Director Steven A. Williams
at the 80th Izaak Walton League of America National Convention

July 16, 2002

It is a distinct honor for me to be here with you today. Because I've only been the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service for six months, I consider you my newest ... oldest friends. The Izaak Walton League of America is one of the Fish and Wildlife Service's first and longest-standing partners.

You've been a great supporter of the National Wildlife Refuge System over the years, and all of us at the Service appreciate your efforts to commemorate the system's Centennial Anniversary in March 2003. I know you share our commitment to common-sense, practical, on-the-ground conservation programs – the kind of conservation we try to practice on our National Wildlife Refuges.

Before I came to the Fish and Wildlife Service, I worked for the States of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Kansas. I really enjoyed those jobs. But it has always been my dream to someday lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Although I still have a lot to learn about the Service, I did come to the job with some clear ideas in mind. I'd like to share them with you.

First, I want to restore balance to the agency. I think some of our traditional partners have felt left behind as the conservation mission of the Service has expanded over time. I am committed to renewing our partnership with America's sportsmen and women – people like you, whose ethics and support have been the backbone of wildlife conservation for more than a century.

Second, we must also strengthen our partnerships with State agencies and the rest of the wildlife conservation community, including industry, non-government organizations, private landowners, and those who hike, birdwatch, or otherwise enjoy fish and wildlife.

And finally, we must work hard to ensure the integrity of the scientific information that the Service uses to make its decisions.

Balance, partnerships, and integrity – these are critically important to the Service's mission, and to maintaining a quality of life that is so important to everyone in this room.

Today I want to talk a little about preserving that quality of life for the future. The Refuge System's Centennial is a good time to reflect on the achievements of the early conservationists who got us to where we are today, and to make sure that we are doing the right things to build on that legacy for tomorrow. Personally, I am concerned about whether today's youngsters are having the same kinds experiences in the outdoors that led all of us here today to commit ourselves to conservation.

I think we can all agree that one of the biggest lessons we've learned from the past is this: conservation and outdoor recreation depend upon each other. By passing on the outdoor sporting traditions, we pass on a built-in conservation ethic.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt set aside the 3-acre Pelican Island in Florida -- the first National Wildlife Refuge -- as a "preserve and breeding ground for native birds." In doing so, he planted the seeds of a great legacy; and in retrospect, his vision seems to have been far-reaching. Not only did it span much of the country's landscape, it extended into the lives of future citizens whose survival, as always, depends on the health of natural resources.

Roosevelt wrote: "Wild beasts and birds are by right not the property of the people who are alive today, but the property of unknown generations, whose belongings we have no right to squander."

Hunters and anglers inherently understand this observation. Hunting and fishing instill in us a long-lasting respect and appreciation for nature, wildlife, and the great outdoors. We notice whether the fish we catch are healthy, whether deer have overbrowsed the woods, whether there are as many ducks as last year. Sportsmen and women keep a keen eye on the lay of our land and a steady finger on the pulse of our wildlife.

In 1653, Izaak Walton wrote: "... doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant, that it will prove to be like virtue, a reward to itself."

Obviously, the man loved fishing. More importantly, he felt a strong spiritual connection with nature. That kind of connection, as all of you know, is indeed personally rewarding, but it also rewards society at large.

This bond with nature has motivated hunters, anglers, and birders through the ages to keep their landscapes healthy, thus building a sturdy foundation for modern conservation.

We are here today not only because a small island off the coast of Florida became the first National Wildlife Refuge nearly a century ago. We're also here because a group of fifty-four sportsmen concerned about pollution and declining wildlife populations in the Midwest got together 80 years ago. In fact, your first president, Will Dilg, was instrumental early on in establishing an important link in the refuge system chain -- the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge -- not that far from where we are today.

Over the years, the Izaak Walton League has expanded its mission to conserve all elements of the environment with a wide range of programs: from clean air and urban sprawl; to energy conservation planning and outdoor ethics; from the Save Our Streams program to the American Wetlands Campaign.

But there remains at the heart of your organization a traditional base of outdoor enthusiasts, folks who put their hard-earned dollars into funding conservation. Whatever trendy changes our electronic, multi-media society may bring, we must never forget one thing: conservation is important to the sportsmen and women of America, but the reverse is equally true: the sportsmen and women are important to conservation. These folks are a powerful voice for conservation – and a powerful force in our economy.

