Fighting for the Wild Turkey on Capitol Hill
Benjamin Franklin once suggested in a letter to his daughter that the wild turkey might be a more fitting national bird than the bald eagle, arguing it was a better symbol of American character. While it was never an official request and the eagle eventually claimed the title, the wild turkey maintains a strong presence in Washington, DC, courtesy of the NWTF.
NWTF government affairs staff and partners work year-round on Capitol Hill and with federal agencies to represent our members and advance our mission.
The NWTF brings unique expertise in wildlife habitat conservation and forestry to numerous national partnerships. These include the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the American Wildlife Conservation Partners, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the Federal Lands Hunting, Fishing and Shooting Sports Roundtable, and various collaborative efforts within the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, such as its Policy Council, Public Lands Working Group and Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group. Through our participation in these well-respected consortia of wildlife and sporting conservation organizations, we help shape policies that matter most to hunters and those who value natural resources and public lands.
Our engagement in Washington allows us to meet directly with Congressional members and staff to educate them on priorities like active forest management, public hunting access and sound wildlife policies that support the North American Model for Wildlife Conservation. In the 119th Congress alone, these efforts yielded notable successes amid a shifting political landscape under unified Republican control. One highlight was passage of the EXPLORE Act that streamlines permitting for guides and recreational users, improves accessibility for people with disabilities and safeguards shooting ranges on public lands. It marks the first major outdoor recreation law in more than 50 years and reinforces multiple-use priorities, including hunting and fishing on federal lands.
We also played a key role in defeating proposals that threatened our mission. We successfully opposed the Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area and Wilderness Establishment Act, which would have designated more than 44,000 acres in Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest as wilderness, restricting active forest management that is key to healthy wild turkey populations. Later, we rallied the conservation community and our members, who sent more than 8,000 letters to Congressional leaders to help defeat a push to sell off Western public lands.
The NWTF continues to advocate effectively for farmers, ranchers and private forest owners who are dedicated to conserving soil, water and wildlife habitat on their working lands. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) redirected $16 billion to voluntary private lands conservation programs that are typically supported in the Farm Bill, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, the Voluntary Public Access Habitat Incentive Program and feral swine eradication efforts. This provided a permanent boost in baseline funding for habitat enhancement on working lands. The House successfully passed a “skinny” Farm Bill, reauthorizing key programs left out of the OBBA like the Conservation Reserve Program and providing streamlined permitting reform for important federal forest restoration work. We continue to encourage the Senate to take up this vital legislation before the end of this Congress.
The NWTF also maintains a long-standing partnership with the USDA Forest Service as its longest-serving stewardship contractor. Staff meets regularly with Forest Service leadership to discuss partnerships, advance funding strategies and cooperate on landscape-scale restoration projects. We also have a long history with the Natural Resources Conservation Service on helping to implement Farm Bill programs and provide technical assistance for private landowners. Supporting robust appropriations for the Forest Service and NRCS ensures they have the resources needed for habitat restoration, national forest management and private lands conservation.
The NWTF frequently joins with other sporting conservation organizations to draft coalition letters to congressional leadership and agency heads on important policies and legislation that bolsters our mission. Recent examples include letters to Senate leadership supporting the Fix Our Forests Act and a letter to Secretary of the Department of the Interior Doug Burgum celebrating his Secretarial Order 3447, Expanding Hunting and Fishing Access, Removing Unnecessary Barriers, and Ensuring Consistency Across the Department of the Interior Lands and Waters. By prioritizing the expansion of hunting and fishing access across DOI lands and waters, he reaffirmed that sportsmen and women are core to our nation’s conservation traditions.
By promoting active forest management, habitat improvements and hunting access, we help ensure thriving wild turkey populations and opportunities for future generations of hunters. Whether navigating Farm Bill renewals or defending public lands, NWTF remains steadfast in representing our members in the nation’s capital.
Even if the bald eagle sits atop the flagpole, the wild turkey, through the NWTF’s efforts, has secured a prominent perch in Washington. Our members can take pride knowing their voices echo in the halls of power advancing conservation and our hunting heritage.