Foundation :

Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation
The Sportsmen’s Link to Annapolis

OVERVIEW
The Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to assist the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus in fulfilling its Mission. The relationship between Maryland’s Sportsmen’s Foundation and Sportsmen’s Caucus is modeled after the relationship between the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, respectively.

In brief, the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation serves as the “eyes and ears” of the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus in helping the Caucus (1) advance policy-position papers on statutory, budgetary and regulatory issues impacting sportsmen’s interests in Maryland; (2) organize outdoor recreational events; and (3) research issues of interest to the Caucus.

MEMBERSHIP
There are 13 Members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

ANNUAL BANQUET & AUCTION
The Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation hosts one annual fundraising event each year. It takes place during the Legislative Session of the Maryland General Assembly, generally in February or March in Annapolis, Maryland. Please contact us for more information about this exciting event.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
To date, the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus – with assistance from the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation – has helped accomplish the following:

• enact legislation that authorizes, for the first time since 1723, limited Sunday hunting opportunities for deer -- two days only and only on private lands.

• secure funding for land conservation and wildlife habitat restoration.

• block an effort to prohibit the use of leghold traps.

• block an effort to impose a moratorium on the hunting of black bear in Western Maryland.

• create a legislative study to assess the benefits of a Freedom to Fish Act in Maryland.

Perhaps the most important accomplishment realized to date in Maryland is the elevation of sportsmen’s rights in the eyes of the Maryland General Assembly. For the first time, Maryland sportsmen have a Caucus whose Members are dedicated to upholding the traditional rights of the American sportsman to hunt, trap, fish and promote wildlife conservation through land acquisition/management and CREP funding [Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program]. This achievement is even more remarkable when measured against the fact that Maryland’s General Assembly is more urban-oriented than rural-oriented. When you are the 5th most densely populated State in the country, people’s proximity to one another does not lend itself easily to a toleration of the rights of sportsmen to pursue their interests.