LETTER: Biden is strong on issues that matter to hunters and fishers

To Ozaukee Press:
    It’s September, and for most hunters and anglers the next three months are golden. For me, that means bow hunting and fall musky fishing. This is my 40th year of bow hunting, and I’ve been gun hunting and fishing a lot longer than that. My kids grew up on venison. This fall also brings an election and for sportsmen and women there’s a lot at stake. That’s why I’m voting for Joe Biden.
     As a former DNR secretary, I’ve been appalled as I have watched a steady erosion of environmental ethics and public land protection. With the Trump administration, we’ve seen a rollback of rules protecting wetlands, streams and ponds. These are nurseries for fish and waterfowl, and wetlands in particular provide protection for drinking water and reduce runoff.
     We’ve seen executive orders allowing agencies to waive environmental reviews for highway, mine and pipeline projects, and attempts to gut the Endangered Species Act. And we’ve seen the largest rollback in federal land protection in our nation’s history, including 1.2 million acres of public land newly opened for oil and gas leasing.
     We’re all public landowners and our property is being robbed and exploited, and our waters despoiled. We can put a stop to this.
     Joe Biden will keep public lands in public hands; expand and fully fund the North American Wetlands Conservation Act to conserve critical habitat in the Great Lakes region; increase state grants for public access and fish and wildlife habitat; support expanded funding for CWD research; and address the challenge of protecting the Great Lakes from Asian carp and other aquatic invasives.  
    If you’re a law-abiding gun owner, you should know that Joe Biden is one too, and he has no interest in taking your firearms. I taught hunter education and firearms safety for five years and proudly welcomed several hundred hunters, young and old, into the hunting community. Biden supports universal background checks, and that’s good news for all of us.
    If you support Second Amendment rights to engage in hunting, shooting sports and home defense, you’ve got nothing to worry about. The NRA has been crying wolf too long, to line their coffers and support the corrupt and lavish lifestyles of their leadership. Don’t be fooled again.
Scott Hassett
Waterloo
The letter writer is chairman of the Town of Waterloo and was Wisconsin DNR secretary 2003-2007. He is co-chair of Sportsmen and Sportswomen for Biden.