ENHANCEMENT PERMITTING DIVISION

For conservation purposes Conservation Force has always been the leader in providing select, pioneering, import permitting services. The purpose has been to enhance the survival and propagation of listed species and to increase their range. Witness our reopening of elephant, African lion, argali, markhor, Canadian wood bison, black rhino, et al. This has been essential for some of the most successful species conservation programs ever devised which in fact secure and grow important populations of the respective species.

Beginning January 1, 2022, Conservation Force has begun supplying permitting services on a broader, fee-paying basis. This is necessary to serve the greater community with the increasing complexity of the permitting process and to cover the almost prohibitive costs in range nations and the USA of establishing and maintaining imports when facing growing regulatory impediments. Conservation Force is accustomed to establishing imports from cradle to grave, that is, from action planning and implementation in foreign countries to administrative appeal of permit denials and undertaking curative work in foreign countries when import permit applications are denied. Because of our long history of conservation projects with hunting operators, we are also equipped to collect the necessary data from operators as well as to smartly direct support to their enhancement efforts. Our costs are three to five thousand Dollars a day or more. The permitting fees are aimed at increasing the management actions that are necessary to reduce the threats to the hunted species and enhance their survival through conservation hunting.

We only do mission related conservation services for programs that are designed to enhance/benefit the survival and propagation of listed game species as well as secure essential habitat. The whole endeavor is about being a force for conservation. The more at risk a species, the greater the role of conservation hunting that enhances its survival. This is done through action programs that identify the species needs and targets the reduction of specific threats.

We are not an import or export broker, taxidermist, freight forwarder, carrier, or other commercial service provider. Neither are we a hunting broker.

Ultimate Validation of Conservation

An enhancement finding today is the ultimate validation of the conservation value of international hunting by the most sophisticated agency of its kind in the world, the FWS Permits Office. Only upon proof of enhancement can you get your permit and be assured of the conservation spin-off and benefits. In a true sense, what Conservation Force does is conservation permitting or enhancement permitting which fits in with our mission.

The completion and filing of the application form with documentary attachments is only the half-of-it. Conservation Force is uniquely engaged from cradle to grave with making hunting a greater tool for conservation including regulatory compliance, budgeted management planning at the national and local level, implementation of recovery action plans, participatory community programs to incentivize and benefit local rural people, and much more. This requires leadership participation at CITES Conferences of the Parties and committee meetings and in the settings of USFWS regulatory policy and procedures. By design the fees charged by Conservation Force for its conservation permitting services go towards the array of costs and budgeted smart projects that underly the issuance of import permits. It does not happen by itself- someone must do the conservation work behind the scenes.

Neither CITES or the U.S. Endangered Species Act provide the recovery programs, recovery funding, planning and management activities for foreign species that they do for domestic species, so it is necessary for Conservation Force, the hunting community at large and the range country authorities to provide those recovery activities. That requires identifying the primary threats to a species and directly reducing those threats such as securing habitat, controlling poaching, providing conservation infrastructure, etc. Those identified benefits are the enhancements that must be documented for issuance of import permits.

What Happens When Applications Are Denied

Under the Administrative Procedures Act, the FWS Permits Office must state its reasons for denial of a permit. Conservation Force is expert at identifying and understanding the rationale, then taking remedial action to correct the deficiency on the form, or, more importantly, in the foreign land. This is how Conservation Force has pioneered new hunting areas and species or reopened hunting after species have been up listed. We dig into the facts, identify the threats to the species and develop hunting programs that strategically reduce those threats. A permit denial is a window that guides us on the remedial action that must be taken to refile or successfully file applications. We long ago mastered this important process. Once the conservation deficiency is corrected the denial can be reconsidered or the application can be refilled. It has long been our objective to identify and remedy the problems until permits are granted.

Connections with Legal Division

If the FWS should fail to follow the law if any, then Conservation Force has a long successful litigation history of getting injunctive and declaratory relief.

When anti-hunting organizations file suit to enjoin trophy imports Conservation Force intervenes and has a long record of defeating those actions.

Likewise, when State Legislatures enact legislation to ban import of trophies, Conservation Force has successfully led filed suit and nullified the illegal legislation. Witness the New Jersey case.

In instances where imported trophies are seized for forfeiture because of any number of innocent owners, technical violations we are experts at filing petitions for remission as well as seeking fair judicial relief.

How to contact the Enhancement Permitting Division

To contact our Enhancement Permitting Division, we can be reached via the following:

Email: permits@conservationforce.org

Phone: 1-504-837-1233

3240 S. I-10 Service Road W., Suite 200, Metairie, LA 70001 USA

Please send all physical checks to P.O. Box 7748, Metairie, LA 70001 USA

Our office is open from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM CST Monday-Friday