Boone & Crockett Club Praises President Bush for Leadership on Executive Order.

WASHINGTON -- The Boone & Crockett (B&C) Club, America's oldest hunting and conservation organization, today praised President Bush for his leadership in signing an executive order which recognizes that outdoor activities like hunting can provide tremendous benefits to both individuals and wildlife conservation.

This newly-signed executive order comes on the heels of the establishment of the Sporting Conservation Council in 2006, which is chaired by former B&C president Robert Model. The Sporting Conservation Council is a federally chartered advisory committee that works closely with the departments of Interior and Agriculture on wildlife conservation issues such as hunting access, education, healthy landscapes and energy development.

Model noted, "We thank President Bush for his recognition of the value that sportsmen and conservation bring to the table in finding positive solutions to land management. I've had numerous opportunities to meet with the President and discuss these important issues. I'm proud of the fact that he recognizes our ability to come up with innovative solutions to these complex issues."

President Bush participated in a key White House conference on Cooperative Conservation in St. Louis in 2005 where he discussed his vision for cooperative solutions to land management decisions.

Model added, "This President has followed the footsteps of our original founder of the Boone & Crockett Club, Theodore Roosevelt, in his true belief that conservation should be an integral part of our environmental ethic. I'm proud that through the leadership and vision of groups like Boone & Crockett and others that we have laid the framework for management decisions that will positively impact sportsmen and conservationists for generations to come."

The executive order from the President recognizes that outdoor activities like hunting can provide tremendous benefits to both individuals and to wildlife conservation. "The Sporting Conservation Council appreciates the President's recognition of hunters and hunting in preserving America's wildlife," added Model.

The President's executive order convenes within one year a White House conference on North American Wildlife Policy that will set the stage to meet periodically to establish a comprehensive 10-year recreational hunting and wildlife conservation plan taking into account the management of game species and their habitats.

Model added, "I wish to thank other leaders in our community like Jeff Crane of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation as well as Steve Mealey, the founder of the American Wildlife Conservation Partners, for their leadership and vision which ultimately led to this historic moment."

Model noted that President Bush has been actively engaged with the sportsmen community since taking office in 2001...noting several face-to-face meetings where hunting and conservation policy were discussed in detail with the President as well as key members of his Cabinet from both the U.S. Department of the Interior as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Boone & Crockett Club is the nation's original hunting and conservation organization founded in 1888. The club's headquarters are located in Missoula, Montana.