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to fragment and replace forest habitats, while tropical forests throughout Latin America are 

 being eliminated at a rate of nearly 50 acres per minute. Declines in Some species have been 

 gradual, while losses in other species have been more precipitous. The wood thrush, scissor- 

 tailed flycatcher, prairie and cerulean warblers, bobolink, and Baltimore oriole, to name a few, 

 are all showing long term declines. Over the last quarter century, numerous species of 

 shorebirds have declined sharply. Mountain plovers have declined by 3.5 percent annually and 

 lesser yellow legs have declined by 6 percent annually over the last 25 years. 



In its five year history, the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Initiative has made 229 

 grants dedicating over $20.2 million for non-game migratory bird conservation. By bringing 

 together federal, state and provincial wildlife agencies; universities and forest products 

 companies; and coimtless bird conservation groups, the Foundation's Neotropical Migratory 

 Bird Conservation Initiative is developing solutions that integrate the needs of both non-game 

 birds and people. 



I should point out that NFWF does not lobby or litigate, and does not take positions on 

 specific pieces of legislation. Our focus is solving conservation problems through grant 

 making; bringing together diverse interests to benefit fish, wildlife, and their habitats. Since 

 1987, at the request of Congress, and at private expense, NFWF has produced an annual series 

 of Fisheries and Wildlife Assessments. These documents attempt to identify successful 

 programs of the federal agencies with primary responsibility for the management of fish and 

 wildlife resources, and provide recommendations for funding and programmatic changes. Our 

 recommendations directly reflect the insights we've gained from our grant portfolio. Past 

 Fisheries and Wildlife Assessments have included recommendations to increase funding for 

 Partners in Flight, an interagency program to conserve Neotropical migratory birds, and 

 increase funding for Partners for Wildlife, the Fish and Wildlife Service's voluntary program 

 to restore habitat on private land, for non-game as well as game species. While the most 

 recent Assessments have made deficit neutral funding recommendations reflecting the efforts 

 of Congress efforts to balance the budget, one theme has run through nearly all the 

 Assessments: "It continues to be our view that in the larger context of the entire federal 

 discretionary budget, nattiral resource management programs are severely under-funded and 

 under-represented. " 



Many fish and wildlife species, including migratory waterfowl and other game species enjoy 

 strong financial support from hunters and anglers through revenues generated from the sales 

 of hunting and fishing licenses, and excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment and motor 

 boat fuels. Through federal excise taxes alone sportsmen and women contributed over $525 

 million in fiscal year 1995 through the Pittman-Robertson and Wallop-Breaux programs to 

 support fish and wildlife conservation. NFWF coimts as valued partners groups such as Ducks 

 Unlimited, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Quail Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, the 

 National Wild Turkey Federation, and Trout Unlimited, as well as our corporate partners Bass 

 Pro, Budweiser, Chevrolet, Georgia Pacific, Orvis, Exxon, and Phillips Petroleum to name a 

 few. We sincerely appreciate the significant contributions sportsmen and women have made 

 toward fish and wildlife conservation. 



Unfortimately, there is currently no similar mechanism in place to allow non-game wildlife 



