Nummie Report post Posted January 25, 2005 AZ STATE SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES RANCHING FOR WILDLIFE PROPOSAL THIS IS IMPORTANT TO HUNTERS Representatives of Ranching For Wildlife will give a presentation to members of the committee regarding a proposal to create compensation to Arizona ranchers in the form of wildlife hunting permits, which could be marketed as private land hunts on their holdings. This proposal has been legislated in most western states and has resulted in reducing or even eliminating available permits for the general public! I?m told that in Utah alone, no bull elk permits exist for public draw, and are ONLY available through the private ranch hunting program! This proposal could also include leased state land!!!! This measure has been identified as potentially much more damaging to public hunting than George Taulmann?s USO debacle, and I urge everyone to attend the meeting at the State capitol Senate building on Wednesday, January 26, at 1:30 pm., in room 109. The meeting is open to the public, and speakers can address the committee. The AZ Game & Fish Department is not involved in the planning process regarding this proposal, and is publicly opposed to it. The department already is addressing the issues that this proposal is supposed to solve with its Landowner Relations program, instituted about 2 years ago. I will be attending this public meeting to find out more about who is proposing it, and why. I have a feeling that it could be a Trojan horse measure that would further diminish public hunts in favor of the rich by transferring wildlife management from Game & Fish to private individuals for monetary gain. In other words, this could very well be another attempt by a few to control the natural resources of this state that we, the public already own! Do you want this to happen? You can help by writing your state senator and letting him or her know how you feel about the measure. This is definitely not the first time it has been attempted, but is probably the most organized effort to date. Listed below are the senate committee members who will decide if this proposal goes any further. Please contact these individuals also and let them know how you feel about the measure. Jake Flake, Chairman rancher (602) 926-5219 jflake@azleg.state.az.us Rbt. Blendu, Vice-Chair broker (602) 926-5955 rblendu@azleg.state.az.us Marsha Arzberger rancher (602) 926-4321 marzberg@azleg.state.az.us Tim Bee printing (602) 926-5683 tbee@azleg.state.az.us Rbt. Cannell ???? 602) 926-4139 rcannell@azleg.state.az.us Marilyn Jarrett retail 602) 926-5288 mjarrett@azleg.state.az.us Rebecca Rios ???? (602) 926-5685 rrios@azleg.state.az.us Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rembrant Report post Posted January 25, 2005 Thank you nummie, whoever you are. Your post is well written, and informative. I have already figured out who my district representitives are and have sent them e-mails expressing my concern about this proposal. I thank you very, very much for identifying the senate committee members with the power to quash this cancer. They will hear from me also! Thanks again!! Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rembrant Report post Posted January 26, 2005 I got a reply today from one of the District 1 legislators: Dear Michael, Thank you for your e-mail expressing concern about the "Ranching for Wildlife" proposal. I trust the issue will have a full hearing in the Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee and that your concerns will be addressed if any legislation is offered in this area. Ken Bennett Senate President -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: mikfabritz@aol.com [mailto:mikfabritz@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 10:05 PM To: Ken Bennett Subject: Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Mr Bennett, I am very concerned about Item #6, "Ranching for Wildlife" proposal, wildlife management on private lands, which is slated to appear before the Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee on 1/26/05 at 1:30 PM in room SH109. It is being proposed that ranchers with at least 2000 acres could be alloted their own negotiable big game tags from the Arizona Game and Fish Dept. They would buy them at the current cost and be able to re-sell them to the highest bidder. Big game tags in the state of Arizona have never been negotiable by law. This has prevented the incentive for greed and kept the chances to obtain big game tags affordable and fair for the general public - youth and adults. There are many things about this proposal that concern me: The complex job of wildlife management will be, in effect, sub contracted out to these ranchers. The permit draw lottery which is fair to all Arizona residence will be disrupted and eventually replaced with 'permit by highest bidder' making hunting a rich man's sport and doing a disservice to the general public and our youth. These excessive revenues will not go to the State's Game Department, but instead benifit the ranchers only. In discerning if a rancher can qualify for this program or be terminated from it due to poor management, the Game Department's roll will be reduced to committee member status - to be shared with U.of A Extension Service personnel, State Land Dept. personnel and ranchers! With majority vote ruling! The most damaging part of this proposal is that the ranchers are wanting their current leased public lands to be included as part of their "wildlife management plans". Cattle ranch leases utilize most of this state! The wildlife in this state belong to the people of this state, as well as all of the public land that the ranches lease. This proposal is wrong for Arizona. Thank you, Michael Fabritz - life long resident and sportsman. I didn't know this guy is the Senate President. Maybe y'all should include him to the list of representitives of your own areas. I like the part about "IF any legislation is offered in this area". One e-mail to the state capital won't do anything, but if Arizona's 400,000 sportsmen and women send an e-mail, phone call or fax to these folks, I guarantee you THERE WON"T BE ANY LEGISLATION OFFERED IN THIS AREA! Have you contacted your representitives yet? Stop playing around. Go to www.azleg.state.az.us and figure it out. If you can't figure it out, e-mail me and I'll help you. Thanks, Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rembrant Report post Posted January 26, 2005 I just came back to this string to get the names and e-mail addresses of the Natural Resources and Rural Affairs committee. Thanks again Nummie for lining us up with this information. I'm gonna get off this site right now and e-mail these seven other people. I just noticed that Nummie also listed the occupations of these representitives. One of them is a broker, one is in retail, one is a printer, two of them are unknown and two of them are ranchers! Don't think for one second that the cattle lobby hasn't done their homework! Still sittin' on your hands? Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nummie Report post Posted January 27, 2005 Dudes, thank you all for taking my post seriously. I attended the meeting today and will paste my report for all to see (I posted it on other boards also). BTW, whoever mentioned that one e-mail wouldn't make a difference.......Senator Flake mentioned that he received at least 50 of them as well as numerous phone calls. He actually read one of them out loud!!!! ******************************************************************** OK. I attended the committee meeting this afternoon. After some presentations and discussions on other subjects, they got to the "Ranchers For Wildlife" presentation. First, a speaker began the presentation with a video presentation that left a lot to be desired, and I'm sure impressed NOBODY. Then, representatives from the Navajo Tribe spoke about various issues related to the Big Boquillas Ranch and dancing around the issue of creating a program to compensate ranchers and other private landowners by giving them hunt permits to market for sale. Layne Brandt (guide), then proceeded to plead the case by voicing various anecdotes related to game management, or lack there of. OK, now I'm really not convinced here. Finally, a repesentative from the Arizona Cattlemens' Association tried to save the day by appealing to everyone to work together to solve the problems of damage to habitat, etc. This guy probably made the most sense to me. At least he acknowledged that for everyone to work together, three conditions must be satisfied. They are.... The solution must be good for, (ie; acceptable and workable) 1. The Game & Fish Department 2. Private ranch and large land owners 3. Hunters and sportsmen What I took away from this presentation was; A. The presentation was very UNorganized and didn't impress anyone. B. Hunters will fight with everything they have to keep this ill-conceived plan to give away control of a very precious natural resourse from ever becoming law. C. The legislators are aware of the political hot potato that is at their feet. D. There really is a problem here that needs to be addressed SOON by rational, cool-headed members of the public, ranching interests, legislators, and the Game & Fish Department to find solutions that everyone can live with. You can help now by contacting the people in my original post and asking them how you can help to find a solution. Senator Flake mentioned all the e-mails and calls he has received since Monday, and even read one of them. They need to know that cooler heads will prevail to help in fixing this problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghost hunter Report post Posted January 27, 2005 Num, Thank you for attending and posting your observations as to the proceedings. Sounds like we might have got the upper hand this round, but any suggestions as to where to go from here? You reported that Flake got alot of e-mails and phone calls. What was your impression about how those ran; for/against, made a good impression/bad impression? Any speculation as to the committee's point of view now? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rembrant Report post Posted January 28, 2005 I would question if finding the solutions to the ranchers 'problems' is best via the state legislature. Government solutions are not always best. There are a ton of things that have gone the rancher's way. Really good things like the sporstmen that help with ranch clean-ups; conservation groups like the RMEF that help with the clearing of invading tree species and water encatchments and other habitat improvement projects. This is an area where the Game Dept has also not dropped the ball. I would like to see an official list of how the Dept has bent over to help ranchers. I'm sure this list is quite extensive. I can list a few things off the cuff: DEPREDATION HUNTS SPORTSMAN ACCESS STATIONS WATER ENCATCHMENTS and HABITAT IMPROVEMENTS LAW ENFORCEMENT WILDLIFE SURVEYS and HABITAT IMPACT STUDIES All of which cost the Dept (that means us) money and at no cost to the ranchers. I think we should continue to work with the Game Dept and the various conservation groups - as we have been - to continue keeping our land in order and the access open. Don't think this "Ranching for Wildlife" thing will go away. As long as there is potential money to be made it will come back again and again. I still urge anyone who has not yet taken the time to write an e-mail to your state legislaters to express your concern about this misdirected proposal to please do so now. Thanks, Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nummie Report post Posted January 28, 2005 You are all bringing up valid questions and suggestions to solve the problems. Let me state that the real issue here is that the ranchers in this state aren't that concerned with what the state will do to solve their problems with wildlife damages on their holdings. One of the above posts touched on that very subject. G&F tells me that indeed, there are many programs currently available to ranchers to mitigate damage problems, some of which are under-utilized. No, ranchers REALLY want a program like that which is available in other states now, and that is they want a new, monopolistic, private, cash-cow/money making industry in "game management"! In New Mexico, this industry makes over $30 million for ranchers and outfitters. In Utah, it is well over $10 mil! I, for one, will do everything I can to make sure that does not EVER happen here in Arizona!!!!!!!!! But, once ranchers realize that this new gravy train will not arrive, maybe then they will again seek out the programs offered by the G&F and the state, AND the federal government that will help them mitigate this habitat degradation problem. However, this may never happen. We, as hunters and sportsmen, must stay on top of this issue, lest we become complacent and wake up some day to this nightmare becoming reality. All state G&F agencies that I have contacted have confirmed to me that their programs are NOT good for the state, the hunters, sportsmen, or anyone EXCEPT ranchers. In closing, I think ranchers ought to concentrate on doing what they know best.....and that's ranching, not game management. JMHO Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
