Founded in 1922, the Izaak Walton League of America (IWL) is an organization of hunters, anglers, outdoor recreationists, and conservationists whose stated mission is "to conserve, maintain, protect and restore the soil, forest, water and other natural resources of the United States and other lands; [and] to promote means and opportunities for the education of the public with respect to such resources and their enjoyment and wholesome utilization." IWL claims a current membership of some 50,000 people and has more than 300 local chapters nationwide; one-third of its members live in the eight Great Lakes states. The League's President is Timothy Reid. The Executive Director is Paul Hansen.
Named after Izaak Walton, the 17th-century English conservationist who wrote the literary classic The Compleat Angler, IWL says of itself: "We are one of the oldest conservation organizations, and the first to set an aggressive course to defend wild America by changing public policy. … During the past 75 years, no other conservation group in the country has had such a profound effect on the nation's conservation policies."
IWL's program areas include the following:
(a) Agriculture: "Efforts by the League addressing soil erosion dates to 1937. … Today, [t]he League works to protect water quality by reducing … runoff pollution, particularly from confined animal feeding operations."
(b) Energy: "Of particular importance to League members are electric utility goals for saving energy through conservation programs, as well as cleaning up the electric generation sector through power plant modernization and expanding the use of renewable energy. … Modern utility-scale wind energy facilities have enormous environmental benefits."
(c) Clean Air: "Our focus is on achieving air quality improvements by cleaning up the oldest, dirtiest power plants. The nation's electric power plant fleet is a major source of air pollutants that contribute to ground-level ozone, haze, and acid rain. These old plants also emit mercury pollution, which contaminates fish, and carbon dioxide emissions, which contributes to global climate change. … Air pollution from diesel engines … is an emerging focus for the League."
(d) Save Our Streams: Adopted by all fifty U.S. states during the 1960s and 70s, this program "teaches volunteers, educators, professionals and students to monitor, protect and restore our nation's rivers and streams." The League was also instrumental in winning the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act.
(e) Protect Our Wetlands: IWL publishes Wetland Sights and Sounds, "a series of newsletters that provide detailed information on the values wetlands provide, including outdoor recreation, fisheries, food production, water purification, flood reduction, erosion control, and coastal storm protection."
(f) Sustainability Education: Through this program, IWL exhorts the U.S. government to develop "goals for stabilizing populations that incorporate the principles of economic development and environmental conservation"; and to disseminate "family planning [i.e., abortion] or contraceptive information to all segments of society."
(g) Outdoor Ethics: This program "focuses on the education and support of ethical behaviors in the outdoors."
(h) Wilderness and Public Lands: This program seeks "public policies that protect our public lands for current and future use in order to pass them on as a legacy to future generations." The objective is to maximize public, or government-owned, lands, while minimizing private property ownership. IWL works to ensure that severe restrictions are placed on how public land can be used, lobbying against activities it deems destructive to the environment, including logging, ranching, mining, oil drilling, construction, and the use of recreational motorized vehicles.
IWL believes that Republican political administrations are hostile to, and destructive of, the natural environment. During the spring of 2003, for example, when President Bush urged Congress to pass his "Healthy Forest Initiative" (which sought to "improve the health of our nation's forests and rangeland" by thinning out dense undergrowth and deadwood in America's woodlands), IWL responded with outrage and dismay, proposing a number of limitations and exceptions. IWL believes that any intervention by mankind in the natural world is by definition intrusive, unethical, and destructive.
IWL receives funding from the Energy Foundation, the Howard Heinz Endowment, the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Summit Charitable Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Turner Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the AT&T Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Arca Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
IWL is a membership organization that also receives large government grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Between 1996 and 2000, the EPA gave IWL a total of $378,000. As of 2004, IWL's assets totaled $6,772,821. It received more than $3.4 million in grants that year.
Yearly membership in IWL costs $36 for an individual and $54 for a family. These fees include a subscription to Outdoor America magazine, the organization's in-house publication.