Let me give you some perspective on how important outdoor recreation is to our country. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service's 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, more than 82 million Americans engaged in some form of wildlife-related recreation– including everything from watching wildlife around the home to fishing and hunting.

These folks spent more than $110 billion. That's about 1.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.

That's a big number. My wife thinks I personally contributed at least half of that, judging by my collection of hunting gear and fishing tackle.

There's some good news, and some bad news, when you get into the details of the Survey figures. Fishing, for example, held steady – but hunting has declined by percent since 1991. Most of that decline was in hunting for small game and what we used to call varmints. Perhaps it's not surprising that hunting declined most in the Pacific area, dominated by a drop in California, where the population has boomed over the past few decades.

When I was growing up in northeast Pennsylvania, I used to go hunting and fishing with my dad and he always called me to come and watch nature programs with him, too. With my own son, I've found that some of our greatest experiences together have been when we were out hunting together. Perhaps my personal experiences color my perspective but I see that we're living in a much more urbanized society today where many parents and kids don't have this opportunity to bond with each other through the experience of the natural world.

The privileges I enjoyed outdoors are perhaps not as common in our fast-paced society, especially in the bigger cities. While parents scramble to make ends meet, kids are placed in front of the television or video game. Some parents are probably too afraid of crime to let their children roam free in the woods like we used to.

For the sake of the kids, as well as the future of our resources, I think we need to get kids to put down their Gameboys and pick up a fishing rod. If we don't, we risk a future where our citizens are far less knowledgeable – and far less interested – in conservation than we are today.

One of the things we are doing at the Fish and Wildlife Service is making our National Wildlife Refuges more available as places where families can fish and hunt together. As many of you know, the majority of National Wildlife Refuges provide outdoor sporting opportunities. But where it is possible, the Refuge system is further expanding its fishing and hunting programs. Both activities were identified as priorities under the Refuge Improvement Act, and I think that says a lot. In essence, it confirms how important it is to continue those traditions which have so often supported conservation.

I am concerned about what our young people are doing and learning because there are still plenty of challenges ahead for conservationists. I want to talk about one of those before I close.

One of my key areas of concern is strengthening the Fish and Wildlife Service's commitment to recreational fishing and aquatic resource conservation. Aquatic resources in this country are really hurting. Consider the following:
• More than a third of the nation's fish are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
• Fish consumption advisories rose by 70 percent between 1993 and 1996.
• More than 45 percent of the nation's endangered species live in water, and, with the exception of the alligator, not one has been delisted.
• We face an increasing problem with invasive species. Over the last couple of weeks, just outside Washington, D.C., anglers caught a Chinese fish called a snakehead in a local pond. These are highly destructive fish that will eat all the other fish in an area – and then, they can get out of the pond and wiggle their way across land until they find some other body of water. Imagine the destruction if these fish get into the Chesapeake Bay or other large watersheds of our country.

These problems affect more than water-dwelling species, they threaten recreational fishing, and the $35 billion that anglers contribute to the economy.

Meanwhile, our Federal fisheries program is suffering from years of flat budgets and disagreements among Congressional staffs and the government's green eyeshade people about what the Fisheries program should focus on. Many of our national fish hatcheries, which breed and stock both sport fish and numerous endangered fish, are in dire need of maintenance and updating.

The Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council has come together to try to help us with this situation. The council recently published a new report that represents an unprecedented effort on the part of the Service, States, Tribes, and other partners to begin the process of repositioning our Fisheries Program for success in addressing aquatic resource threats.

The Izaak Walton League participated in this important effort, and we greatly appreciate your interest. I hope the League members, with their strong tradition of stream clean-up and other aquatic resource conservation programs, will continue to engage in this process as we move forward. We need your support, and want to know your views.

In closing, I would like to go back to where I started – the Refuge System's Centennial. By establishing Pelican Island as a national wildlife refuge, Theodore Roosevelt showed that he understood the importance of planning for the future. We too must plan ahead.

Certainly, our children, and their children, will grow up under circumstances that differ vastly from ours, just as we did from our predecessors -- from people like Will Dilg and Theodore Roosevelt. But if we keep fish swimming in clean streams, and deer browsing in healthy forests, we will have the fibers of that spiritual connection waiting to be woven from past to future, from generation to generation, connecting us all.

Thank you.