Fishing, hunting, sport shooting and archery should be accessible to all americans regardless of race

This federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the Multistate Conservation Grant Program (CFDA 15.628) provides $171,500 to conduct research and training to increase participation in fishing, hunting, sport shooting, and archery among people of color across the United States. The purpose of the project is to determine effective strategies for engaging communities of color in these outdoor recreational activities and provide guidance to state agencies and the R3 (recruitment, retention, and reactivation) community on implementing programs to improve diversity and inclusivity. The project will benefit all 50 states by delivering new communications approaches and training materials to help facilitate greater participation from people of color in these activities.

While the latest national survey of fishing, hunting and wildlife-associated recreation shows that the vast majority of current hunters and anglers in the united states continue to be white and non hispanic recent relevancy and participation studies provide evidence of the substantial interest in hunting and fishing as well as sport shooting and archery among people of color such as black people, hispanic latino people, asian people, and indigenous people. For example, a recent relevancy survey conducted by responsive management for the oklahoma department of wildlife conservation found that fishing is one of the top activities in which black people and native americans are most interested. A similar survey for the ohio division of wildlife found that black residents compared to state residents as a whole were more likely to be very interested in learning more about fish and wildlife as opposed to somewhat or not at all interested. Additionally, the latest sport shooting participation trend survey from the national shooting sports foundation indicates that black americans are the fastest growing segment of new sport shooters meaning those who took up the activity for the first time within the past 5 years. Yet major obstacles remain. The same relevancy studies show that people of color are often more likely to report feeling unsafe in the outdoors, more likely to be unfamiliar with their state fish and wildlife agency, and more likely to feel that their fish and wildlife agency does not share the same values as them. People who live in urban centers in particular may feel the least welcome at lakes and rivers in the woods and in other natural settings simply because they are generally removed from such places in their day to day lives. In recent years, fish and wildlife agencies have made great strides in relevancy and engagement efforts to make fishing, hunting and sport shooting accessible and welcoming to americans of all races. However, more can and should be done to encourage diversity in participation. There is a strong need for a coordinated research and engagement effort to produce both reliable data from communities of color on the national level and training strategies for program coordinators, recruitment, retention and reactivation experts, and others who can help to engage these prospective new anglers hunters sport shooters and archers. The purpose of this project is to conduct new research with people of color throughout the united states to determine how to most effectively engage them and facilitate their participation in fishing, hunting, sport shooting, and archery and to provide training the trainers guidance through on-site events and a webinar to help agency staff and members of the R3 community engage communities of color. This project will benefit all 50 states by providing new communications strategies and training materials to bolster participation from and engagement with people of color in fishing, hunting, sport shooting and archery.