News
Bill Will Diminish Public Input
Published September 14, 2003.
By Christopher Naga. Daily Press & Argus.
Opponents fear bill will diminish public
input
State Rep. Susan Tabor's recent proposal would do more than place the mourning dove on the list of animals in the state that can be hunted.
Naturalists and environmentalists also fear that it will make it harder to be heard on future hunting issues.
"It takes away the ability to protest by giving the Natural Resources Commission the job to decide what is and isn't game," said Oceola Township resident Beth Duman, a member of the Huron Valley Audubon Society and one of the founders of Wild Corner, an organization that encourages residents to let an area of residential yards grow wild to support wildlife habitat.
Currently, the state Legislature determines what is a game animal, but the last three lines of Tabor's bill propose to repeal that section of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act.
Tabor's bill doesn't specify what entity would have the authority to designate game animals if the portion of the Act is repealed, but it's widely believed that authority would shift to the Natural Resources Commission since previous legislation in 2001 attempted to shift the power to the commission.
That commission has also made its view on dove-hunting known after it voted to approve a dove-hunting season in 1987. That vote was later overturned in a court ruling that stated the commission needed the Legislature's approval.
According Sue Kelly, an executive board member of The Crossroads Group, which is the county's organization affiliated with the state chapter of the Sierra Club, moving the authority to determine game animals away from the Legislature takes it one step further away from the public's voice.
"At least with the Legislature,
it's people appointed by the public," Kelly said. "The
Natural Resources Commission is appointed by the governor."
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