CSF PRIORITY MICHIGAN HUNTER ED IN SCHOOLS BILL AWAITS GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE

Article Contact: Bob Matthews

Why It Matters: Within striking distance of crossing the finish line on a multi-year effort, the Michigan Senate’s unanimous passage of a Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) priority bill to allow hunter education and firearm safety to be taught in schools for credit towards graduation aims to introduce young people to firearm safety, the great outdoors, and the unmatched role sportsmen and women play in wildlife conservation.

Highlights:

• Michigan House Bill 4285 was unanimously approved by the Michigan Senate last week, sending the bill to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
• Members of the Michigan Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus (Caucus) championed this legislation in both chambers, including the Sponsor of the House’s version, Representative Curt VanderWall, and the Sponsor of the Senate version, Caucus Co-Chair Senator Jon Bumstead.
• The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation has supported the passage of this legislation at each stop along the legislative process and looks forward to the Governor’s signature, which will clear a path for new hunters to join us afield.

With the Michigan Senate’s unanimous vote of approval last week, MI HB 4285 is only a short step away from being codified. This legislation would require the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to cooperate with the Michigan Department of Education to craft a standardized curriculum that schools may adopt to teach hunter education. The course would offer credit towards graduation, while simultaneously serving as the classroom requirement that is needed to earn a Michigan hunting license.

School is where students are meant to be exposed to ideas that they aren’t exposed to at home, and with fewer hunters in the fields and woods, there are fewer hunters to learn from. However, offering hunter education in schools could expose young people to the values of providing for themselves and how to safely handle a firearm, as well as teaching them about the role of sportsmen and women in conservation, both from a funding and wildlife management perspective.

Expanding hunter education in schools is a policy priority for CSF, and the passage of this legislation will be helpful not only to those who will benefit from it in the classroom but also to other Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucuses that have pursued similar legislation.

U.S. FOREST SERVICE PROPOSES FOREST RESTORATION PROJECTS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY

Article Contact: John Culclasure

Why It Matters: In line with the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS) National Active Forest Management Strategy that was released earlier this year, and trying to meet the goal of increasing the volume of timber sold annually by 25% over the next four to five years, the U.S. Forest Service recently announced several large forest restoration projects. Actively managing forests is key to creating healthy forests and watersheds that are resilient to severe wildfires and other forest health threats, and healthy forests and watersheds support both quality habitat for fish and wildlife and enhanced opportunities for sportsmen and women.

Highlights: 

• This month, the U.S. Forest Service released scoping documents for forest restoration projects on National Forests across the country, including in California, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington.
• The scoping notices and draft Environmental Assessments provide opportunities for public comment. National Environmental Policy Act projects can be tracked on National Forest project-specific planning pages and the Schedule of Proposed Actions
• It is important that hunters and anglers participate in the public input process to ensure sportsmen’s access and fish and wildlife habitat concerns are incorporated into the project decision-making process, especially considering that National Forests have traditionally fallen behind on meeting the wildlife habitat goals outlined in their respective forest plans.

In North Carolina, the U.S. Forest Service proposed the Northside Restoration Project on the Nantahala National Forest. The project proposes to restore forest structure and species composition and improve wildlife habitat, particularly early successional habitat (ESH) for ruffed grouse, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, golden-winged warbler, and American woodcock. The ESH would benefit black bears through soft mast production and by providing denning and escape cover. Silvicultural treatments are also designed to support oak and hickory recruitment for hard mast production.

In Tennessee, the USFS proposed the Dry Forest Communities – Miller Ridge Project on the Cherokee National Forest. The project will use non-commercial stand treatments and wildlife habitat improvement activities on approximately 530 acres a year over a ten-year period to enhance 255 acres of wildlife openings, improve health and diversity on 717 acres of overstocked stands less than 50 years old, and improve health and diversity on 4,374 acres of stands over 50 years old. The project will support species ranging from black bear to wild turkey.

In Washington, the USFS proposed the Forestwide Thinning Treatments Project on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The project proposes to treat up to 1,200 acres annually over a 30-year period to increase stand diversity, structural diversity, and resiliency to insects, diseases, and severe wildfire. The thinning and prescribed fire treatments will increase early seral habitat for wildlife, including deer and elk.

