Last week, I wrote my first diary on DailyKos about the impact of climate change on hunting -- based on my first hand experience. That same day, Steve Rinella had an excellent op-ed in Friday’s New York Times pointing out some of the other issues facing the hunting community. Steve pointed out that hunters, often maligned, are actually some of the best advocates for the environment:

Steve’s conclusion also struck a chord with me:

Thank you, Steve, is the first thing I can say. Hunters are stewards of the land. We are, in fact, among the original conservationists. And, as Steve notes, many hunters are locavores. (That's the word of the year according to the New Oxford American Dictionary meaning those who eat locally grown food.)

We need to do a better job of explaining not only who we are, but how we value our precious resources. And, if we have a bad image, we have to ask why.

That’s one reason I helped start the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA). We have several key missions, one of which is preserving the environment. That depends on hunters and shooters understanding their contribution to maintaining a healthy, productive environment. Our website lays it out:

Pretty basic stuff. But, it’s been lost in the angry partisan rhetoric that arises on any issue that involves gun. Because of that, our interests as hunters are overlooked.

Unfortunately, the group many hunters and shooters have relied upon to protect our interests, the NRA, has failed miserably. Not because of its membership, but because of the NRA’s leadership.

Instead of engaging in pro-hunter, pro-conservation policies, the group’s leaders have chosen a far, different path. They’ve made angry, partisan rhetoric their standard operating procedure.

Pretty shocking, but it was only last month that the NRA took the initiative to start a website about hunter’s rights. I actually think the group only rekindled an interest in these issues after I helped create AHSA.

Ironically, the NRA’s efforts are being led by Kayne Robinson. In 2004, Robinson single-handedly drove a wedge between Outdoor Writers and the NRA by attacking the Sierra Club’s efforts to join with hunters to preserve public lands. Instead of building a powerful pro-hunting, pro-environmental alliance – and that alliance could be very powerful -- Robinson chose confrontational politics – again.

Even more disturbing is the information uncovered by former NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman, who recently published "Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist." In an op-ed that first appeared in Sunday’s Washington Post, Feldman continues to expose the way the NRA has become an ATM for its leaders – to the detriment of the membership. Like so many interest groups in Washington, the NRA’s leaders have put their interests first. As an aside, I also appreciate Feldman’s acknowledgment that gun owners span the political spectrum (liberal, moderate and conservative) – and that we share common values across that ideological spectrum. That is something both political parties – and the NRA’s leaders – often seem to forget.

The NRA doesn’t sound like an organization worried about what’s happening to the hunters, like me, who are waiting for ducks to fly south – when the ducks are not flying south because of global warming.

Hunters are facing serious issues -- not just within our ranks, but within our very world. From climate change to the over-development of public lands, we are directly impacted. At AHSA, I’m committed to hunters and I’m committed to a safe, clean world. To me, the two go hand-in-hand. Americans who love the outdoors and the shooting sports deserve an organization that represents their views, avoids angry political rhetoric and delivers well thought out, rational programs and policy proposals. That’s AHSA.

"Where are the ducks?" That’s the question hunters across the country have been asking for the last couple years. I’ve been asking it myself. And, I can tell you, it’s disconcerting.

Something is changing in the environment – keeping migratory birds up north longer. For me, it’s not a theory, it’s a reality. I see it every year at my farm in Maryland.

An article in last Tuesday’s New York Times spotlights the issue that is affecting hunters across the country -- and lays out the threat:

That is a very disturbing prospect for the hunting community, which brings me to another question like-minded hunters who care about the environment are asking: Who is watching out for our concerns? There really was no place for hunters like me, who love the outdoors, respect their firearms and have progressive values.

That’s why I helped start the American Hunters & Shooters Association(AHSA). It is our belief that Americans who love the outdoors and the shooting sports deserve an organization that represents their views, avoids angry political rhetoric and delivers well thought out, rational programs and policy proposals.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the National Rifle Association (NRA) value their political ties and the perks of their jobs more than the hunting heritage. You’d like to think the NRA, an organization founded with a commitment to conservation, would use its supposed power to protect hunters and hunting lands. They don’t -- as we witnessed in the debacle over the Bush administration’s decision to allow road construction and logging on national forest lands.

With right wing leaders like Grover Norquist on the NRA Board, you know their agenda isn’t about a better environment and open space. The group’s leaders put partisan politics and their own self-interest first. That is well-documented in a recently published book, , by former NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman. Earlier this week, Meteor Blades detailed the pro-industry policies of the Bush-Cheney administration that have seriously degraded our public lands.

At AHSA, we believe responsible and ethical actions are the duty of all hunters and shooters who use the outdoors. That also includes support for sound environmental policies that preserve the outdoors and support for candidates who share those values.

We know concern about global warming is widely shared by hunters based on the findings of the 2006 National Wildlife Federation Nationwide Opinion Survey of Hunters and Anglers:

Obviously many hunters, myself included, are experiencing direct effect of those changes as, each hunting season, we’re faced with the question of "Where are the ducks?" What many of us are seeing appear to be the real world impacts of global warming.

If you are one of the many progressive Americans who share both my love of hunting and shooting and a deep commitment to progressive values like a clean earth, check out AHSA. To preserve our traditions, hunters can be – and must be -- stewards of the earth.