>>2253500Here's another on for ya, OP.
Impose an excise tax on outdoor recreation equipment and gear, like hunters imposed on themselves with the Pittman-Robertson Act for firearms and ammunition and anglers imposed on themselves with the Dingell-Johnson Act for fishing gear. That money from those laws (11% and 10% of all purchases, respectively) goes to fund conservation, so hunters and anglers have a vested interested in conserving and utilizing our outdoor spaces. Unfortunately, this means many public lands throughout the US are managed for those types of users and the species those users are interested in. Relatively little money goes to non-game species. If there were a tax on hiking boots, binoculars, snowshoes, trekking poles, etc., there could be more money available for conservation, and that money would go to more species.
>>2251154The only reason hunting is seen as the only effective way to fund conservation is because it is largely the only way funding has been attempted on the state level. There are other ways, we just haven't tried them yet.
