Dear Senator,
I write asking you to vote YES on HB 4134 – 1.25% for Wildlife on the Senate floor. This bill is a true unicorn: a bipartisan bill with broad and deep support – over 100 businesses and 90 organizations from across the political spectrum are working together to ensure we have adequate funding for wildlife, fish and habitat conservation in Oregon now and into the future. Over 275 Oregonians took time off from work and school to visit you at the Capitol asking for your support in recent weeks. Please vote YES on HB 4134.
HB 4134 will ensure long-term dedicated funding for our most imperiled wildlife and fish species, safeguard essential habitats, and improve ecosystem resiliency in the face of the twin biodiversity and climate crises. It will fund youth workforce development and wildfire resilience through the youth conservation corps. It will restore anti-poaching funds stripped from the general fund in the last session, and help address threats to ecosystems posed by invasive species. It will support the wildlife rehabilitators who aid wounded animals and help prevent vehicle collisions with wildlife by supporting wildlife crossings, among other funding priorities. All of this will reduce pressure on the general fund, not just in the next biennium, but permanently. It will support the tourism industry by safeguarding the wildlife and wild places that 90% of tourists surveyed by Travel Oregon cite as a primary reason they visit Oregon. Please support this common sense solution to an entrenched funding challenge and help safeguard Oregon’s renowned wildlife and habitats for this and future generations. Vote YES on 1.25% for Wildlife.
Thank you.
