The statewide ballot this November will give Coloradans a chance to secure their right to hunt and fish — much under siege these days around the country.

Initiative 302 is the handwork of the T. Roosevelt Conservation Alliance, which submitted more than 180,000 signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office last week. The proposal would amend the Colorado Constitution to create a right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife using traditional methods. 

The measure designates hunting and fishing as the preferred means of managing fish and wildlife populations while preserving state regulatory authority for scientific conservation, public safety and sustainability.

It’s a needed counterweight to a national crusade by activists to halt hunting and fishing. In our state, Gov. Jared Polis has presided over animal-rights extremism infiltrating Colorado Parks & Wildlife.

As they say, personnel is policy, and Polis’ appointments through his tenure have implicitly and explicitly communicated to Colorado’s hunters and anglers their way of life will become increasingly difficult. The prevailing agenda is one that champions mountain-town, tourism-centric recreation, like skiing, cycling and hiking, over hunting and fishing. 

Never mind how license revenue from hunters and anglers finances a disproportionate share of the Centennial State’s outdoor recreation opportunities. Hunting and fishing contribute 58% of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s funding through licenses, passes, fees and permits. In 2025, that totaled $25 million.

Tired of being the redheaded stepchild scorned at the end of the picnic table simply because they responsibly recreate with a Remington, Colorado’s sportsmen aren’t going to watch and wait as their rights are further infringed upon. 

Hunting and fishing remain an anchor of the kind of science-based wildlife management long utilized at CPW and across North America. And humans have the inherent right to hunt and fish.

Colorado voters commendably stood up for outdoor sports a couple of years ago, when they rejected a proposed ban on mountain lion, bobcat and lynx hunting 55% to 45%. 

With Initiative 302, they can prevent the possibility of something like what’s going on in another state with a rich outdoors history, Oregon. There, a pending ballot measure — the “PEACE” (People for Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions) Act — would eliminate the legal exemptions that protect hunting, fishing, trapping and farming from Oregon’s animal abuse statutes.

There are also proposals in California targeting mountain lion hunting and similar measures in Michigan, Maine and Montana addressing bear hunting, wolf management or trapping.

It’s time to support Colorado’s 300,000 hunters and 950,000 anglers, conserve $3.25 billion in annual economic activity and secure the 25,000 jobs hunting and fishing sustain.

Initiative 302 makes a lot of sense. 

It represents proactive policy to protect time-honored traditions that also are critical tools for wildlife management. The initiative would enable Coloradans to get a step ahead of the next ballot-box ban — and perhaps head off such ballot-box biology once and for all.