more on Calif. condor issue

[billrquimby]

Wider lead ban in condor range

 

By Matt Weiser - mweiser@sacbee.com

 

State officials on Friday expanded a ban on toxic lead ammunition to protect the California condor, a rare bird that repeatedly has been poisoned and died after eating dead animals left behind by hunters.

 

Meeting in Sacramento, the California Fish and Game Commission took steps to implement AB 821, a controversial bill by Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, that was adopted in October. And the commission went further, adding more ammunition to the banned list to effectively cover more kinds of hunting.

 

The Nava bill restricted lead bullets in centerfire ammunition typically used for hunting big game, such as deer, elk and pig. The commission added rimfire ammunition, such as the popular .22-caliber, and bullets used in black-powder guns and calibers that are commercially obsolete.

 

Starting July 1, the new rules ban the use and possession of bullets in condor country containing more than 1 percent lead, a threshold that ammunition manufacturers said was realistic. A violation by a hunter is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.

 

Nonlead ammo that meets the 1 percent standard is already available for centerfire calibers. It is slightly more expensive but is considered ballistically superior to lead ammunition.

 

No alternatives are yet available for rimfire cartridges, meaning the industry will need to develop new products.

 

"This issue is fundamentally about removing lead from the condor's food chain and diet, and that is why I am in support," said Commissioner Michael Sutton. "If we leave any sources of lead ammo in the condor food chain, we will be in violation of the spirit of what we're trying to do."

 

The commission voted 3-1 to adopt the rules. It did not expand the geographic area governed by the Nava bill, a V-shaped swath of land between San Jose and Los Angeles that covers about one-fifth of the state.

 

The dissenting vote came from Commissioner Jim Kellogg. He supported the overall intent, but wanted to exempt rimfire ammunition with the condition that these hunters dispose of their carcasses.

 

"Given the opportunity, hunters will work with us and they will pick up their carcasses," Kellogg said. "I think we just have to take smaller steps and not do it all at once."

 

The endangered condor was nearly driven to extinction by hunting and the effects of another man-made toxin, the pesticide DDT. With those risks diminished, a leading threat to its survival today is lead ammunition.

 

The condor is a scavenger that primarily feeds on dead animals. Many cases have been documented in which condors died or became ill after ingesting lead bullets or residue from carcasses left behind or lost in the wild by hunters.

 

The commission's ruling, unlike the Nava bill, effectively governs all rifle and pistol ammunition within condor country. It extends lead limits to the hunting of nongame animals such as rodents, coyotes and wild pigs killed as a nuisance.

 

Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said one area still unaddressed is lead pellets in shotgun shells used for hunting upland game birds. Yet he was pleased by Friday's action.

 

"This is significant in that it covers almost all the hunting activity that could result in lead exposure for condors," Miller said.

 

Several hunting and shooting groups protested the rules, claiming there is inadequate proof that a lead ban will benefit condors.

 

Ed Worley, a National Rifle Association lobbyist, also objected to the ban on simple possession of lead bullets in condor range.

 

"You're talking about opening up a huge Pandora's box for hunters who happen to inadvertently carry lead ammunition with them," said Worley.

 

The issue reached a flashpoint in September when Commissioner R. Judd Hanna resigned his post. He said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked him to quit after 34 Republican lawmakers complained in a letter that Hanna had distributed his own research on the lead issue to fellow commissioners.

[Red Rabbit]

So Commissioner Hanna was not one of the Sheeples and was politcally executed?

[DesertBull]

So now you cannot even posses lead ammo in these areas. Still think it's only about buzzards?

[.270]

hear that flutterin' sound? it's your freedom flyin' away. it ain't about condors boys. it's about stopping anything that anti's term as "unethical". a thousand bucks and a year in jail if you even have a non-approved round with ya? hang on, we're next. and it's a problem that was imported by the usfw and our own azgfd. don't drink the koolaid. Lark.

[billrquimby]

I wonder what a law-abiding hunter should do if his home is within the zone where lead ammo possession has been banned?

 

Bill Quimby

[Outdoor Writer]

I wonder what a law-abiding hunter should do if his home is within the zone where lead ammo possession has been banned?

 

Bill Quimby

 

Probably the same thing as they now do if you possess shotgun shells with lead pellets in a home near a lake -- nothing. Me thinks the possession part means having them in the field in the designated "condor country," just like having shotgun ammo with lead pellets when waterfowl hunting is a no-no. -TONY

[billrquimby]

I wonder what a law-abiding hunter should do if his home is within the zone where lead ammo possession has been banned?

 

Bill Quimby

 

Probably the same thing as they now do if you possess shotgun shells with lead pellets in a home near a lake -- nothing. Me thinks the possession part means having them in the field in the designated "condor country," just like having shotgun ammo with lead pellets when waterfowl hunting is a no-no. -TONY

 

You must trust zealous law enforcers more than I do. Me thinks me wanna see the exceptions written into the regs.

