Sportsmen’s company is apolitical

Dedicated ideologues never allow facts to get in the way of an argument. Even so, the whoppers contained in “Green Decoys wear sportmen’s camo” require a response.

News flash — 99 percent of Trout Unlimited members fish, and a significant majority hunt. Saying we are not sportsmen and women belies reality. 

Second, our organization has never taken a position on the Keystone XL Pipeline. We stay focused on issues that implicate the protection and restoration of native and wild trout and salmon and the habitats upon which they depend—this pipeline has virtually nothing to do with either.

The blog post pillories TU for taking millions of dollars from “environmentally leaning” foundations to accomplish our mission of trout and salmon habitat restoration. Guilty as charged.  

What the post doesn’t mention is that we accept contributions from the timber industry, the mining industry, the oil and gas industry, the agriculture industry and others, too. Whether the money comes from the “right” or the “left,” TU is an equal opportunity recipient of funding to protect and restore trout and salmon habitat, and make fishing better for everyone. 

How do we do that?  

• By protecting places such as Alaska’s Bristol Bay, home of the world’s most prolific wild salmon fishery, from industrial-scale mining.  

• By working with farmers to reconnect rivers and improve irrigation efficiency in the drought stricken West; and 

• By working with mining companies and companies such as Tiffany & Co. to restore rivers damaged by abandoned hard-rock mines.  

Now I’ll be honest—my cast could use a little work. And while I do well with whitetail, my success rate with wilderness elk hunts is about 15 percent.  But that is not the point. All of us at TU are passionate about hunting and fishing, and leaving a richer and better fishing and hunting experience for those we know will surely follow.  

Wood is the president and CEO of Trout Unlimited. Follow TU on Facebook and Twitter. Or, better yet, become a member.