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Union Sportsmen’s Alliance Update:
Labor and Hunters Team Up to Fight Climate Change

August 26, 2009

Hunting and fishing are passions for many IBEW members. But climate change could threaten the future of both without governmental action to help protect wildlife.

Rising temperatures have been playing havoc with traditional seasons and weather patterns, drying up bass lakes, interfering with regular duck and geese migration patterns and driving deer up to higher altitudes.

Washington, D.C., Local 26 member
Kent Erickson was the lucky winner of
this year’s Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s
Chevy Silverado giveaway.

In response to the environmental crisis, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership – a coalition of hunters, conservationists and labor unions, including the IBEW – sent a letter to the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee requesting that funding to help safeguard fish and wildlife be included in climate change legislation currently under consideration by Congress.

The TRCP wrote:

New dedicated resources are needed to protect and restore the natural environment, including fish, wildlife and their habitat, on which human health and economic vitality depends. A portion of these funds should be provided to ensuring that climate change strategies are integrated into state wildlife action plans, state coastal zone management plans, and other state wildlife species or habitat plans.

Lucky IBEW Member USA-Silverado Giveaway Winner

Washington, D.C., Local 26 member Kent Erickson joined the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance – the hunting and fishing club of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership – last year after hearing about its efforts to preserve the hunting and fishing traditions he’s loved since childhood.

“I joined because the USA supports my kind of lifestyle and, as a union member, it’s my club,” Erickson said.

Little did he know that his $25 membership fee would translate into a brand new Chevy Silverado. Erickson was the winner of the USA-Silverado giveaway and he is proudly using his new American-made truck to haul his gear on fishing trips to the Chesapeake Bay.

Congratulating Erickson was International President Edwin D. Hill. “We’re proud of all members who join these vital organizations and make a personal commitment to conserve our hunting and fishing grounds for future generations,” Hill said.

To find out how to join the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, click here.