Number: 1986-24
WHEREAS, more than twenty years ago a Presidential Commission, the Outdoor Recreation Review Commission, conducted a comprehensive study of the nation’s outdoor recreation resources and needs; and
WHEREAS, as an outgrowth of that Commission a Land and Water Conservation Fund was established to purchase recreational lands, including city, county, regional and state parks, national parks and national wildlife refuges; and
WHEREAS, in recognition of a need to reexamine the contemporary needs of the nation in terms of outdoor recreation, including opportunities for hunting and fishing, the President has established a 15-member Commission called the President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors, with a charge to determine the current needs of the nation for improved or enlarged outdoor recreational opportunity, including needs unmet by present legislation and requirements now evident but not identified in the earlier outdoor recreation review; and
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation has for the past fifty years supported and encouraged opportunities for outdoor recreation, with emphasis on wildlife related outdoor activities, and sees a present and pressing need to re-emphasize the place of wildlife related activities in the array of outdoor recreation activities available to all citizens of the United States, and recognizes an increasing need to address problems related to the use and management of lands, the need for encouraging increased appropriate public use of private lands, as well as the underlying principle that outdoor recreation contributes to the well-being of a nation’s citizens and therefore to the nation itself;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 20-23, 1986, in Seattle, Washington, commends the President of the United States for his action, expresses its support of the general aims of the presently constituted Commission, urges innovative development of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and urges its affiliated organizations to participate as fully as possible in the public hearings and other methods available for communicating their views on current outdoor recreation needs to the Commission.