Roughly 63 million acres of National Forest System lands are at high or very high risk to catastrophic wildfire, and these projects are a step in the right direction for the USFS to reduce wildfire threat through various vegetation management practices and prescribed fire, which improves wildlife habitat as well. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) is excited to see these projects move forward to implementation to support the sportsmen and women who hunt and fish on National Forests.

CSF RELEASES 2025 ANNUAL OUTDOOR HERITAGE REPORT

CSF LEADS CROSS-SECTOR COALITION PUSH FOR SENATE ACTION ON THE FIX OUR FORESTS ACT

Article Contact: John Culclasure

Why It Matters: Longer wildfire seasons, more frequent and intense wildfires, and other forest health stressors increasingly threaten forests, fish and wildlife habitat, and communities. Between 1990 and 2020, the Wildland-Urban Interface increased by 31%. Accelerating the pace and scale of forest restoration through the policy reforms in the Fix Our Forests Act would be a significant step towards reducing wildfire risk for communities and improving forest health, wildlife habitat, and access for sportsmen and women on federal lands.

Highlights:  

• More than 117 million acres of federal lands are at high or very high risk of wildfire, threatening fish and wildlife habitat, watersheds, communities, and access for sportsmen and women.

•  In 2024, nearly 65,000 wildfires burned more than 8.9 million acres, exceeding the 10-year average for the number of wildfires (62,307) and acres burned (7.0 million). While roughly one-third of wildfires in 2024 occurred on federal public lands, more than half of the acreage burned by wildfires occurred on U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Affairs lands.

• The bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act would modernize federal forest management policies to mitigate severe wildfire risk by increasing forest resiliency through science-based forest management. CSF strongly supports actively managing forests, including through prescribed fire, to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health and wildlife habitat.

On December 5, 2025, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) submitted a letter to Senate leadership from a coalition of 45 organizations representing forest industry, state forestry agencies, sportsmen and women, and other conservation organizations, which encouraged them to schedule floor time for the Fix Our Forests Act (S. 1462).

The letter stressed the importance of modernizing federal forest and wildfire management policies, including fixing the 2015 Cottonwood decision that has stymied forest health improvement projects for a decade, expanding collaborative tools, streamlining processes, and promoting cross-boundary management and coordination among federal agencies and other state, Tribal, and local governments. The Fix Our Forests Act would expand the Good Neighbor Authority, reform litigation against forest management projects, increase the acreage of several National Environmental Policy Act categorical exclusions to facilitate the implementation of more forest restoration projects to reduce hazardous fuel loads and increase forest resiliency to severe wildfires, and more.

The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee advanced the legislation on an 18-5 vote on October 21, 2025. Earlier in the year, the House passed its version of the Fix Our Forests Act (H.R. 471) on a 279-141 vote. The House and Senate versions of the legislation were led by bipartisan sponsors, Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Co-Chair Chairman Westerman and Congressman Peters, and CSC Senators Curtis, Hickenlooper, Padilla, and Sheehy. The vote counts that both versions of the bill received demonstrate strong bipartisan support for passing the legislation.

CSF commends the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee for advancing the Fix Our Forests Act and is thankful to the sponsors of both versions of the legislation for their leadership addressing this critical issue for sportsmen and women, forest industry, and communities across the country in the Wildland-Urban Interface. CSF is hopeful that the Senate will bring the Fix Our Forests Act to the floor soon.

LEGISLATION TO UPDATE THE GEORGIA OUTDOOR STEWARDSHIP TRUST FUND UP FOR CONSIDERATION

Article Contact: Conner Barker

Why It Matters: Sportsmen and women continue to step up to the plate as the primary funders of conservation in North America. Through the “user pays – public benefits” structure that is the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF), hunters and anglers generate revenue from sporting license sales and excise tax revenue from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration programs. Additionally, some states, like Georgia, also have additional streams of dedicated conservation funding in place to complement and enhance the ASCF, increasing the resources states have available to conserve our public trust resources.

Highlights: 

• In 2018, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Act (Act) which was subsequently approved with 83% support by Georgia voters later that same year.

