Take Action! Support the Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act

Dear ATA Member,

The archery industry and bowhunting community have been long-time supporters of wildlife conservation and are dedicated to ensuring the future of wildlife, wildlife habitat, and hunting. The Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act (H.R. 5608) introduced by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Glenn Thompson (R-PA) helps to ensure the future of deer and deer hunting by supporting management efforts and research to combat chronic wasting disease (CWD), which is an always fatal, contagious, neurological disease affecting deer, elk and moose.

The bill authorizes $70 million annually from Fiscal Year 2022 through Fiscal Year 2028 for research and management of CWD, with the money to be split evenly between research and management. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will administer the funds through cooperative agreements. The resulting efforts of these investments will go a long way toward ensuring a bright future for deer and deer hunting!

We anticipate that this bill will be voted on in the US House of Representatives later this week. Please consider joining ATA and the growing number of hunters and conservation organizations in supporting this important bipartisan legislation and helping to ensure the future of deer hunting by clicking HERE to ask your federal Representative to vote YES on H.R. 5608.

Warm regards,

Dan Forster

ATA Vice President and Chief Conservation Officer

MORE INFORMATION ON: Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act (H.R. 5608)

The research section authorizes funds to be spent on: (1) Methods to effectively detect CWD in live cervids and the environment; (2) Testing methods on non-live cervids; (3) Genetic resistance to CWD; (4) Sustainable cervid harvest management practices to reduce CWD occurrence; and (5) Factors contributing to local emergence of CWD.

The management section authorizes funding for State or Tribal wildlife agencies and departments of agriculture, with the following funding priorities: (1) Areas with the highest incidence of CWD; (2) Jurisdictions demonstrating the greatest financial commitment to managing, monitoring, surveying, and researching chronic CWD; (3) Efforts to develop comprehensive policies and programs focused on CWD management; (4) Areas showing the greatest risk of an initial occurrence of CWD; (5) Areas responding to new outbreaks of CWD.

The bill also includes authorization for USDA and state and tribal agencies to develop educational materials to inform the public on CWD and directs USDA to review its herd certification program (HCP) within 18 months of passage.