FEDERAL ISSUES
Fix Our Forests Act. H.R.471 passed the US House on January 23 on a strong bipartisan vote of 279-141. The Senate agriculture committee held a hearing on the issue on March 6. RMEF is seeking bipartisan support in the Senate assuming that it will require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and RMEF members have generated more than 6,000 letters to their members of Congress. This legislation addresses the red tape holding up many habitat management projects by fixing the ‘Cottonwood decision’, reducing frivolous litigation and streamlining permitting on many projects aimed at fire and wildlife improvements. Click here to urge your senators to vote in favor.
Federal layoffs, grant pauses. President Trump’s administration took actions during his opening weeks in office that included a hiring freeze, voluntary retirements of federal employees, layoffs of probationary status employees, pauses in grant payments and cancellation of others. While some partisans were quick to criticize or praise these actions, RMEF is focused on evaluating the impacts as they relate to our mission. We will continue to advocate for the right resources being allocated to actively manage public lands for the benefit of wildlife and people.
DOI and USDA Appointments. The Senate confirmed the secretaries of the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, and the administration leadership continues to fill in. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum mentioned RMEF as a leader in conservation during his confirmation process, and US Fish and Wildlife Service director nominee Brian Nesvik has a long and positive working relationship with RMEF from his time at Wyoming Game and Fish. At the Forest Service, Tom Schultz is appointed chief. His March letter to employees lays out a vision that aligns with RMEF’s priorities of active management to benefit wildlife, sportsmen and conservation.
Capitol Hill Visits and RMEF Priorities. While RMEF has contract lobbyists that represent our interests in DC year-round, RMEF staff periodically travel to directly meet with lawmakers. Government Affairs Director Ryan Bronson recently took part in dozens of meetings laying out RMEF’s 2025 legislative agenda and is slated for several more trips in the coming months, often at the request of Congress and other advocacy partners. RMEF plays a leading role in the American Wildlife Conservation Partners (AWCP) and helped draft the Wildlife in the 21st Century document that guides the group’s agenda for the current Congress. RMEF’s specific agenda includes protecting and increasing access (Farm Bill VPA-HIP program, LWCF funding, federal land policy); active habitat improvement (Cottonwood Fix, Fix Our Forests Act, litigation reform, adequate staffing in the right places); big game migration enhancement (Migration through Partnerships Act, SO 3362, highway crossings); opposing wholesale transfer of federal lands; defending hunting and firearms rights.
STATE ISSUES. Below is a summary of some of the most high-profile state issues RMEF is engaged in. There are about 300 individual bills RMEF is actively tracking.
Arizona commission petition to ban hunting with dogs. Anti-hunting interests in Arizona re-petitioned the Arizona Game and Fish Commission to ban the use of dogs for all hunting of mammals in the state, and that petition will be heard by the commission on April 11. In March, the state house passed a bill, HB2552, that would prohibit such a rule, but the bill really does not have any chance of becoming law because the governor will veto it, and it supplies fundraising fodder for anti-hunting groups. Sportsmen and women should plan to attend the April 11 commission meeting to thank the commission if they reject the petition. That meeting will be at Phoenix Game and Fish headquarters (5000 W. Carefree Highway).
New Mexico Commission and Agency Structural Changes. Senate Bill 5 passed the New Mexico Senate and now the House is considering it. If passed, it would change the New Mexico Game Commission and Game Department to the New Mexico Wildlife Commission and Wildlife Department. While the name change is not particularly concerning, the commission’s policy declaration and structure would be changed in ways to specifically diminish the importance of hunting. It creates a commission nominating panel that involves legislators, governor appointees, tribal members and academics from the two state universities. The commission itself would go from a geographically and politically balanced body to one that includes specifically non-hunting interests, as well as academics in numbers equivalent to hunters and ranchers.
