Through greed or indifference, nearly from the moment people discovered how unusual and beautiful vast America was, some sought to develop it, disfigure it, destroy its lands and waters and wipe out species of wildlife.

It was almost miraculous foresighted individuals successfully battled for the type of preservation and protection that saved us national parks and wildlife refuges.

Perhaps the most impactful government legislation ever enacted to help generations undo what some other thoughtless generations damaged, was the 1937 approval of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration bill, also known as the Pittman-Robertson Act.

Smooth-working and popular, with a history of tremendous success, now some malicious flake of a Congressman from Georgia wants to repeal it.

The law created a tax on firearms and ammunition at a rate of about 11 percent. Since 1939, when federal government distribution of collected money started to be shared, Indiana alone has received about $261 million. In fiscal 2022, Pittman-Robertson distributed $15 billion to states and U.S. territories, an increase of $1 billion in a single year.

Money received has enabled the Hoosier state to acquire and manage 186,000 acres of land for public recreation and enjoyment, to fund shooting ranges, hunter education programs, monitor changing animal populations and assist habitat management and research. In Indiana, as well as in other states, Pittman-Robertson is essentially the most valuable source of conservation funding.

This is no deal where money is taken from specific users and given to others. The targeted funding programs benefit those who pay the tax.

Pittman-Robertson must be one of the U.S. government’s programs that works best. And yet it is now under attack by U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Georgia. Clyde has rounded up 57 co-sponsors to lay siege to Pittman-Robertson.

Clyde claims the Act should be ditched because it is unconstitutional to tax firearm purchases. The tax, he says, infringes on the Second Amendment right to bear arms. That seems like an absurd reach.

Pittman-Robertson has long been a crossover accepted piece of law where hunters and conservationists from groups like the Sierra Club and others meet in the middle. Hunters, who appreciate the natural forest experience as much as hikers, and like having places to hunt, have understood the logic of their guns and ammo taxes funding their activity. If the woods, rivers and lakes are paved over and built on for high-rise exurbia, hunter habitat disappears.

Not even the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry representative, supports this repeal effort even if it attempts to plug in some money as a replacement from oil and gas funds. The Foundation called the plan “misguided.”

In Indiana, officials point to all Pittman-Robertson has accomplished.

“Those of us in wildlife restoration would not be in favor of that,” Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge Park Ranger Donna Stanley said of the new bill. “That (Pittman-Robertson) has funded so much good.”

And there has been a lot of funding. In 2022, Indiana is receiving $5,183,733 from Pittman-Robertson. That is similar to the $5,351,752 received in 2021. These payments reflect larger shares than in past years. In 2000, the amount to Indiana was $3,820,091. In 1990, the figure was $2,738,980.

The dollar figure is determined by a formula built around a state’s population, its size and sales of licenses, said Cindy Stites, INDR wildlife recreation program manager.

IDNR properties bought with money from Pittman-Robertson include Deer Creek, Goose Pond, Pigeon River, Atterbury and Sugar Ridge.

“It’s important for conservation in our state,” Stites said. “It’s across the state. It’s for everybody.”

Everybody. People who wish to take photographs of birds, hunt deer or absorb nature on a hike in the woods all benefit. Anyone who is a conservationist at heart should be allied with state wildlife management agencies on this.

Outdoors America always needs protectors.