WASHINGTON – The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today announced that its popular union-focused hunting and fishing club, the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, will become a stand-alone entity separate from the TRCP. Throughout the transition and beyond, the TRCP and its labor union partners will continue to foster the relationship that has resulted in union members becoming an influential and growing voice in national conservation policy.
“We at the TRCP are proud of the progress made by the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance since we started it in 2007,” said Jim Martin, TRCP board chair. “The USA program now is ready to grow to the next level. We look forward to continuing to work with the AFL-CIO and our other union partners on the conservation policy issues that matter most to American sportsmen.”
Formed in 2007 by the TRCP, the USA gives union hunters and anglers the opportunity to unite their union and outdoor lifestyles and connect with fellow union sportsmen across North America. When union members join the USA, they also become TRCP partners and help safeguard American sporting traditions and advance the TRCP mission, activities that have contributed to the TRCP’s increasing effectiveness in furthering conservation objectives in the interest of the hunting and angling community.
“The TRCP created the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance to promote the TRCP’s conservation mission and strengthen the impact of American workers in determining responsible management and use of our natural resources,” said USA Executive Director Fred Myers. “This vision – and the role of union members in conservation policymaking – will be perpetuated under the USA’s new identity and reinforced by the strong leadership of the TRCP and its union partners.”
The USA will remain based in Nashville, Tenn., and continue interactions and joint undertakings with the TRCP’s Washington, D.C., headquarters and Western staff. While maintaining its conservation approach, formed in consultation with TRCP leadership and staff, the USA will continue its policy of non-partisanship by not taking positions on political agendas, parties or candidates.
“The TRCP remains committed to the success of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance and to nurturing its increasing influence in the U.S. conservation arena,” said Diane Craney, interim president and CEO of the TRCP. “By facilitating the USA’s re-creation as a separate, stand-alone entity, we can refine and sharpen the conservation focus, both with union members and the sportsmen’s community as a whole, that has become a hallmark of the TRCP.”
“The USA offers our nation’s union members the chance to organize, sustain and defend a uniquely American way of life – an outdoor heritage both for themselves and for their children and grandchildren to enjoy,” said AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka. “The AFL-CIO is honored to have played a founding role in establishing the USA, and we welcome the opportunity to foster our partnership with the TRCP by continuing to promote a conservation message that resonates with union workers everywhere.”
Learn more about the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance. <http://www.unionsportsmen.org/>
Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations
and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions
of hunting and fishing.
