New Hampshire sportsmen and women have made huge strides in restoring the state’s wildlife species. Across the country, the sporting community has invested millions of dollars to restore wildlife and nature preserves, ensuring that New Hampshire hunters and anglers have adequate places to find the fish and game species they cherish. In 2011 alone, over 12 million hunters spent more than $16 billion on big game hunting. Hunters and anglers have gladly paid special taxes on gear and licenses to support restoration, seeing it as an investment in protecting our outdoor heritage for future generations.

But as carbon pollution disrupts normal ecosystem functions across the country, those investments are being put at risk. A new report from the National Wildlife Federation, Nowhere to Run: Big Game Wildlife in a Warming World, concludes that warming temperatures are threatening key big game species like moose, white tailed deer and black bear.

Our elected officials can help save America’s big game by supporting Environmental Protection Agency limits on carbon pollution, providing wildlife agencies with the support they need to create climate-smart conservation strategies, and managing big game populations with a changing climate in mind. The time to act is now, and I encourage New Hampshire citizens and representatives to support clean air strategies for the future.

Loren Valliere

Nottingham

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