ADWA ACTION ALERT

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: Our Future is Now

In many ways, the state of our industry is a contradiction. While sales of outdoor products and firearms are booming and the deer and wildlife market remain strong, public interest in wildlife and hunter participation are declining at an alarming rate.

Our society has never before been more disconnected from nature than it is today. The number of Americans 16-years-old and older who hunt has dropped nearly 50% in the past 20 years. This decline is especially shocking for many states because hunters help control deer populations and revenue from hunting licenses are crucial to conservation efforts.

These factors paint a bleak picture for all of us, and the American Deer & Wildlife Alliance is working hard in the present to preserve our American outdoor traditions for the future.

There is no greater key to that preservation than our youth. They are the future of the industry and, if our children do not begin to embrace wildlife and nature now, we literally have no future.
 
That’s why ADWA sponsors numerous youth activities and education programs across the country, such as:

• ADWA co-sponsored the Deer in School program, a program that brought live whitetail deer to more than 20,000 school children in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

• Our youth publication, Spikes Magazine, is now being delivered to summer youth camps and public libraries in 48 states.

• ADWA initiated the first deer farming workshop for professional ag teachers in Texas, a step that will lead to deer farming being taught in the public schools.

• ADWA hosts fun “Wildlife Academies” reaching hundreds of elementary school students.

• ADWA has initiated its own Wildlife Camp in Missouri, opening in July 2010

• We are opening the new ADWA Safari Camp next month.

• Plus we have hosted archery clinics; provided low-cost and free hunts for young sportsmen and held Laser Shot educational seminars.

ADWA is promoting the deer and wildlife industry unlike any other group. By allying organizations, companies and individuals under a common banner, we can better market the broad industry, promote hunting and conservation issues and help inform the general public. Even more importantly, we can reach out to the next generation and better ensure we have hunters, conservationists and deer enthusiasts 10, 20 and 30 years from now.

With your continued support, ADWA can continue to expand our efforts. For our industry and our American outdoor traditions, the future is now.