It's hard to believe but currently, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service have no standards requiring that land management activities sustain fish and wildlife populations.

The America's Wildlife Heritage Act, H.R. 2807, seeks to change that. Public lands administered by the Forest Service and BLM are supposed to be managed for "multiple uses." The goal of that mandate is to meet the nation's needs for timber, energy, mineral development and livestock grazing, but at the same time ensure that fish and wildlife resources are protected and recreational opportunities are guaranteed.

In recent years, however, sportsmen and conservationists have seen the principle of multiple use management ignored and skewed in favor of development activities with little regard to impacts on other public land resources such as water, wildlife, habitat and recreation. With the rush to develop our nation's resources, federal land managers have been stripped of their ability to sustain fish and wildlife on public lands and wildlife populations have responded by declining.

America's Wildlife Heritage Act was introduced on June 10, 2009 by representatives Ron Kind and Walter Jones. The bill will, for the first time, require a uniform wildlife management system and standards to sustain healthy fish and wildlife populations on public lands administered by the Forest Service and BLM. The bill contains three primary components:

• Provide the Forest Service and BLM with clear and measurable fish and wildlife sustainability objectives
• Provide land managers with science-based tools to evaluate objectives and efficiently measure the condition of fish, wildlife and their habitat.
• Enhance coordination and cooperation amongst federal land management agencies and between federal and state fish and wildlife managers.

Stay tuned for the latest on the America's Wildlife Heritage Act.