 

Bill Quimby

[Outdoor Writer]

You must trust zealous law enforcers more than I do. Me thinks me wanna see the exceptions written into the regs.

 

Bill Quimby

 

This is the bill the Terminator signed in Oct. The CA game commission "accepted" it on Dec. 10 and added rimfire ammo to it for the taking of any rodents, varmints, etc. Note the BOLD type and the non-mention of the possession of lead ammo in one's home, office, vehicle, on a shooting range or in Disneyland. -TONY

 

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

 

 

AB 821, Nava. Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act.

(1) Existing law regulates the taking of birds and mammals, and

prohibits the taking of specified nongame birds. Existing law permits

the Department of Fish and Game to preserve the California condor,

and requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish a list of

endangered species and a list of threatened species. Existing law

generally provides that a violation of the fish and game laws is a

crime.

This bill would enact the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act to

require the use of nonlead centerfire rifle and pistol ammunition

when taking big game and coyote within specified areas. The act would

require the commission to establish, by regulation, by July 1, 2008,

a public process to certify centerfire rifle and pistol ammunition

as nonlead ammunition, and to define nonlead ammunition by

regulation. The act would also require the commission, to the extent

funding is available, to provide hunters within these areas with

nonlead ammunition at no or reduced charge through a coupon program.

Under the act, a person who violates those requirements would be

guilty of an infraction punishable by a $500 fine for the first

offense. Because the act would create a new crime, this bill would

create a state-mandated local program.

The act would also declare the Legislature's intent to protect

vulnerable wildlife species, including the California condor, from

the ongoing threat of lead poisoning.

(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse

local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the

state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that

reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this

act for a specified reason.

 

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the

Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act.

SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Legislature to protect vulnerable

wildlife species, including the California condor, a federally listed

endangered species and a state listed endangered and fully protected

species, from the ongoing threat of lead poisoning.

SEC. 3. Section 3004.5 is added to the Fish and Game Code, to

read:

3004.5. (a) Nonlead centerfire rifle and pistol ammunition, as

determined by the commission, shall be required when taking big game

with rifle or pistol, as defined by Section 350 of the department's

mammal hunting regulations, and when taking coyote, within the

department's deer hunting zone A South, but excluding Santa Cruz,

Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and San Joaquin Counties, areas

west of Highway 101 within Santa Clara County, and areas between

Highway 5 and Highway 99 within Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno,

Kings, Tulare, and Kern Counties, and within deer hunting zones D7,

D8, D9, D10, D11, and D13.

( By July 1, 2008, the commission shall establish, by

regulation, a public process to certify centerfire rifle and pistol

ammunition as nonlead ammunition, and shall define, by regulation,

nonlead ammunition as including only centerfire rifle and pistol

ammunition in which there is no lead content. The commission shall

establish and annually update a list of certified centerfire rifle

and pistol ammunition.

© (1) To the extent that funding is available, the commission

shall establish a process that will provide hunters within the

department's deer hunting zone A South, but excluding Santa Cruz,

Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and San Joaquin Counties, areas

west of Highway 101 within Santa Clara County, and areas between

Highway 5 and Highway 99 within Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno,

Kings, Tulare, and Kern Counties, and within deer hunting zones D7,

D8, D9, D10, D11, and D13 with nonlead ammunition at no or reduced

charge. The process shall provide that the offer for nonlead

ammunition at no or reduced charge may be redeemed through a coupon

sent to a permitholder with the appropriate permit tag. If available

funding is not sufficient to provide nonlead ammunition at no charge,

the commission shall set the value of the reduced charge coupon at

the maximum value possible through available funding, up to the

average cost within this state for nonlead ammunition, as determined

by the commission.

(2) The nonlead ammunition coupon program described in paragraph

(1) shall be implemented only to the extent that sufficient funding,

as determined by the Department of Finance, is obtained from local,

federal, public, or other nonstate sources in order to implement the

program.

(3) If the nonlead ammunition coupon program is implemented, the

commission shall issue a report on the usage and redemption rates of

ammunition coupons. The report shall cover calendar years 2008, 2009,

and 2012. Each report shall be issued by June of the following year.

 

(d) The commission shall issue a report on the levels of lead

found in California condors. This report shall cover calendar years

2008, 2009, and 2012. Each report shall be issued by June of the

following year.

(e) The department shall notify those hunters who may be affected

by this section.

(f) A person who violates any provision of this section is guilty

of an infraction punishable by a fine of five hundred dollars ($500).

A second or subsequent offense shall be punishable by a fine of not

less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more than five thousand

dollars ($5,000).

SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to

Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because

the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school

district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or

infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty

for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the

Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the

meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California

Constitution.

[billrquimby]

Tony, if you're happy with the California law, I'm happy too.

 

Bill Quimby

[DesertBull]

Let's put some wolves in the Grand Canyon. Maybe they will eat the Condors.

 

[wetmule]

There are people out there plotting and planning to do just that.