Behind seemingly every American game bird or animal is a hunter-funded conservation group working to ensure that it not only survives but thrives. These organizations harness the passion millions of American sportsmen have for their favorite game species and transform it into a currency to fund habitat protection and restoration efforts. It’s a genius model that has been the private sector engine for North American conservation since the 1930s when many continental wildlife populations were on the brink of collapse following the infamous Dust Bowl.

The approach has raised billions of dollars to conserve tens of millions of acres from the Canadian prairies to the piney woods of South Georgia. While the motivation is to produce a future with more game, hundreds of non-game species benefit as well—including many threatened and endangered animals—all the while the work also improves air, water, and soil quality. You may not want to hunt, but there’s no denying the incalculable benefits of hunter-funded conservation to all manner of North American fish and wildlife.

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