ACT: Nongame Wildlife Needs Your Help-- Contact your State Senator at [log in to unmask] From Jane Clark Chair, Iowa Chapter The most recent Iowa Sierran covered details about the needs of Iowa DNR's Wildlife Diversity Program (WDP) that continues to be chronically underfunded. Yesterday, the Iowa House passed HF 2552, which is a bill dealing with various aspects of special license plates, and that bill will very soon be considered in the Senate. We have learned that an amendment will be offered to increase the cost of the REAP Natural Resource license plates within the bill, HF 2552. This amendment will propose that the amount of the increase be earmarked to help DNR's Wildlife Diversity Program meet the required match for federal grants and other critical needs (base fees for REAP plates will continue going to the REAP program, as in the past). WDP has successfully carried out several important projects with federal grants for the past two years. As a citizen concerned about the future of Iowa's more than 550 kinds of nongame wildlife, I'm sending you this update and requesting that you urge your State Senator to support this amendment to HF 2552. Saving Iowa's nongame wildlife program by helping fund the Wildlife Diversity Fund is a worthwhile idea--please contact your state Senator and ask that he or she support this amendment. But you must act immediately or it may be too late. If the amended bill passes the Senate, it must go back to the House, which then must approve the amended bill. It will be even MORE critical that you contact your local Representative at that time and urge him or her to support the amended bill. Purchase of the REAP license plate will remain voluntary. Anyone not wishing to support either the REAP or Wildlife Diversity Programs does not have to purchase the license plate. This is a very positive, non-taxing, bi-partisan issue that stands to greatly improve nongame wildlife's future in Iowa. I hope you might agree with this view and will consider contacting your legislators very soon. *More information on what the "nongame" program does: Iowa's Wildlife Diversity Program (WDP) is responsible for the welfare of approximately 557 "nongame" species of wildlife, or about 83% of the state's diverse wildlife community (the other 17% are "game" species). Because management of game and sport fish is funded by hunting or fishing licences and matching federal funds from manufacturer fees on sporting arms, ammunition and fishing equipment, great strides have been made in providing for the needs of those species. Iowa's much more numerous nongame species, however, have no similar means of securing their habitat and survival needs. Work must, therefore, be limited primarily to a few wildlife surveys, a minimal number of public presentations, and restoration of a very few popular, "high-profile" species, such as Peregrine Falcons or Trumpeter Swans. The WDP is currently funded primarily by volunteer public contributions, through the "Chickadee Checkoff" line on Iowa 1040 tax forms and by individual donations directly to the program. Combined, these sources barely meet half of the WDP's annual operating budget, and the balance must be scraped from other agency revenues. A source of more permanent and predictable funding would enable WDP to assure that federal grant program match requirements are met. This would, in turn, provide improved opportunities for research, habitat management and protection, species restoration, and some modest level of increased staffing. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]