportsmen and women to enjoy the outdoor traditions of fishing, hunting, canoeing and wildlife watching. North Carolina is blessed with an abundance of riverine and estuarine waters and wetlands. The Clean Water Act protects them. We need to continue this strong stewardship of protecting our natural resources for now and into the future.
From the Smokies to the Outer Banks, streams, wetlands and the wildlife that call them home contribute to the state’s treasured landscape. They also contribute to our outdoor recreation economy. In 2006, residents and non-residents spent $2.7 billion on hunting, fishing and other wildlife-related recreation in North Carolina.
Please TAKE ACTION NOW and urge Senators Burr and Hagan to protect hunting and fishing by voting NO on crippling amendments to HR 2354.
The House passed HR 2354 on July 15, 2011 with a similar provision prohibiting funds to be used by the Corps to restore Clean Water Act protections. So, if the Senate adopts this harmful amendment too, the provision has a good chance of becoming law, to the detriment of our streams, wetlands, and fish and wildlife.
Now, more than ever, North Carolina needs Clean Water Act protections clarified and applied to ensure the health and prosperity of our people, our economy and our natural resources.
NC Camo Coalition is a project of the NC Wildlife Federation.