• The Act authorized up to 80% of all money received by the state from the sales and use tax collected by outdoor recreation equipment to be deposited into the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund (Fund) for the purpose of funding the protection of conservation land in Georgia.

• Currently, 40% of funds received from the collection of sales and use tax on outdoor recreation equipment can be credited to the Fund.

• Introduced by Georgia Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus (Caucus) Member Representative Jesse Petrea in April of 2025, House Bill 919 would further strengthen the Act and is up for additional consideration in 2026.

2026 is set to be a busy year in the Peach State. With this year being the back end of the two-year session, legislation introduced during the 2025 session is still up for consideration. This includes House Bill 451, a Caucus led bill and Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) policy priority, which would offer hunter safety education courses in schools for students in grades 6-12. Additionally, House Bill 443, a bill which would create minor fees for reef and migratory fish endorsements and help advance saltwater fisheries management in the South Atlantic region, is also still on the table.

Finally, House Bill 919 is still up for consideration and could improve the already established dedicated conservation funding program in the Peach State. As it currently stands, House Bill 919 would eliminate a mechanism that is designed to decrease the amount of money that the General Assembly can appropriate into the fund based on total state sales and use tax revenue from the previous year. Without this language in place, as proposed in House Bill 919, the Fund would be better protected against potential large reductions in funding.

Additionally, the Act allows for up to 80% of all money received by the state from sales and use tax collected on outdoor recreation equipment to be deposited into the Fund. Currently, only 40% of the money generated from the sales and use tax on outdoor equipment is appropriated into the Fund. Thus, the General Assembly has the opportunity this session to increase the financial support of conservation in the state of Georgia by up to two-fold.

CSF looks forward to hitting the ground running this week as the Georgia General Assembly convenes for the 2026 session. From CSF’s proactive policy initiatives, to other key legislation aimed at strengthening dedicated conservation funding and marine fisheries, there will be no shortage of opportunities to engage with the Caucus and sporting conservation partners in the Peach State.

States Involved: GA

SECRETARY BURGUM ISSUES IMPORTANT ORDER TO INCREASE ACCESS FOR HUNTERS AND ANGLERS

(January 14, 2026) – Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum issued Secretarial Order 3447 (S.O. 3447), Expanding Hunting and Fishing Access, Removing Unnecessary Barriers, and Ensuring Consistency Across the Department of the Interior (DOI) Lands and Waters, a move strongly supported by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF).

S.O. 3447 demonstrates the commitment of Secretary Burgum to our nation’s hunters and anglers by directing bureaus and offices within the DOI’s purview to prioritize access, remove unnecessary barriers, improve coordination and alignment with state, tribal, and territorial wildlife agencies, and elevating any proposed reductions in hunting and fishing access to the appropriate leaders within DOI. CSF is excited to see directives to work to improve access for sportsmen and women provided to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and the Bureau of Reclamation to improve Departmental-wide access for hunting and fishing. This Secretarial Order also builds on President Trump’s Executive Order entitled Make America Beautiful Again, which recognizes the important role hunters and anglers play.

“CSF extends our appreciation to Secretary Burgum for his leadership and support for America’s hunters and anglers. As America enters its 250th Anniversary, it is important to recognize that our country provides an unmatched opportunity for the public, regardless of income or background, to enjoy our time-honored traditions of hunting and fishing, something that is unique to the rest of the world,”said CSF President and CEO Jeff Crane. “Secretarial Order 3447 recognizes our hunting and fishing traditions, and we stand ready to work with the Secretary to implement this directive.”

Further, S.O. 3447 recognizes that science should drive any decisions related to the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle. Specifically, this Secretarial Order requires that lead ammo and tackle may not be restricted within the Refuge System unless site-specific and species-specific scientific evidence demonstrates a direct population-level impact while requiring the alignment of regulations to be consistent with state and tribal regulations. Notably, S.O. 3447 recognizes the importance of allowing hunters and anglers to make their own determination as to what type of ammunition or tackle they prefer by continuing the implementation of voluntary lead-free incentive programs.

S.O. 3447 is an important step forward for sportsmen and women, and we are looking forward to working closely with the Department of the Interior to ensure public lands are open to hunting and fishing where it matters.