STATE
Colorado Prop 127 Hunting Ban Defeated, East Slope Lion Plan Approved – By more than a quarter million votes, Colorado voters decisively rejected a ballot initiative that sought to ban the hunting of mountain lions, bobcats and lynx. Fifty-five percent of voters, including those in 59 of 64 Colorado counties, voted down Proposition 127. RMEF fought this anti-hunting, anti-wildlife management effort for several years at the commission, legislature and, most recently, at the ballot box. A week after the election the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission unanimously approved the East Slope Lion Management Plan, setting a scientifically based management strategy that includes sustainable hunting harvest for the next 10 years.
FEDERAL
Northwest Forest Plan – The U.S. Forest Service released a draft environmental impact statement for the first update to the 30-year-old Northwest Forest Plan for 24.5 million acres in California, Oregon and Washington. The 1994 plan, which focused on protecting old-growth and endangered species like the northern spotted owl, led to significant declines in logging, thinning and early seral habitat. RMEF will be reviewing and commenting on the amended plan with suggestions to improve habitat for deer, elk and other wildlife.
Bears Ears National Monument Recreational Shooting Closure – RMEF joined other hunting and shooting organizations and state wildlife agencies protesting a decision by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to ban recreational shooting on Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. RMEF and the other entities are participants in the Hunting and Shooting Sports Roundtable, an entity formed by a Memorandum of Understanding with BLM and other federal land agencies to address hunting and shooting access on multi-use federal lands. RMEF and partners contend the agency violated the Dingell Act, which requires federal agencies to minimize such closures.
Lame Duck Congress – Congress returns for several weeks prior to the new Congress taking office at noon on January 3rd. Negotiations over the Farm Bill picked up, but it is unclear if a deal can be struck before time runs out. Senate Democrats released a bill draft for the first time in mid-November, and it does not include RMEF’s forestry priorities including a Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP), while the House Republic bill does. The Cottonwood Fix and several other forest management streamlining policies have bipartisan support but need to be attached to other legislation to get passed and sent to the president’s desk. However, negotiations over a series of wilderness and other public lands bills may complicate a year-end package. RMEF’s lobbyists are engaged in the negotiations.