Fading Alliance Politics Divide Conservation, Hunting Groups

The way Rob Keck figures it, guns are just about a critter’s best friend.

“Without firearms, there is no shooting. Without shooting, there is no hunting. Without hunting, there is no conservation, and without conservation, there is no wildlife,” said Keck, executive director of the National Wild Turkey Federation.

The sum of that equation is typically a vote for the Republican Party, whose candidates generally oppose gun control. Bumper stickers on pickups parked recently outside the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council promote presidential candidate George W. Bush, U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt and Sen. Slade Gorton.

Meanwhile, conservation groups whose members are primarily nonhunters endorse those candidates’ Democratic opponents.

“Liberalism, these days, is a dirty word at most rod and gun clubs,” said Jan Dizard, professor of anthropology and sociology at Amherst College in Massachusetts.

While grounded in history, Keck’s guns-equals-wildlife thesis is outdated and “a little overstated,” said Bob Ferris, vice president of Defenders of Wildlife.

Ferris praises the conservation work of the turkey federation, which is largely credited with restoring wild turkeys. He also praises Ducks Unlimited, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and other national and regional organizations supported primarily by hunters. Their members traditionally were the workhorses of conservation and remain vital to the cause, Ferris said.

But Ferris notes that nonhunters are playing an increasingly important role, through groups such as his and The Nature Conservancy. They’re sharing more of the financial burden.

“We’re coming to a balance” between the work of hunters and nonhunters, Ferris said.

Defenders of Wildlife, the National Wildlife Federation, the Audubon Society and most other major environmental groups officially don’t oppose most forms of sport hunting. The Nature Conservancy allows hunting on some of its land.

“We are very, very interested in reaching out and doing more work with hunters,” said Chase Davis, Eastern Washington representative for The Sierra Club.

Hunters sometimes don’t distinguish between those groups and animal-rights organizations such as the Fund for Animals, the Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

It wasn’t until the 1950s that large numbers of nonhunters began to pay much attention to wildlife, Dizard said. Nature, to most Americans, was still something to be exploited and tamed.

That changed as people gained leisure time. Backpacking, birdwatching and other outdoor sports grew popular. Nature films brought wildlife into living rooms, and viewers started identifying with animals as individuals.

By the 1970s, “there was a clear movement away from seeing lethal means as an appropriate way of managing wildlife,” Dizard said.

In 1945, there were 56 private wildlife organizations in the United States. Most were started by hunters such as J.N. “Ding” Darling, founder of the National Wildlife Federation, and Joseph Knapp, founder of Ducks Unlimited.

By 1980, the number of conservation and wildlife-preservation groups had grown to 400, according to Princeton University research.

Hunters no longer could claim sole guardianship over the nation’s wildlife because many of the new groups were started by nonhunters. Some were formed specifically to oppose hunting.

Put on the defensive by the anti-hunting movement, hunters in the 1960s began to view environmental groups skeptically. The fight over gun control pushed many sporting groups to the political right.

Until 1980, the National Rifle Association had never endorsed a candidate. That year, it backed nonhunter Ronald Reagan, who vowed to support gun rights. His opponent, incumbent President Jimmy Carter, has written passionately about the sport, but supported some gun-control measures.

This year, the NRA is demonizing Vice President Al Gore for supporting gun restrictions. The Sierra Club and many other environmental groups have endorsed Democrat Gore, partly because he vows to rein in urban sprawl.

Similarly, the Hunters Heritage Council of Washington has endorsed Gorton for the Senate and fellow Republican John Carlson for governor. Most conservation groups are backing Gov. Gary Locke and Gorton’s challenger, Maria Cantwell, both of whom are Democrats.

Ferris said many conservation and hunting groups cooperated in 1996 to fight congressional attempts to alter the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and other environmental legislation.

That isn’t happening this year, partly because recent initiatives to limit hunting have “made hunters very nervous,” Ferris said.

“The hunting community has sort of made a choice in terms of where their allies are in this election,” he said. “They’ve leaned more toward the NRA and very, very conservative organizations.

“I think they’re making a mistake in the sense that their more natural allies are mainstream conservation organizations, none of which have anti-hunting agendas.”