Washington State Wildlife Commission Reform Bills. Following a scathing review of the dysfunction of the Washington Wildlife Commission by the Rucklehaus Center, lawmakers introduced several bills to reform the way the commission is selected and governed. RMEF opposed HB1685, which aimed to make the agency director a governor’s cabinet appointment and gutted the commission of policy authority. HB1930 sought to split commissioners into six regional districts selected by the counties with three at-large members selected by the governor. SB5728 tried to create a commission nominating committee with input from stakeholders to narrow nominees for the governor to select. None of the proposals advanced beyond an introductory hearing. However, newly elected Governor Bob Ferguson and the Senate recalled two commission appointments made by outgoing Governor Inslee in the final two days of his term. Wildlife interests like RMEF expressed concerns about the appointees, so this may signal that the new governor is interested in restoring a balanced and functional commission, and reason for some hope.
Washington gun, wildlife and fundraising bills. More bills than can be detailed here, which RMEF is monitoringand/or already engaged in, can be found on the RMEF Advocacy page. Scroll down to the map and click on Washington.
Oregon. With a budget deficit, there is increasing pressure on funding for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. RMEF lobbyists advocate for several bills to sustain highway crossings, the state veterinary lab and enforcement officers to investigate poaching. Efforts to expand wolf and bear management are probably doomed, but there are surprising levels of bipartisan interest in reforming that initiative and referendum regulations. Anti-hunting and anti-gun extremists used ballot initiatives in recent years as tools to try to advance their causes.
North Dakota CWD Bills. Legislation that will prohibit the North Dakota Game and Fish Department from restricting baiting for deer in CWD zones, SB2137, passed the Senate by a vote of 31-15. Other legislation, HB1236, looked to prevent G&F from using hunting license revenue to manage CWD efforts, but failed.
Montana has at least 47 bills that RMEF is tracking and weighing in on. RMEF opposed attacks on voluntary conservation agreements (conservation easements), efforts to micromanage scientific wildlife management authority vested in the Fish and Wildlife Commission, divert conservation and habitat funding, and opposed proposals that could jeopardize the delisted status of wolves and future delisting of grizzly bears under the endangered species act. Meanwhile, RMEF supported efforts to enhance access programs. For bill specifics, visit the RMEF advocacy page.
Wyoming. Wildlife issues made some early headlines in Cheyenne, but the legislature showed tremendous restraint in weeding out questionable wildlife and hunting bills. Attacks on conservation easements, proposals that would have undermined grizzly bear delisting and attacks on public lands uniformly were considered and defeated during the session. Sportsmen and women are a unifying force among the various factions at the Wyoming Capitol.
Colorado. RMEF is strongly advocating for the reauthorization of the Wildlife Habitat Stamp program in SB49, which is set to expire in 2027, and is moving through the required committees. RMEF also activated its members to successfully oppose and defeat an anti-hunting bill, HB1258, which would remove hunting as a primary management tool from state policy. Despite passing several gun control bills in recent years, a modified version of a semi-automatic ban is also moving forward in SB3, although lawmakers since amended the bill in an effort to reduce its impact on hunters, although it appears to be an unconstitutional infringement on firearms in common usage.
Indiana. A very troubling scheme first proposed in Oklahoma in 2023 popped up in Indiana. SB32 and HB1417 look to selectively breed deer in captivity for resistance to CWD and then release those deer into the wild. The list of questions that this scheme creates is too long to detail here, but the unintended consequences, risks and cost of this proposal should scare legislators.
Maryland. Lawmakers introduced HB1299 to require the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to study the social and biological feasibility for restoring elk to western Maryland. Delegate Kevin Hornberger is a sportsman and member of the sportsmen’s caucus and reached out the RMEF before introducing the bill. RMEF was involved in a similar effort in 2012, which fizzled after opposition from agriculture interests emerged. The bordering states of Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia have elk herds and public support from those states may convince Maryland to move forward.
Right to Hunt and Fish Amendments. Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon and New Jersey all introduced resolutions and bills for state hunting and fishing amendments. Polling by RMEF and other hunting groups in Oregon shows strong public support among the voters. The polling effort took place because anti-hunting extremists are still ostensibly collecting signatures for a radical ban on hunting, fishing, livestock slaughter, pest control, rodeos and many veterinary practices. That ballot measure does not poll well.
RMEF is tracking hundreds of federal and state bills. View most of the important ones on the RMEF Advocacy page.