Delta Waterfowl Leaders Attend Presidential Signing on Reinvigorating America’s Hunting Heritage

CEO Jason Tharpe on hand for the announcement of an executive order that directs agencies to increase hunting access, restore refuges, enhance habitat, and recruit hunters

WASHINGTON D.C. — President Donald Trump has signed a monumental executive order intended to boost the quality and traditions of hunting in the United States.

The order entitled “Reinvigorating America’s Hunting Heritage” specifically recognizes the critical role hunters and landowners play in the legacy of American conservation and provides direction to the agencies to implement the following priorities:

• Expand hunting opportunities on federal lands
• Execute construction, repair and maintenance on federal lands for the purposes of recreation and wildlife management
• Improve the administrative process for authorizing migratory bird seasons while working with the flyways and affirming the importance of annual survey and data collection efforts
• Encourage the expansion of Sunday hunting on state and federal lands,
• Promote the growth of game populations through voluntary agreements with private landowners and producers to conserve and enhance habitat
• Validates the targeted management of predators amongst a list of other management actions aimed to bolster game production

“We sincerely appreciate the President’s executive order as it highlights a number of Delta’s priorities for ducks and duck hunters,” said Jason Tharpe, Delta’s chief executive officer. “Having the President affirm the need for access, addressing infrastructure needs on public lands, enhancing habitat through agreements with willing landowners, and ensuring waterfowl hunting regulations are based on the best available data are all core needs. We appreciate the President’s leadership.”

Additionally, the executive order highlights the critical need to partner with states in hunter recruitment efforts and the need for hunter education, including potentially providing federal funding to assist.

“We stand ready to work with the Administration to fully realize these important and lofty goals outlined by the President,” Tharpe said. “This vision can be achieved, and we are eager to get to work and effect real and positive change for ducks and duck hunters.”

Delta Waterfowl is The Duck Hunters Organization, a leading conservation group founded in 1911 that uses science-based solutions to produce ducks, conserve prairie wetlands, and ensure the future of waterfowl hunting in North America. Visit deltawaterfowl.org.

For more information, contact John Devney.