A lot has happened since my last communication with you regarding budget actions in Congress. A debt ceiling catastrophe was averted and a budget deal was put in place to guarantee at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. If the "Super Committee" doesn't formulate a proposal that Congress can accept and pass into law, then an automatic trigger forces an across-the-board reduction in all "discretionary spending," which includes the military, all civil government agencies, and Medicare. This would also mean an automatic cut of at least 9 percent in conservation programs. Ducks Unlimited has joined forces with more than 640 conservation, recreation, and historic preservation organizations to demand that necessary spending reductions are done in an equitable and reasonable fashion.

Programs funded by the federal government that are near and dear to Ducks Unlimited constitute only 1.26 percent of all appropriated funds. While we completely support getting this great country's fiscal house in order, we are adamant that conservation should not bear an unfair burden to achieve that goal. In September, I visited Washington, D.C., along with other CEOs from our partner organizations. We visited nearly 25 U.S. senators not only to offer our assistance in choosing where savings and cuts should occur, but also to underscore our position that conservation is a moneymaker for the federal taxpayer and should only bear its fair share of reductions. Our partners and I will be going back to Washington again in the near future to meet with policymakers to keep our message front and center. That's where you come in.

While it's certainly important that I visit members of Congress and the administration on a regular basis to ensure our views are being heard, the most important voices to elected officials are those of their constituents. We will continue to emphasize the economic benefits of conservation in our upcoming discussions, and we believe the facts speak for themselves. Our coalition, America's Voices for Conservation, Recreation and Preservation, has put together the following talking points for our members to use when they visit or communicate with their elected representatives:

• Together, we contribute more than $730 billion to the national economy and generate over $88 billion in federal and state income taxes each year.
• Our industry supports more than 6.4 million jobs, many of which are based in local communities across our nation and cannot be exported to other countries.
• For every dollar appropriated by Congress for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, an additional three dollars are leveraged from nonfederal sources by DU and our partners, providing the taxpayer a four-to-one minimum return on investment.
• For every dollar of federal investment from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (royalties from offshore oil and gas), four dollars are generated in the economies of communities surrounding those federal lands.
• The Senate budget mark for the Department of the Interior is $29 billion. Independent economic studies have confirmed that from this $29 billion investment, more than $360 billion would be generated from recreation on Interior lands alone (including national wildlife refuges and national parks).

Again, while we would accept a fair and equitable reduction in these programs, we continue to maintain that investments in conservation pay for themselves many times over. America's hunters have carried the load for conservation for over 77 years. This has been done of our own free will, because we know how important our wildlife and their habitats are to this country. We don't ask for recognition, but we also won't tolerate being disrespected. We are not the problem; we're part of the solution.

Please let your members of Congress know how you feel.