Sportsmen's Act Approved by the U.S. House of Representatives

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act last week. The bill, referred to as the SHARE ACT, passed in a vote of 242-161 and now goes to the Senate.

The House bill -- H.R. 2406 -- would end current federal protections, and preempt federal court decisions on those protections, for gray wolves in Wyoming, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

In 2011 and 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act in these states, but federal courts overturned the agency's decisions, saying FWS did not use the best available science in its determinations.

H.R. 2406 also impacts the recreational fishing community.

Introduced by Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and Tim Walz (D-Minn.) and Vice Chairs Reps. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) and Gene Green (D-Texas), the SHARE Act contains numerous provisions that require federal public land management officials to facilitate hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting on certain federal public land.

"For our nation's sporting traditions to receive full consideration by the House of Representatives demonstrates that our Congressional leaders recognize the importance of recreational fishing and hunting to the nation," Scott Gudes, vice president of Government Affairs for the American Sportfishing Association said in a statement. "The Sportsmen's Act is one of the recreational fishing industry's top priorities."

Provisions

Here are the SHARE ACT provisions that affect the recreational fishing community:

-- Protecting traditional fishing equipment containing lead from unwarranted federal bans.

-- Requiring federal land managers to support and facilitate access for fishing, hunting and recreational shooting on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands.

-- Preventing unnecessary closures to fishing and hunting on public lands by implementing an "open until closed" management policy.

-- Ensuring that state and territorial fisheries agencies have a rightful say in fisheries management decisions in their own waters.

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 1:15 PM with the headline "Sportsmen's Act Approved by the U.S. House of Representatives ."