Oregon moves to stem hunting, fishing decline

Oregon moves to stem hunting, fishing decline: "Oregon moves to stem hunting, fishing decline
Sunday, January 08, 2006
The core of hunters (and anglers, to a lesser degree) carrying support of wildlife on their backs are declining in one of the West's greatest traditional hunting states.
More than 200,000 Oregonians still hunt, and nearly 1 million angling licenses and tags are sold annually.
But the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is at a key crossroads to ensure the sport's future.
'The concept of declining numbers is a national deal,' said Roy Elicker, who became interim director of the department Tuesday. 'From someone who's very concerned about this professionally and personally, I'm going to look at ways in the next few months to slow the decline or even do better than that.' "