National Wildlife Federation Joins the Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation

Contact:
Erin Mooney, Trout Unlimited, emooney@tu.org [1] - (571) 331-7970
Mékell Mikel, National Wildlife Federation, mikell@nwf.org [2] - (703) 438-6273

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

National Wildlife Federation Joins the Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation

Alliance now represents over 200,000 sportsmen and women

Arlington, Va. — The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is now a member of the Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation, joining ranks with thousands of other sportsmen and women who are working to protect hunting and angling opportunities in the Marcellus Shale region.

The sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation (Sportsmen Alliance) is an affiliation of over 200,000 sportsmen and women working together to identify and mitigate the impacts of Marcellus Shale gas drilling on hunting, fishing, trapping and other outdoor sporting activities.

"We're thrilled to have NWF join the Sportsmen Alliance to protect the places near and dear to sportsmen and women in the Marcellus shale region," said Katy Dunlap, Eastern Water Project director for Trout Unlimited. "Increasing the power of the alliance is key to our advocacy work to ensure that Marcellus Shale gas development does not negatively impact sportsmen's interests."

The National Wildlife Federation is America's largest conservation organization. It has more than 4 million members, partners and supporters in communities across the country to protect and restore wildlife habitat, confront global warming and connect children with nature. The National Wildlife Federation has over 189,000 members in the Marcellus Shale region.

"The Marcellus Shale region is rich in natural gas and rich in fish and wildlife," said Todd Keller, senior manager for public lands campaigns for the National Wildlife Federation. "When energy exploration is done safely and responsibly, air, water, wildlife and the sportsmen's way of life can be protected for current and future generations".

Members of the Sportsmen Alliance include Trout Unlimited and its Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Mid-Atlantic, Virginia, and New Jersey state councils, Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, the Federation of Fly fishers, the Izzaak Walton League of America and its New York and Pennsylvania state divisions, New York State Trappers Association, Quality Deer Management Association, Pennsylvania Forest Coalition and The Wildlife Society.

The Sportsmen Alliance is not opposed to gas drilling and recognizes its potential economic and social benefits. Rather, it is concerned that the current state and local policies governing gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale do not adequately protect valuable and irreplaceable natural resources, including clean water and critical habitat for fish and wildlife.

For more information about the alliance: http://www.sportsmenalliance.org/ [3]

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Trout Unlimited is the nation's largest coldwater conservation organization, with 140,000 members dedicated to conserving, protecting, and restoring North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. Follow TU on Facebook [4] and Twitter at @TroutUnlimited.