So What Is The North American Model of Conservation?

We recently received a question from a reader regarding the North American Model of Conservation including its origins and key principles.

We felt it best to defer to the Boone & Crockett Club for this information. Here’s the heart of it with a link to read their full description below.

From the Boone & Crockett Club

The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is anchored by a Supreme Court decision that decreed that wildlife was common to all and belongs to the people, and not government, corporations or individuals. It represents how “we as the people” view these natural resources and directs how this natural resource is to be used and managed under sustainable guidelines for the betterment of wildlife and people. It is the reason why we still have abundant, wildlife populations in the U.S. and Canada and the opportunity to freely hunt, fish or enjoy this wildlife each in our own way.

The Model is guided by seven principles. It developed overtime out of necessity to reverse the negative affects from the unregulated over harvesting of many species of wildlife and early attitudes that these resources where there for the taking and inexhaustible. Sportsmen and women, lead by the efforts of the Boone and Crockett Club and its members helped to either establish, popularize, mobilize support for, and/or defend each of these guiding principles over the past 130 years. The results are unprecedented in the history of mankind.

In the Public Trust – Wildlife belongs to the people and is to be managed in trust for the people by government agencies.

The notion of public ownership of wildlife is an ancient concept, dating back to Roman times, but this idea was reinterpreted on European soil, where often times noblemen were the “public” and owned all the lands – and the wildlife on them. Under these circumstances the common man often had no access to these resources. Killing a deer was considered theft, and the consequences were severe. Such dogma and exclusivity were what many considered tyranny and a prime example of the ideology that led to a mass exodus from Europe to the New World, and the freedom to prosper through self-reliance, including the right to fish and hunt.

With a country of their own, America’s lawmakers through a Supreme Court decision established public ownership of wildlife as law. Titled the Public Trust Doctrine, this principle is the very essence and foundation of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.  It would ultimately expand to link funding of wildlife management to consumptive, public users, principally hunters and anglers.

Early in American history, it became clear that the responsibilities guaranteed by the Public Trust Doctrine were too great for the citizens alone to properly manage. Left to their own devices, the public would come to decimate many species of wildlife and permanently eliminate several from the American landscape. This experience made it clear that if the public ownership of wildlife was to be protected, institutions and laws would be required to safeguard wildlife for the common good.

Many of the Boone and Crockett Club’s early efforts were focused on awakening the people to the plight of their wildlife resources, and that these resources did indeed belong to them, and were in their care. These efforts were in concert with the conservation laws the Club and its members were proposing to aid in the recovery and protection of wildlife. Once the public realized it was their wildlife being irresponsibly eliminated, their outcry was so great that the conservation legislation the Club and others were proposing began passing with ease.

Prohibition on Commerce of Dead Wildlife – It will be illegal to sell the meat of any wild animal in North America.

Of paramount significance to the early destruction of North American wildlife was its commercial value and sale, which went against the very grain of the Public Trust Doctrine itself. The Doctrine was being misinterpreted and abused, and the government would have to step in to set limits on the scope of what it meant for the public to “own” wildlife.  It was critical to establish that the taking of wildlife was to be for personal use, including to feed one’s own family; and to put an end to the sale of dead wildlife in whole or in parts, for profit.

It was for this reason, that the Boone and Crockett Club’s early efforts were focused on awakening the people to the plight of their wildlife and raising awareness that these resources, which were held in the public trust, were not inexhaustible. These efforts were in concert with the first conservation laws, beginning with the passing of the Lacey Acts of 1900 and 1907, proposed by Boone and Crockett Club member John F. Lacey of Iowa. These laws banned the interstate shipment of wild birds and mammals and their products, which effectively put an end to the business of commercial market hunting amd allowed our wildlife populations to recover and flourish.

Allocation of Wildlife is by Law – Laws developed by the people and enforced by government agencies will regulate the proper use of wildlife resources.

The mere presence of man on the landscape can negatively affect wildlife and the habitats that support them. The rule of law instead of the rule of chance will be used to govern the appropriate use of these wildlife resources.

The Boone and Crockett Club proposed laws and rallied public support for these new rules of order. The Club helped establish government agencies like the U.S. Fish & Wildlife and National Forest Services that were needed to oversee the proper execution and enforcement of these laws. The Club’s Fair Chase statement also became the cornerstone for game laws established by the states.

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