|
205 Church Hill Road, Augusta ME 04330 207-622-5503 |
|
SAM’s 2007 Legislative Agenda
Title: An Act to Limit the Loss of Public Hunting Land
Sponsor: Rep. Josh Tardy
Summary: This bill would establish the principle of “no net loss” of public land open to hunting. It would prohibit the closing of public lands to hunting unless an equal amount of public land was newly opened to hunting.
Title: Resolve: to create a commission to study the use of public lands.
Sponsor: Senator Beth Edmonds
Summary: This bill would organize a Commission to study management plans and legal documents governing public lands to determine the opportunities available for motorized access (including snowmobiling and ATV riding) and traditional uses (including hunting, fishing, and trapping) looking specifically at: a) all management plans for public lots b) eco-reserves c) land encumbered by state-owned easements.
Title: An Act Concerning New State Lands
Sponsor: Rep. Pat Flood
Summary: This bill would require legislative approval, by a vote of 2/3 in the House and Senate, for state acceptance of new donated land.
Title: An Act to Help New Hunters
Sponsor: Rep. Steve Hanley
Summary: This bill authorizes new hunters to hunt for one year, under the direct supervision of an experienced hunter, without taking the hunter safety course. Essentially, it suspends the requirement that new hunters take the hunter safety course before hunting, while requiring the new hunter to be directly supervised by an experienced hunter and to purchase the apprentice hunting license. This is an initiative of the national Families Afield program.
Title: Resolve: to create a new hunter safety course.
Sponsor: Senator Bruce Bryant
Summary: This resolve directs the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to design and implement a new hunter safety course that includes: options for study-at-home as well as in-the-classroom learning, followed by a day at the range when written tests and shooting will be accomplished. This course should include options so that all requirements could be met for firearm, bow, and crossbow hunting, in a single course, at the student’s choice. The new course should be available no later than January 1, 2008.
Title: An Act to Improve Landowner Relations
Sponsor: Rep. Jeremy Fischer
Summary: This bill creates a full-time Landowner Relations Coordinator position within the Information and Education Division of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Title: An Act to Improve Deer Management and Hunting
Sponsor: Rep. Steve Hanley
Summary: This bill seeks to implement two key recommendations of SAM’s Deer Task Force.
1) Changes the current any-deer permit system to an antlerless deer permit system. All firearms deer hunters would be allowed to take one antlered deer. Those who successfully apply for an antlerless deer permit could also take one doe or fawn as a second deer during the archery, firearms, or muzzleloader season. 2) Applies a $10 fee for the antlerless deer permits, with the funds going to a dedicated account at DIF&W for landowner relations staffing and programs both inside and outside the department.
Title: An Act to Encourage Youth Hunting
Sponsor: Rep. Tim Carter
Summary: this bill would allow young hunters who are successful in harvesting either a deer or turkey on the Youth Hunting Days for those species, to continue hunting in the regular seasons and harvest an additional deer or turkey.
Title: An Act to Eliminate Fees for Young Sportsmen
Rep. Ben Pratt
Summary: This bill would allow young resident sportsmen under the age of 16 to hunt and fish without buying a license.
Title: An Act to Encourage Landowners to Allow Hunting
Sponsor: Rep. Rich Cebra
Summary: This bill would increase the allocation of any-deer permits from 20 percent to 30 percent for qualifying landowners in the any-deer lottery. Also, each qualifying landowner would receive only one permit for the parcel of land open to hunting (currently every family member can get a permit for a single parcel of land – this provision will spread the available permits out so, hopefully, all applying landowners will get at least one permit).
Title: An Act to Change the Firearms Season on Deer
Sponsor: Rep. Steve Hanley
Summary: This bill would require DIF&W to open the firearms season on deer one week later than the current date in central and southern Maine, while allowing the season in northern Maine to open on the traditional date. The firearms season on deer would be specified to open on the first Saturday in November and continue for four weeks, except in Wildlife Management Districts 1 – 11 where the season would open one week prior to the first Saturday in November.
Title: An Act to Encourage the Harvest of Coyotes
Sponsor: Rep. Herb Clark
Summary: this bill would extend the opportunity to hunt coyotes at night to the entire year.
Title: An Act to Create the Maine Fishery Infrastructure Tax Credit Program (MEFISH)
Rep. Thom Watson
Summary: This bill creates a program at the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) similar to its Seed Capital Tax Credit Program. Tax credits would be provided to investors who pay for improvements in fisheries, fish habitat, water access and infrastructure that serves the recreational fishing economy. The improvements would be designated by Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Title: An Act to Extend Fall Fishing Opportunities
Sponsor: Rep. Abby Holman
Summary: This bill would open all stocked moving waters to fall catch-and-release fishing in October and November.
Title: An Act to designate additional wild trout waters for recognition and protection.
Sponsor: Rep. Ted Koffman
Summary: This would add an additional “B” list of approximately 300 lakes and ponds in the “Heritage Trout” program, with a prohibition on stocking and the use of live bait in these waters. This list of waters has already been created by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, consisting of lakes and ponds that have not been stocked in decades, if ever.
Title: An Act to Protect Wild Trout from Exotic Species
Sponsor: Rep. Ted Koffman
Summary: This bill would prohibit splake from being stocked in waters where they could spread to wild trout waters. It would also direct the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to produce a list of waters suitable for splake stocking.
Title: Resolve: To create an effective coyote control program
Sponsor: Rep. Herb Clark
Summary: This resolve directs the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to create a management system for coyotes, including the setting population goals and establishing methods of controlling those populations.
|