A new sportsmen group that supports protecting fish and big game from the effects of energy development will hold a symposium Wednesday to Saturday in Grand Teton National Park.

Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development will host researchers and policy makers who will to come up with specific “science based” recommendations for the next presidential administration and the next Congress. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal is expected to deliver the keynote speech at 3 p.m. on Friday at Jackson Lake Lodge.

John Turner — former assistant secretary of state for oceans, international environments and scientific affairs, former president and CEO of The Conservation Fund, former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and former president of the Wyoming state Senate — will deliver the opening keynote speech at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday.

Other speakers include Wyoming Game and Fish Department deputy director John Emmerich, Teton County Planning Commission member Larry Hamilton and Richard Whitley of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, as well as a host of conservation organizations and state agencies from Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

Topics include planning and leasing for oil and gas development; research; monitoring and adaptive management; site management and enforcement; and reclamation and mitigation.

Group organizers say it’s time for hunters and anglers to get proactive about protecting fish and big-game habitat from the effects of energy development across the Western states.

The group was founded by members of the National Wildlife Federation, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Trout Unlimited.
Organizers say they will attempt to preserve land for hunting and fishing by influencing laws and policies in Western states.

As part of its campaign, the group developed a sportsmen’s “bill of rights.” It includes statements such as: “Our hunting and fishing heritage shall not be jeopardized by oil and gas development that fails to account for the future, long-term impacts to fish, wildlife and water” and, “The oil and gas industry shall pay its fair share of the cost for permitting and habitat restoration on public lands that are drilled for oil and gas.”

For information or to register, visit www.sportsmen4responsibleenergy.com/symposium.html.